ABSTRACT
The
Nigerian government has embarked on several reforms aimed at improving the
efficiency, effectiveness and professionalism in the public service.
Notwithstanding the said reforms, the Nigerian Public Service still remains
inefficient, and bedeviled by myriads of problems which include bureaucracy,
bribery and corruption, poor structure and sense of accountability,
lackadaisical attitude and reluctance of public servants towards work, the
presence of ghost workers and an extremely large workforce, lack of job
efficiency, political instability, the race for self aggrandizement, inadequate
of control systems and many others are antithetical to the proper functioning
of the public service in Nigeria. Despite the existence of legal and regulatory
frameworks and mechanisms such as the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria, the public service rules and other relevant legislations, the Code
of Conduct Bureau, the Code of Conduct Tribunal, aimed at regulating the code
of conduct for public service, these mechanisms play minimal roles in the
effective regulation of the public service and the Nigerian public service of
today remains worse than the near-perfect public service handed over to Nigeria
by Britain. Hence, there has been from time to time, a constant need for
reforms in the Public service in Nigeria. This work examines the functions of
public service, the challenges affecting the public service, the various
reforms in the public service, the measure of effectiveness of the public
service reforms/regulatory frameworks in the public service, and proposes
practical solutions to these problems. This work also draws a comparison
between the public service in Nigeria with the Public Service in the United Kingdom
and the United States of America. This work also recommends the need for public
servants to comply with laid down laws, rules and regulations in the public
service, proposes effective criminal justice administration in the prosecution
of bad public servants who violate public service rules and their accomplices
aiding and abetting their unlawful activities, proposes a decentralization of
the fight against corruption in the public service, re-orienting public
servants on their status as accountable servants for the public, and instilling
in public servants a general drive for dedication, integrity, accountability
and patriotism in their service delivery.
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
Pages
Title Page i
Certifrication ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgement iv
Table of Content v
CHAPTER
ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Meaning Of Public Service 1
1.2 Historical Background Of Public Service
In Nigeria 3
1.3 Features Of Public Service 5
1.4 Scope Of Public Service 6
1.5 Distinction Between The Public Service
And The Civil Service 8
1.6 Functions
Of The Nigerian Civil Service 11
1.7 Effectiveness In The Public Service 13
1.8 Meaning Of Effectiveness 15
1.9 The Concept Of New Public Management 17
CHAPTER
TWO
2.1 Meaning Of Reform 20
2.2 The Necessity For Public Service Reforms
In Nigeria 20
2.3 Stages Of Public Service Reforms In
Nigeria 23
2.3.1 Pre-Independence Reforms 23
2.3.2 Post Independence Reforms 28
2.3.3 Public Service During The Second Republic 32
2.3.4 Falae Committee 1976) (A.K.A.) Committee On The Re‐Appraisal
Of 33
The Civil Service
2.3.5 Dotun Philips Study Team (1985) 34
2.3.6 The 1988 Civil Service Reform 35
2.3.7 Evaluation Of The 1988 Reforms 36
2.3.8 Allison Ayida Review Panel – 1995 37
2.3.9 Obasanjo Administration Reform 38
2.3.10 Alhaji
Umaru Musa Yar’adua And Goodluck Jonathan 44
Administrations
Public Service Reforms.
CHAPTER
THREE
3.1 Challenges Of The Public Service Reforms
In Nigeria 47
3.2 Effectiveness Of Reforms In The Public
Service In Nigeria 51
3.3 The Federal Civil Service 52
3.4 State Civil Service 53
3.5 Statutory Corporations Of The Federal And
State Governments 54
3.6 Authorities Or Commissions Established By
Government 56
3.7 Independent National Electoral Commission 58
3.8 The Economic And Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) 59
3.9 The Armed Forces 61
3.10 The
Nigeria Police 63
3.11 The Judiciary 64
CHAPTER FOUR
4.1 Legal
Reforms In The Public Service 67
CHAPTER FIVE: RECOMMENDATION
AND CONCLUSION
5.1 Recommendations 76
5.2 Conclusion 78
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 MEANING
OF PUBLIC SERVICE
There
are various meanings, definitions and misconceptions surrounding the concept of
“Public Service” as proffered by several writers and authors alike. However, in
this chapter, the public service will not only be defined from the statutory,
constitutional and judicial points of view but also, a distinction will be
drawn between the Public Service and Civil Service.
