The Nigerian Public Service and Service Delivery Under Civil Rule (original) (raw)
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American Journal of Arts and Human Science
Over the years, poor service delivery has been identified as one major deficit noted with the Nigerian public service. This has elicited much of intellectual debates and scholarly interventions which have been devoted to underscore the negative perception of poor service delivery in the Nigerian public service. Efforts to change the service delivery orientation of the Nigerian public sector through introducing a new service delivery philosophy have also received some attentions. The SERVICOM Charter, as introduced in March, 2004 becomes the binding document that mandates all government institutions on effective and efficient delivery of services to the Nigerian public. This paper adopted a literature- based approach to underpin the context while, interrogating the need for improved service delivery in the Nigerian public service. Findings from this study argued that, the SERVICOM Charter is challenged by its operational environment as a working document for the reorientation of the ...
Civil service reforms in Nigeria: The journey so far in service delivery 1
Nations all over the world are currently in the struggle to better their existence through the process of good governance, and responsible civil service for effective and efficient service delivery. Nigeria is one of such countries. However the kind of civil service bequeathed to Nigeria by her colonial master was alien and narrow in scope, and so not development oriented. At Nigeria independence in 1960, the federal civil service had a staff strength of only 30,000, this increased steadily to the level of 200,000 in the late 1990s due to political patronage. Many unqualified personnel joined the Civil Service which resulted to over sized workforce that absorbed about 87% of the total government revenue. The paper examined the civil service reforms in Nigeria from independence to the present and how they affected efficient and effective service delivery in the country. It is the position of paper that the kind of civil service reform that would tackle these problems should be evolutionary and pragmatic in nature to meet Nigeria developmental needs and the challenges of the modern world.
public service in Nigeria: Functions and code of conduct
This paper examines the functions of public service and the code of conduct for public servants in Nigeria with a view to ascertaining the provisions of the relevant laws. The public sector, represent the realm where the government operates for the benefits of the citizenry. This is different from the private sector where individual operates. The public service is a typical bureaucratic organization made up of public servants who are recruited on the basis of their skills/qualification and expertise. A part from the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which is regarded as the grund norm and which creates the public service, there is also the Revised Public Service Rules, 2006 for the public servants to obey and follow. The paper adopts descriptive analyses. It argues that Nigeria has basic legislations for regulation the code of conduct for public service, but the code of conduct Bureau and Tribunal has minimal impact as enforcement mechanisms put in place as result of general corruption in all sectors of the economy. This paper recommends that there is need for desire and willingness on the part of the public servants to adhere to the public service laws and regulations and not to violate the law. It also recommends that corruption and other vices in all sectors of the economy must be tackle by the government for effective public service in the country. It finally recommends that penal sanctions and punishment alone are not enough to curb public misconduct, there has to be patriotism, honesty, integrity, commitment, dedication and above all fear of God on the part of the general public and public officers in particular.
Nigeria's public service and new public management reform / Ahmad Sanusi and Abubakar Abdullahi
2011
The seeming failure of public service in Nigeria is demonstrated by a series of reforms introduced by successive governments to redefine and reinvigorate it. While some of these reforms are internal, some were externally induced. The climax of such reform initiatives in contemporary democratic Nigeria was the introduction of New Public Management commonly known as NPM. New Public Management reforms offer many alternatives towards efficient service delivery. However, because of its market-cum-democratic characteristics, it seems very difficult to operate in an unstable democratic system. Premised on the apparent desire to achieve efficient service delivery, Nigeria implemented New Public Management reform as a catalyst to redefining and retransforming its public service. This paper investigates the implementation of NPM in Nigeria and argues that minimal if any results are likely to be achieved. This is largely because of the inherent contradictions between the main requirement of NPM and the structure and the context of Nigeria's public service and its political system. Putting it in another way, the features of NPM are at variance with the main structure and the character of Nigeria's political environment. From the period of active colonialism up to today, the government has set up different public service review commissions to restructure, invigorate and reorganize the battered public service but her dream is yet to become a reality.
Journal of Public Administration and Governance Research (JPAGR), 2022
The civil service has remained a potent instrument for realizing the public policy goals of any government in power. However, without strict adherence to governing rules in the system, the civil service may fail to effectively justify its existence as an engine room of the government. This study sought to interrogate the trajectory of the enforcement of the governing rules in the Nigerian Civil Service for effective service delivery. The study was anchored on the Bureaucratic theory espoused by Marx Weber (1864-1920). It employed qualitative research method with heavy reliance on secondary data obtained from official publications, articles published in reputable journals, texts, etc. After critical analysis of data generated for the study, the following findings were made: that governing rules (public service rules) are not effectively enforced in the system because of poor motivation, government policy particularly "second address" that runs contrary to public service rules as well as human factors among others. The implication of these findings is that if serious efforts are not made to entrench discipline in the service through effective public service rules enforcement, it will definitely loose its essence as the engine room to advance sustainable development in the country. On the strength of the foregoing findings, we recommended as follows-government should ensure adequate motivation for all civil servants; that any government policies that run contrary to public service rules should be stopped forthwith, and that there should be no favouritism, nepotism or long leg as the case may be in the enforcement of discipline in the Nigerian civil service.
