It is important to point out the confusion over the use of words: “civil service and public service”. Public service is driven by public officers who are either elected or appointed and is managed by civil servants who are employed through rigorous recruitment exercise. What is Civil Service
Imaga, (2003:115) is of the view that civil servants are persons employed in the government civil service and works in any ministry or department of the government. While public service embraces the civil service and other parastatals, commission and agencies of the government which help for the proper provision of goods and services to the people.
The Nigerian Civil Service consists of employees in Nigerian government agencies other than the military. Most employees are career civil servants in the Nigerian ministries, progressing based on qualifications and seniority. Recently the head of the service has been introducing measures to make the ministries more efficient and responsive to the public.
The civil service is the machinery which the government implements tis policies designed to meet political aims and provide social services. This however does not preclude the legistrative and judiciary arms of government in the attainment of the objectives of the civil service. (Oronsaye, 2009).
The new Encyclopedia Britainnica (2004) defines Civil Service as the body of government officials who are employed in civil occupations that are neither political nor judicial. Bezzina (1994) opined that Civil Service refers to employees selected and promoted on the basis of a merit and seniority system, which may include examination.
Therefore, civil service in the Nigeria context refers to the service within government ministries and departments charged with the responsibility of implementing public policies. On the other hand, public service refers not only to service within government departments and ministries but also, in parastatals, police force and armed forces. However, while all civil servants are public servants, not all public servants are civil servants. (Ezeani, 2005).
STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS OF THE NIGERIAN CIVIL SERVICE
The origin of the Nigerian civil service dates back to the beginning of the twentieth century with the introduction of British rule in Nigeria. The colonial masters introduced a dual system administration: direct rule in the South and indirect rule in the North. A more formal civil service emerged only in1914, when the Northern and Southern protectorates were amalgamated to form the present geographical space called Nigeria. This, however, did not immediately lead to a unified civil service until 1945 when significant changes were introduced based on recommendations of walayn committee. These changes included the admission of African into higher grades of the civil service and the creation of the central public service board. In 1954 the federal public service commission was established and granted full powers to appoint, promote, dismiss and discipline junior civil servants. At independent on 1 October 1960, the powers of the renamed federal civil service commission were extended to cover all civil service grades. (Salisu, 2001).
Organization OF CIVIL SERVICE
The civil service is mainly organized around the federal ministries, headed by a minister appointed by the President , who must include at least one member of each of the 36 states in his cabinet. The President's appointments are confirmed by the Senate of Nigeria . There are less than 36 ministries. In some cases a Federal minister is responsible for more than one ministry (e.g. Environment and Housing may be combined), and a minister may be assisted by one or more ministers of State. Each ministry also has a Permanent Secretary, who is a senior civil servant. The ministries are responsible for various parastatals (government-owned corporations) such as universities (Education), National Broadcasting Commission (Information) and Nigerian National Petroleum Corp (Petroleum). Other parastatals are the responsibility of the Office of the Presidency, such as the Independent National Electoral Commission , the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Federal Civil Service Commission (Nigeria Portal. politics Portal, 2011). and the
The service has six additional units which provide services to all departments on the Civil Service:
Establishments & Record Office (E&RO)
Career Management Office (CMO)
Manpower Development Office (MDO)
Management Services Office (MSO)
Common Services Office (CSO)
Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR).
NIGERIA CIVIL SERVICE REFORMS
The Nigerian civil service has undergone a number of reforms in the past decades with the aim of enhancing its efficiency and effectiveness. The mission of the reform is to build a public service that is performance and results-oriented, customer driven, investor friendly, professional technologically sensitive, accountable, fostering partnerships with all stakeholders and committed to a continuous improvement in government business and enhancement of overall national productivity.
The Civil Service in Nigeria is of a colonial creation. The model of Civil Service bequeathed to Nigeria by her colonial master (Britain) was narrow in structure and objectives. It was basically structured in such a manner that enabled colonial masters to successfully extract the much coveted financial and material resources needed by their controlling metropolitan powers. Colonialism was therefore marked by a lack of accountability and absence of transparency.