One
of the most common misconceptions about the public service is that which
automatically tags public servants as civil servants. Another of such
misconceptions is evident from the definition preferred by Okoli and Onah
who submitted that “the English used the term public service in a broader
concept to include the personnel of the central government agencies” and that
“in our use of the term “public service”, we exclude the Armed Forces, the
quasi-government corporations and statutory Bodies”.
It
is humbly submitted that the above definition runs contrary to the provisions
of Section 318 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as
amended) which defines the public service as “the service of the Federation in
any capacity in respect of the Government of the Federation” and includes
Servants such as:
a) Clerk
or other Staff of the National Assembly or of each House of the National
Assembly;
b) Member
of Staff of the Supreme Court, the Court of
Appeal, the Federal High Court, the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory Abuja, the
Sharia Court of Appeal of FCT, the Customary Court of Appeal of FCT or other courts established for the
Federation by this Constitution and by Act of the National Assembly;
c) Member
or Staff of any Commission or authority established for the Federation by this
Constitution or by an Act of the National Assembly;
d) Staff
of any area Council;
e) Staff
of any Statutory Corporation established by a n Act of the National Assembly;
f) Staff
of any educational institution established or financed principally by the
Government of the Federation;
g) Staff
of any company or enterprises in which the Government of the Federation or its
agency owns controlling shares or interest; and
h) Members
or officers of the armed forces of the Federation or the Nigeria Police Force
or other government security agencies established by law.
Other
authors have proffered better definitions and broader conceptualization and
differences between the concepts of public and civil service.
With
respect to the Public Service, Adamolekun
submitted that it “usually indicates a wider scope than the civil service
(and)... means the totality of services that are organized under public (i.e.
government) authority”. Therefore, it covers ministries, departments and
agencies of the central government, its field administration, local government,
the military, other security forces and the judiciary. This is a broader
conceptualization and it approximates the constitutional definition of the
terms and the distinction between them.
On
his part, Olaopa
noted that constitutional provisions did not recognize the term “the Nigerian
Public Service”, but rather, its provisions contained the Public Service of the
Federation, at the federal and state levels; the public service of the states
of the federation including Local Government Council services.
He
defined public service of the Federation to include all officials of
“government at the federal state and local government levels in the ministries,
parastatals, extra- ministerial departments and the paramilitary
organizations”.
1.2 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF PUBLIC SERVICE
IN NIGERIA
The history/devolution of public service in Nigeria
can be traced to colonialism in Nigeria. The Nigerian public bureaucracy is a
product of the British Colonial public service, and the arrangement of
ministries, departments and agencies of government derived largely from the
British system of administration.
Prior to the British colonialism in Nigeria, different
ethnic groups that make up Nigeria today lived in empires and clans. In the
North, there existed different empires while in the South there existed
different empires, clans and communities. The British colonial power through
conquest, forcefully integrated different ethnic communities and kingdoms under
the Lagos colony and established direct rule in 1861. Civil Service (public
service) was created in 1862f with this specific purpose; the survival of
capitalism in colonial Nigeria and the stability of colonial capitalist state
structure. As a result, British government established different hierarchical
positions of Governors, Chief Magistrate, colonial secretary and senior
military officers, office of private secretary to the Governor, Auditor for
Public Account, Chief clerk and collector of customs.