Challenges and Prospects of Public Service in Nigeria, 1999-2022
Government at all levels, federal, state and local, is essentially service-propelled and driven by instrument or mechanism for the policy formulation and implementation targeted at meeting the needs of the people. This is often achieved through its distinguished institutions and structures known as Public and Civil Services. One thing common with public servants is that they earn their living by rendering one type of service or another to members of the public but are not paid directly by those who enjoy their services. Rather, they are paid indirectly by the government from taxes paid by the members of the public. Therefore, government in discharge of rendering services to the people is faced with many challenges and prospects globally. The need to examine the challenges and prospects of public service in Nigeria informed this paper. Secondary sources of data collection in which information is sourced from books, journals and government publications like public service rules and constitution was employed. Thematic analysis of data is used in the paper. Weberian bureaucratic theory as popularized by Max Weber is used as its framework of analysis. The paper in its findings concludes that persistence use of spoil system in the recruitment of personnel into the public service and series of allegation cases of job racketeering especially on the sales of employment appointment letters (offers) to those seeking for employment posed serious challenges to the operation of public service in the country. It recommends that personnel recruitment into public service and their promotion should be strictly done based on merits and contribution to service.
Nigerian Public Service Reforms and the Fourth Republic Experience: Challenges and Prospects
2012
This paper traces the development of the Nigerian Public Service from its inception as a colonial service through its transformation as a Nigerian Public Service at independence, to the various reforms that have been instituted as a way of making the service of relevance to the development of the nation-State. The paper while identifying factors responsible for the inability of past reforms to deliver on their promises, also interrogates conditions necessary for the success of the current reforms to ensure that the service is properly placed for development of the country especially within the context of much needed structural change that will engender a service that is not only people-oriented but sustainable by giving substantial room for people participation in the service agenda.
Nigeria's Public Service and New Public Management Reform
2011
The seeming failure of public service in Nigeria is demonstrated by a series of reforms introduced by successive governments to redefine and reinvigorate it. While some of these reforms are internal, some were externally induced. The climax of such reform initiatives in contemporary democratic Nigeria was the introduction of New Public Management commonly known as NPM. New Public Management reforms offer many alternatives towards efficient service delivery. However, because of its market-cum-democratic characteristics, it seems very difficult to operate in an unstable democratic system. Premised on the apparent desire to achieve efficient service delivery, Nigeria implemented New Public Management reform as a catalyst to redefining and retransforming its public service. This paper investigates the implementation of NPM in Nigeria and argues that minimal if any results are likely to be achieved. This is largely because of the inherent contradictions between the main requirement of NP...
Public Policy and Public Service Delivery in Nigeria: The Nexus
2020
Public Policies are made and implemented in order to provide services to the citizens of a country. Public policies are therefore instruments of governments to provide solutions to perceived public problems. It is therefore a governmental action and programmes of action geared towards solving societal problems. The solution of the problems is the provision of services to the people. The public service is very important in the provision of services to the citizens of any country because it is through the public service that government manages its activities. It plays a vital role in delivering and distributing services across the country. This paper seeks to trace the nexus between public policy and public service delivery in Nigeria, and to find out why many policies fail to achieve their objectives and render services to the people. The Total Quality Management (TQM) was adopted as its framework of analysis. The paper recommends among others that there is a strong nexus between pub...
CIVIL SERVICE REFORMS IN NIGERIA: THE JOURNEY SO FAR IN SERVICE DELIVERY
This paper deals with empirical facts regarding political institutions, growth and development in Pakistan from 2008 to 2013. There are two aims of this study, first to understand the nature of political institutions in Pakistan and second their impact on socio-political and economic growth that lead to development. Institution may be defined as a mechanism, organization, body, or company where people work collectively for any constructive objective that could lead the country as a whole towards development. It is very difficult to provide any definition for the understanding of political institutions. For the paper we can define, Political institutions are institutions that seek authority through legitimacy, enforce laws, and punish the transgressor. It includes political parties, legislature, executive and judiciary. After having sensible political institutions one can think about growth, that is an evolutionary process for change. The change is development. Therefore, Pakistan is one of the countries in the world where so-called 1 political institutions are working for the growth and development of few individuals, few families, few media channels and few religious groups. Although it has been everywhere in the world but intensity of pragmatism makes the political institutions fruitful. It follows with growth and development with same intensity. Thus, Pakistan needs realistic political institutions that believe in the growth of a common person and development of the whole. Individualistic and holistic theories are used for understanding the whole phenomenon.