At independence in 1960 when Nigerian nationals took over the administrative leadership, no attempt was made by them to restructure the Civil Service to suit our own developmental needs. The Nigeria bureaucrats who occupied the leadership position in the Civil Service imbibed the colonial mentality of wealth acquisition for self-aggrandizement and selfsuperiority. Instead of working to improve the lot of the country, they became colonial masters in a, “black man’s skin”. This aggravated the abysmal performance of the Civil Service and consequently the under development of the country. These and other factors necessitated the clamour for reforms in the Nigeria Civil Service.
After independence, Nigerian government carried out series of reforms among which are the Adebo Commission (1971), Udoji Public Service Review Commission of 1974, Dotun Philips Civil Service Reform of 1988, Allison Ayida Committee on Civil Service of 1995. However, Nigeria is not alone in this quest for Civil Service reform. This is because according to World Bank (2002), there is a strong consensus in the international development community on the need for Civil Service reform in developing nations.
Factors that necessitated various reforms in the Nigerian Civil Service (1960-2005):
A number of factors necessitated various reforms in Nigeria. The situation of grand corruption among the Civil Servants was facilitated by the long rule of the Military and its attendant practices of impunity, lack of probity and accountability.
Gowon’s regime was unashamedly corrupt to the macro level. It was not hidden from the public gaze. According to the Nigerian Tribune (1975), his pledge to enact an anti-corruption decree like other promises was never fulfilled. The level of corruption under Gowon’s regime came under public scrutiny when Murtala Mohammed became the head of state and set up Assets Investigation Panel to probe the governors and other public officers that served under Gowon. The panel indicted ten (10) out of twelve (12) military governors and so their assets were confiscated.
The Babangida administration came into power via coup d’état of August 27, 1985 and lunched Nigeria into eight (8) years of kleptocratic rule. Maduagwu (1993), listed some of the highlights of Babangida’s corrupt practices as;
$200 million siphoned from the Aluminum and Smelter project.
N400 million wasted on Better Life project
Huge extra budgeting spending of N186.9 billion naira between 1989 and 1993. Babangida regime is said to be the apogee of corruption in the history of Nigeria.
The Abacha’s loot tops the list of grand corruption in the history of Nigeria, vidence showed that he, his children and their cronies had looted about $3 billion dollars hidden in foreign accounts scattered across Europe and the Persian Gulf.
Based on the afore-mentioned maladies in the Nigeria civil service, various reforms have been introduced by different military regimes and civilian administrations in Nigeria to ensure better management, effective service delivery and accountability of public service.
The ultimate goal is to raise the quality of services delivered to the population, support economic and social development, enhance the capacity to carryout core government functions-revenue generation, financial management, personnel management, policy formulation etc. To achieve the above, Nigeria had embarked on many post independence civil service reforms. Among the most important ones are the Adebo Commission (1971), Udoji Public Service review commission (1974) Dotun Philips Civil Service Reforms (1988) and Allison Ayida Commission (1995).
The Adebo Commission (1971):
The commission studied and reformed the Civil Service. It made a number of recommendations on the structure and organization of the Civil Service. It reviewed the salaries and wages of workers and recommended that a public service commission should be put in place to take up the responsibility of effectively reviewing the salaries and wages.
Udoji Public Service Review Commission Of 1974:
The Udoji Public Service Review Commission of 1974 during Gowon’s regime, over-hauled the entire public service. The basic reason for setting up the Udoji Commission was to ensure the development and optimum utilization of manpower for efficiency and effectiveness in the service. The review commission was tasked to examine the organization, structure and management of the public service; investigate and evaluate methods of recruitment and conditions of employment; examine all legislation relating to pension, as regarding all post; establish scale of salaries corresponding to each grade as a result of job evaluation.
Recommendations
The commission made a number of recommendations that led to the adoption of a “New Style Public Service based on Project Management, management by objective (MBO) and Planning Programming and Budgeting System (PPBS)”. Among others are:
1. a unified grading structure to embrace all posts in the Civil Service,
2. salary to depend on job content and performance,
3. promotion to be based on merit, public sector composition to be in line with that of the private sector, finance and personnel management to be modernized, introduction of code of ethics, motivation of workers.
Dotun Philips Civil Service Reform Commission 1988:
The Dotun Philips Civil Service Reform Commission of 1988 was set up by the Babangida regime, under the chairmanship of Dotun Philips. The Commission was set to study the structure, staffing and operations of the federal Civil Service. This reform did more harm than good as it encouraged corrupt practices in the state bureaucracy. The highlights of the reform were that, the minister was made both the chief executive and the accounting officer of his ministry.