According
to Oladipo
the civil and public services collectively represent the Nigeria public
bureaucracies and constitute an indispensable tool of governance from the
colonial era as manifested in the discharge of the following functions:
Ø Formulation
of government policies and programmes;
Ø Planning
and implementation of government policies and programmes on social services
provision;
Ø Preparation
of annual budgets and development plans;
Ø Revenue
collection such as taxes, fines and duties;
Ø Making
bye-laws, regulations and orders under powers granted by the Parliament and
other quasi-judicial functions;
Ø Keeping
government records and properties;
Ø Information
dissemination and public enlightenment
These public bureaucracies were established as the
essential ingredient, sine-qua-non for the consolidation of pre-colonial state
structures in Nigeria which were occupied solely by the British. In 1900, the
Niger coast protectorate was merged with the Lagos Colony and became the
Southern protectorate. But in the Northern protectorate, the colonial power
established the system of indirect rule where the traditional rulers served as
the link between the colonial civil service and the people. The 1914
amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates into a single entity called
Nigeria helped put in place a centralized public service administration. The
real structure of Public service was put in place by Sir Hugh Clifford. He
established a central secretariat in Lagos in 1921. In 1939 similar
secretariats were established for the three broad groups of provinces
administered from Ibadan, Enugu and Kaduna. The 1940’s and 1950 saw the
emergence of the Nationalist Nigerian administration and marked the beginning
of a truly Nigerian public service. This period also marked the beginning of
pressures for reforms in the Nigeria Political and civil service structure.[7]
The
British sought to maintain law and order and utilize the public service and its
personnel to exploit and expropriate indigenous natural resources.
Despite the unparalleled expansion in the Public Service from 1960 till date,
the structure has remained essentially the same, which has made it difficult to
rise to the dictates of developmental paradigms, notwithstanding various reform
attempts by various administrations of government.
Upon independence, there were still many British
Officials as permanent secretaries and professional heads of departments with a
few Nigerians in the service. The Public service was allowed to function in its
traditional British form i.e. public servants were employed by the Public
Service Commission. At that time, public servants were recruited, appointed,
graded, investigated and disciplined by the commission. Ministers could neither
appoint nor remove civil servants and could not directly discipline them.
However, the minister had the right to decide against the recommendation of the
permanent secretary notwithstanding all evidence. Things started to change
after the coup that overthrew Gowon in 1975, when thousands of public servants
were summarily dismissed without the benefit of defending themselves. Until the
1988 reforms, the civil service in Nigeria was organized strictly according to
British traditions. It was apolitical; civil servants were expected to serve
every government in a non-partisan way. Recruitment and promotion provided the
culture of meritocracy from the public service.[10]
Upon Nigeria’s independence in October 1960, the 1960
constitution provided for a parliamentary government and a substantial measure
of self-government for the country’s three regions which where the Eastern,
Western and Northern regions.
Since then, various panels have studied and made
recommendations for reforming of the Civil Service, including the Morgan
Commission of 1963, the Adebo Commission of 1971 and the Udoji Commission of
1972 – 74. A major change occurred with the adoption in 1979 of a constitution
modelled on that of the United States. The Dotun Philips Panel of 1985
attempted to reform the Civil Service. The later report of the Ayida Panel made
recommendations to reverse some of the past innovations of the Dotun Phillips
panel in order to have a more efficient civil service.[11] The Civil Service has been
undergoing gradual and systematic reforms and restructuring since May 29, 1999
when the military handed over power to the civilian government of President
Olusegun Obasanjo, after decades of military autocracy.
1.3 FEATURES OF PUBLIC SERVICE
Some of the basic features of Public service institutions include:
- State Ownership;
- Public Accountability;
- State Control;
- Autonomy;
- Continuity, etc.[12]
1.4 SCOPE
OF PUBLIC SERVICE
Public
services generally fall under four classes namely: the civil service of the
federation, the civil service of the state; the public service of the
federation and the public service of the state.
The
term ‘Public Service’ is used to refer to all the activities concerned with the
management of government administration and the study of these activities.
Precisely, it deals with all activities that come directly under governmental
activities.
For
a definition of Public Service to be proper, it must of necessity include the
activities and services rendered by the following public institutions: (i) The
Federal Civil Service (ii) The State Civil Service (iii) Local Governments (iv)
Statutory Corporations of the Federal and State Governments (v) Companies or
enterprises with full or majority ownership by either the Federal or State
Government (vi) Authorities or Commissions established by the Federal or State
Government (vii) Educational institutions established or financed mainly by
Federal and or State Governments (viii) The Nigeria Police (ix) The Armed
Forces; and (x) The Judiciary.
Constitutionally,
the Public Service is the Service of the Federation in any capacity in respect
of the Offices of The Clerk or other staff of the National Assembly; members of
staff of the Courts of Judicature of the Federation and States, members of
staff of any commission or authority established for the Federation or States,
staff of any company or enterprise in which the Government or its agencies hold
a controlling share or interest; members of the Armed Forces and the Police;
staff of a Local Government Council; of a statutory corporation; educational
institutions established or principally financed by government.
The
constitution also ensures the public service is a mandatory
institution of the State
as it makes it mandatory for the existence of a public service at both the
Federal and State levels of government in Nigeria.
Simply
put, public officers are Persons who render public services and or serve in an institution
or establishment wherein they receive regular wages/salaries from government
i.e. persons employed and paid by government in its institution or
establishment subject to the provisions of the Fifth Schedule to the
constitution which defines public officers as persons holding any of the offices
specified in Part II of the Schedule.
Chairmen
and members of adhoc commission, tribunals; committees are excluded from the
list of public officers in Part II of the Fifth Schedule to the constitution.
However, it extends beyond the definitions of Part IV, Sections 318 (1), as it
also includes elective as well as appointed offices i.e. The President,
Vice-President, Governors and their Deputies, Minister and Commissioners;
members and staff of the Legislative Houses, Chairman, Directors of all Corporations
and Companies in which the State has controlling shares or interest.
In
a bid to distinguish between the public service and the Civil Service, the
Nigerian constitution defines civil service of the federation thus:
“Service
of the federation in a civil capacity as staff of the office of the President,
the Vice-President, a Ministry or department of the Government of the
Federation assigned with the responsibility for any business of the Government
of the Federation.”
From
a judicial stand point, the Court of Appeal, Ilorin Division in the case of OLORUNTOBA – OJU V. LAWAL & 3ORS,
defined public service of the federation as follows:
“By
virtue of S.277(1) of the 1979 constitution (now Section S. 318(1)
of the 1999 constitution) public service of the federation means service of the
federation in any capacity in respect of the government of the federation and
it includes service as: Clerk or other staff of the National Assembly or of
each House of the National Assembly; Member of staff of the Supreme Court, the
Court of Appeal, the Federal High court, the High court of the Federal Capital
Territory or other courts established for the federation by the Constitution
and by the National Assembly; Member or staff of any commission or authority
established for the federation by the Constitution or any Act of the National
Assembly; Staff of any statutory corporation established by an Act of the
National Assembly; Staff of any educational institution established or financed
principally by the Government of the federation; Staff of any company or
enterprise in which the Government of the federation or it’s agency owns
controlling shares or interest; Members or officers of the armed forces of the
federation or the Nigeria Police Force;”
The
Court of Appeal in OLORUNTOBA – OJU V.
LAWAL & 3ORS (supra) further stated as follows:“to hold that since the
definition of the public service includes the “civil service” therefore a
public servant or officer is a civil servant and therefore subject to the civil
rules, will definitely be an over simplification apart from being very wrong
because for example a member or officers of the armed forces of the federation
or of Nigeria police force is a public servant but definitely not a civil
servant and therefore not bound by the civil service Rules. The same thing
applies to judicial officers including the learned trial judge who is not
subject to the discipline of the civil service commission which would have been
the case if the civil service rules were to be applicable to his office or
employment.
1.5 DISTINCTION
BETWEEN THE PUBLIC SERVICE AND THE CIVIL SERVICE
The
term public service is broader and more inclusive than the civil service. The
Public service in addition to the Civil Service encompasses the Armed Forces,
the Judiciary, the Police, Government Institutions, Parastatals; Government
owned Companies and Statutory Agencies.
However, some legal writers and authors have wrongly distinguished between these
two concepts. A questionable example is the distinction referring to civil servants
as those public servants who are direct employees of the federal and state
governments, other than the police, the armed forces personnel, the judiciary
personnel and teachers. Its usage excludes also employees of statutory
corporation and boards.