The review commission professionalized the Civil Service, because every officer whether a specialist or generalist made his career entirely in the ministry or department of his choice. Each ministry was made to undertake the appointment, discipline and promotions of its staff and the ministries of finance and national planning were merged etc.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 1988 REFORMS
1.The merging of ministerial responsibilities and administrative controls and their investment in the minister as Chief Executive and Accounting officers
2. Replacement of the designation of Permanent Secretary with the Director General, whose tenure will terminate with the government that appointed him/her and who will serve as Deputy Minister
3. Greater ministerial responsibility in the appointment, promotion, training and discipline of staff.
4. Vertical and horizontal restructuring of ministers to ensure overall management efficiency and effectiveness
5.*Permanency of appointment, as every officer is to make his/her career entirely in one ministry
6. Abolition of the office of the head of civil service and Abolition of the pool system
however, the 1988 civil service reforms led to the:
Conscious and deliberate politicization of the civil service
Misuse and abuse of power by ministers and directors-general who saw their ministries as a separate entity and run them as personal properties
Absence of a coherent and systematic training policy throughout the civil service.
Glaring shortage of skilled manpower, especially in the technical and professional cadre in virtually all the ministries.Prevalence and virtual institutionalization of corruption and
Allison Ayida Civil Service Reform (1995)
The reform panel was chairmaned by Allison Ayida in 1995. The Abacha regime discovered that the Nigeria Civil Service was dying gradually due to the effects of the 1988 reforms. The panel was meant to examine and properly define the role of the Civil Service as an executive arm of government, examine various provisions of the Civil Service Decree N0. 43 of 1988 and make recommendations on how to improve performance, efficiency and commitment in the service, make appropriate recommendations on how to raise the morale of the workers, examine the problem of co-ordination and accountability in the ministries and make recommendations, examine the abolition of the office of the head of service and the pooling system etc. after studying the above issues, the Ayida committee recommended that for effective economic management of the Civil Service, the ministries should be structured according to their objectives, functions and sizes and not on uniform pattern, and that the minister should continue to be head of the ministry only and the permanent secretary the accounting officer so as to re-introduce checks and balances.
The Civil Service Reforms during Obasanjo administration (1999-2007):
According to Obasanjo (2005), the reform of the civil service is one of the central themes of the government’s agenda. “For without a transparent and effective civil service, government business and service delivery to the public will be crippled and mired in dishonesty and graft. I am convinced that an efficient transparent and accountable civil service should be the hallmark of our democratic transformation and development. The Nigeria people deserve nothing less.” (Obasanjo, 2005).
The Civil Service Reform under Yar’Adua:
During the Yar’,Adua administration, the National Strategy for Public Service Reforms (NSPSR) was developed by the Brureau of Public Service Reform (BPSR) and the Inter-ministerial Team (IMT) of Public Officials. This strategy has four pillars, namely:
1. Creating an enabling governance and institutional environment
2. An enabling socio-economic environment
3. Public financial management reform
4. Civil service administration reform
The key targets of the strategy are: effective governance of civil service as an institution; organization efficiency and effectiveness; result-oriented human resource management; professional, ethical and accountable work culture; and improved competence of civil servants. In August, 2009, the federal civil service commission established a new tenure policy limiting the term of permanent secretaries and directors to maximum of eight years in office.
Orosanye Presidential Committee (2011)
President Jonathan inaugurated the Presidential Committee on Rationalisation and Restructuring of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies, on August 18, 2011. This step was taken as an attempt to address the problem of rising budget profile and to reposition the public service for efficiency and effectiveness for the delivery of services that will promote good governance in Nigeria.
the committee recommended the scrapping of 102 statutory agencies from the current 263, abolition of 38 agencies, merger of 52 and reversion of 14 to departments in the ministries
IMPACT OF CIVIL SERVICE REFORMS
The Nigerian Civil Service has undergone several organizational and structural reforms, both before and after independenc and still unable to discharge their statutory duties effectively.
There is weak national consciousness due to earlier introduction of the Nigerianization and regionalization policies that encouraged ethnicity and sectionalism in the rank and file of staffers in the service.