It
is humbly submitted that the 1999 constitution of Nigeria never excluded
employees of statutory corporations and boards as public servants.[20]However,
the 1999 Constitution increased the scope of the Public Service by including
Staff of any area council as public servants. Public service of the State means
the service of the sate in any capacity in respect of the government of the
state and includes service as: Clerk or other staff of the House of Assembly;
Member or staff of the High Court, the
Sharia court of Appeal, customary Court of Appeal or other court established
for a state by the constitution or by a law of a House of Assembly; Member or
staff of any commission or authority established for the state by the
Constitution or any law of a House of Assembly; Staff of any local Government
council; Staff of any statutory corporation established by a law of a House of
Assembly; Staff of any educational institution established or financed
principally by the Government of the state; and Staff of any company or
enterprise in which the Government of a state or its agency holds controlling
shares or interest. Meanwhile, by the same Section 318 of the Constitution of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended),
civil service of the federation means service of the federation in a civil
capacity as staff of the office of the President, the Vice President, a
Ministry or department of the Government of the federation assigned with the
responsibility of any business of the Government of the federation, while civil
service of a state means service of the Government of a state in civil capacity
staff of the office of the Governor, or a ministry or department of Government
of the state assigned with the responsibility of any business of the Government
of the state.
According
to Adebayo[22] the
civil service consists of all servants of the state, other than those holding
political appointments, who are employed in a civil capacity and whose
remuneration is paid out of money voted by the legislature. Also, civil service
usually refers to the functionaries of state who are appointed to their
government posts through a non-elective process[23]. These functionaries work
in the main government Ministries and Extra-Ministerial Departments. The
Extra-Ministerial Organizations are headed by Chairmen and not Ministers.
Civil
service refers to government ministries and departments that are charged with
the responsibilities of implementing policies[24]. They are those in the
service of federal, state and local government services primarily responsible
for policy implementation and making inputs available for policy formulation.
Chapter 3, Section 2 of the Civil Service Handbook
makes the definition of civil service clear[26]. It defines the civil
service as follows:
“The civil service is a body or organ which
enjoys continuity of existence. Its members unlike members of the National
Assembly are not limited to a short term office at the end of which they may
not be returned to office ….. When a civil servant relinquishes his office for
whatever reason, his place is taken by another person who similarly enjoys
security of employment”.
According
to the Nigerian Constitution,
civil service of the federation means service of the federation in a civil
capacity as staff of the office of the president, the vice president, a
ministry or department of the Government of the federation assigned with the
responsibility of any business of the Government of the federation. The civil
service is a term used to cover civil servants who are direct employees of the
federal and state governments, other than the police, the armed forces
personnel, the judicial personnel and the teachers. Its usage excludes also
employees of statutory corporations and boards.[28]Adamolekum[29]
sees the civil service as "the body of permanent officials appointed to
assist the political executive in formulating and implementing governmental
policies". 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. The Public Service includes not only those who work in the regular
government ministries and departments but also statutory corporations, boards
and the armed forces. Hence, Adamolekun[30] defines it as the totality
of services that are organized under government authority. It can therefore be
said that civil service is narrower in scope and excludes some government
employees who are public servants.[31]
1.6 FUNCTIONS
OF THE NIGERIAN CIVIL SERVICE
According to Ezeani[32]
five functions of the Nigerian Civil Service are clear cut and they are:
(1) Policy implementation
(2) Provision of inputs for
policy formulation
(3) Investigative and regulatory
functions
(4) Ensuring continuity of
public administration
(5) Informative function
(1) Policy Implementation
The major function of any
civil service including that of Nigeria is to implement the policies of any
government in power, whether military or civilian. Irrespective of their
political leanings, civil servants are expected to serve the government of the
day. The success of any government in power is a function of the expertise,
skills and knowledge of the civil servants.. Ezeani reinforces this when he
notes that the function of the civil service is to close the gap between the
expression of government’s intention as represented by their vision, national
plans or agenda and their actual accomplishment.[33]
.
(2) Provision of Inputs for Policy Formulation
Nigerian civil servants
provide inputs for decision making by the political class. Through memoranda
to their ministers and permanent secretaries, they provide information, data
and informed opinions to the political class. The preparation of the
nation’s plans which could be called many names such as Vision 2020,
Agenda (7-point Agenda), National Economic Empowerment and Development
Strategies (NEEDS) have had lots of inputs from civil servants and government
consultants.