The quality of the Civil Service was severely hampered by cultural, structural, institutional and other management defects.
Therefore, despite the various reforms being carried out on Nigerian civil service, the institution could not still performs its expected responsibilities effectively and efficiently as a result of the following challenges:
Lack of Political Will by the government
Lack of Adequate Salary Corruption
Politicization of the Civil Service
Over Bloated Bureaucracy Weakness of the Civil Service
Lack of Requisite Tools and Equipment for their work
Frequent Postings and Reshufflings of Top Administrators among others.
Conclusion and Recommendations
The civil service is a key machinery in the implementation of government policies towards accomplishing overall national development goals. However various reforms organized to face these challenges but was unable to find solutions to the challenges.
Therefore, Nigeria should stop copying foreign models of Civil Service but develop her own model that will enable her achieve her developmental needs. She has to do this by emulating those countries that had suffered the same fate but have now adopted their Civil Service to their socio-cultural values and have achieved results.
Nigeria should emulate some advanced countries like Asian countries, France, US, Germany, Netherlands, and Canada who have tremendously improved their Civil Service by making it more Client public-oriented.
Nigeria should search for ways to reduce Civil Service expenditures and at the same time improve performance standards in government by adopting the “New public management (NPM) style” or the “New Managerialism”.
Nigeria should focus on the restructuring of the public service sector to avoid unnecessary duplication of ministries, departments and agencies of government. This would definitely prevent waste of resources in the system.
Having identified the problem in the Nigerian Civil Service from independence till date and proffered suggestions on how to improve the service, what Nigeria needs now is to adopt a “new style management” bearing in mind her social and economic environment.
Again the implementation strategy and monitoring systems of the Civil Service are to be taken seriously so that the Nigerian Civil Service would be service-and-result-oriented geared towards the achievement of the nation’s socio-economic development.
Finally, for the Nigerian government to succeed, the Civil Service should be organized in such a way to be in fore-front of the national change process initiating, guiding and managing change.
Above all, the neutrality of the Civil Service should be guarded jealously.
REFERENCES
debayo, A. (1994), Principles and Practice of Public Administration in Nigeria, Ibadan: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Alli, Chris (2001) the Siege of a Nation: The Federal Republic of Nigerian Army, Malthouse and Heinemann
Anazodo, R.O (2009) Civil Service In Nigeria, An Analysis of Its Bureaucratic Effectiveness, Onitsha: Abbot Books, Ltd.
Abdullahi, G. and Ibrahim, M. J. (2014). Civil Service and Sustainable Development in Nigeria, in European Journal of Business and Management Vol. 6. No. 21
Adamolekun L.(2002). Governance Context and Reorientation of Government, Main Issues and Selected Country Studies. Ibadan: Spectrum Books Limited.
Adekola, A.A. and Yahaya, I.I. (2013). The Role of the Civil Service in the Transformation Agenda in Nigeria in Bello-Imam, I.B. (ed.) President Jonathan’s Transformation Agenda: An Assessment
Balewa, B.A.T. (1994). Governing Nigeria: History, Problems and Prospects. Lagos: Malthouse
Beetseh, K. (2010). Civil Service Reforms in Nigeria and Challenges of National Development, Journal of Arts and Contemporary Society,Volume 2.
Demmke, C. (2010); Civil Service in the Eu of 27-“Reform Outcomes and the Future Of The Civil Service”
FRN (Federal Republic of Nigeria), 1995, Review panel on the civil service reforms: main report, the presidency, Abuja , Nigeria.
FRN (Federal Republic of Nigeria), 1988A , Implementation Guild lings on the civil Reforms on the civil service Reforms, Federal Government Press (FGP),Lagos NIGERIA.
FRN (Federal Republic of Nigeria) 1988B, The civil service (Reorganization) Degree No.43 of 1988, Federal Government Press (FGP) Lagos, NIGERIA
Enemuo, F.C (1999) "Approaches and Methods to the study of Politics" in Anifowose, .R. and Enemuo, F.C (eds.) Elements of Politics. Lagos; Malthouse Press Ltd.
Williams, F.O. (1997), The civil Service in Nigeria today. “Paper delivered at the National workshop on the civil service and vision 2010,” Abuja, 12-13 August.
No comments:
Post a Comment