(3) Investigative and Regulatory Roles
With respect to the
investigative and regulatory function of the Nigerian civil service, there are
many organs of government that are responsible for investigating unacceptable
behaviour and also for suggesting appropriate regulations to government.[34]
Such organs are: the National Drug Law and Enforcement Agency, Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission, Internal Revenue Board, and Independent
Corrupt Practices and Miscellaneous Offences Commission.
(4) Continuity of Public Administration. It is generally recognized
that the civil service never dies. It is a continuous organ irrespective
of changes in government. Civil servants may retire or disengage their
services, but there are others who have been groomed to take over from
them. The civil service is a store of knowledge of past government
decisions and procedures.[35]
They therefore play an educative role by assisting the political class
to realize their roles in governance.
(5) Information Dissemination
This function is very close
to the continuity function. The difference is that the focus here is on the
gathering of data and information which provide a databank for nationals and
non-nationals. The civil service, through the Ministry of Information, is
responsible for informing the public about the decisions of government as well
as its achievements, activities and major events.
1.7 EFFECTIVENESS
IN THE PUBLIC SERVICE
Nigeria
seems to be a political circus of some sort where a few individuals are
empowered above public institutions and issues of public office accountability
and trust are treated with kid gloves in the face of tribalism and oppression
of the majority by a few persons.
Hence
a presidential aspirant in USA, Donald Trump remarked that Nigeria should be
colonized by the USA thus:
“Their (Nigerians) governments are so
corrupt, they rob the people blind and bring it all here to spend. And their
people run away and come down here and take our jobs. We can’t have
that! If I become president, we’ll send them all home. We’ll build a wall at
the Atlantic Shore. Then maybe we’ll re-colonise them because obviously they
did not learn a damn thing from the British!”
Since the creation of Nigeria, no administration seems to have shown more
sincerity in its fight for public service effectiveness and against public
service misconduct and corruption other than the current administration of
President Buhari.
However, over centralization of the current reforms in the federal government,
the limitation of the fight against corruption to the federal tier of
government and political opponents at the expense of the National economy is a
major criticism of the president Buhari led administration.
In Nigeria, there's a general outcry that nothing works. Corruption,
embezzlement, misappropriation of funds and so on characterize all facets of
the public sector in Nigeria, from the power sector to the education sector to
the health sector to the agricultural sector to the security/defence sector and
so on.
The Reforms in the public sector are largely ineffective as the common man is
being impoverished day by day and the rate of inflation continues to rise.
Effective
and efficient service delivery resulting in maximum satisfaction on the part of
those being served by public servants, are the hallmark of public service.
A
topical issue of discourse has been whether or not public services or output
are measureable. Proponents in support of the immeasurability of public
services or output hinge their arguments on the notion that since public
(sector) administration embarks on provision of social services for instance, law and order, security, flood
protection, foreign policy, currency and coinage, naturalization and
citizenship etc, its output/activities are unquantifiable.[37]
According
to Ekong[38]
“since bureaucracies intrinsically lack objective criteria for measuring
efficiency or a feedback mechanism in the sense of immediate profit or loss
from daily operations, they tend to become rigid and to cling to their
ineffectiveness until there is a crisis”.
However,
proponents of the school of thought in support of the measurability of public
service effectiveness have argued that same can be measured using
administrative/management, policy and service criteria.[39]
1.8 MEANING
OF EFFECTIVENESS
As
succinctly put by Ekong, effectiveness is “the extent to which an organization
realizes its goals or objectives”.[40] By this definition,
effectiveness relates directly to organizational goals objectives or ends.
A
further drive towards understanding the concept of effectiveness would require
understanding the goals/objectives of public organizations which are diverse.
Effectiveness
of public service can be measured or determined largely by the extent to which
it satisfies the yearnings, aspirations of the society it exists and functions
in and for public services to pass the mark of effectiveness, its values must
approximate societal values and must be pursued as such. The regular review of
the goals of public institutions is essential to justify their continued
existence and relevance.
Every
reform initiative should be aimed at improving managerial capacity as well as
institutional development geared towards achieving administrative effectiveness
and ultimately, national development.
According
to Soyode[41]
effectiveness means “... the capacity to provide or accomplish the correct end
... emphasizes the efforts to secure the relevant outcome.” To him,
effectiveness must translate and correspond to felt needs of the recipients of
public service.
Heinrich[42]
likened administrative effectiveness to performance management which translates
to “working to infuse quality management principles and moving toward a focus
on results or value for money...”
While
to Tampieri[43]
“effectiveness refers to the extent to which the objectives have been achieved
and the relationship between the intended and actual effect of outputs in
objectives achievement”. His views and those of Ekong are similar from the
point of goals/objectives attainment of public service. The central issue here
is on how administrative process contributes to organizational goals and
objectives. It must be noted that with reference to public organizations in
Nigeria, the focus ought to be on the “true public” and their interests taken
care of through qualitative service delivery.[44]
Quality,
cost and service delivery should be part of the irreducible criteria
underlining administrative effectiveness. A major challenge, however, is the
ability or mechanism of the public sector to know if qualitative services are
provided, the impact of public policy on citizens, and if results or outputs
translate to real value for expenditure/costs.
Though
Public Service effectiveness found expression under former President Jonathan’s
transformation agenda through Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and has also
found expression in the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, neither
of these administrations seem to be in
sync with the realities and feelings of Nigerians as regards public service
effectiveness.
International
correspondent Christiane Amanpour of the Cable Network News (CNN), during an
interview with Former president Jonathan weighed the claims of Former president
Jonathan on the alleged drastic improvement in power generation and
distribution in Nigeria with the views and opinions of Nigerians who claimed
that the power supply in the country had deteriorated drastically.[45]
Also,
president Buhari has been accused of not carrying Nigerians along in the
goings-on in the polity and public service administration as he is fond of
speaking to Nigerians mainly when he is in foreign lands.
The
social media has come to identify itself as a veritable tool in measuring the
feelings and yearnings of Nigerians as regards public service effectiveness,
but this mechanism is not without its own limitations.[46]
According
to Obia,[47] the
performance system initiative is premised on three basic principles namely:
“what gets measured gets done; if you cannot measure success, you cannot reward
it; if you cannot measure failure, you cannot correct it”.
1.9 THE
CONCEPT OF NEW PUBLIC MANAGEMENT
The
concept of New Public Management is a reform initiative that was born out of
the inefficiency of the public service and the growing need of Nigerians for
effectiveness in public service delivery.
According
to Rhodes[48] the
new public management has its focus on management, not policy, and on
performance appraisal and efficiency; the disaggregation of Public
bureaucracies into agencies which deal with each other on a user-pay basis, the
use of quasi-markets and contracting out to foster competition; cost-cutting,
and a style of management which emphasizes, amongst other things, output
targets, limited-term contracts, monetary incentives and freedom to manage.
The
underlying principles of New Public Management (NPM) include: management
orientation, efficiency and performance enhancing measures based on objective
and timely appraisal, leaner public bureaucracies assuming the form of agencies
that are driven by market principles such as contracting out (out-sourcing),
competition, cost-reduction measures, setting benchmarks and targets,
short-term contracts, financial inducement and guaranteeing wider latitudes of
discretion for Managers.
According
to Obi and Nwanegbo,[49] New
Public Management is a label used to describe a management culture that
emphasizes the centrality of the citizen or customers, as well as
accountability for result. It captures most of the structural, organization and
management changes taking place in the public services of most developing
countries and a bundle of management.
Nigeria
indeed needs a reform initiative such as NPM which will to a very large extent,
enthrone Public accountability and provide remedy whenever corruption rears its
ugly head in the Nigerian public affairs. This is because Nigeria’s quality of
public service delivery is currently below average and bedeviled by corruption.
As
posited by Hood[50],
the principles of the New Public Management policy framework are:
- That
direct public sector costs should be cut and labour discipline raised so
as to improve resource use;
- That
private-sector-style management practices should be applied to increase
flexibility in decision-making.
- That
competition in the public sector (through term contracts and tendering)
should be increased, as rivalry is the key to lower costs and better
standards;
- That
the public sector should be disaggregated and decentralized to make units
more manageable and to increase competition among them;
- That
controls should be shifted from inputs to outputs, to stress results
rather than procedure;
- That
explicit standards and performance measures should be established, because
accountability requires clearly stated aims and efficiency required
attention to goals; and
- That
managers should be given powers to conduct hands-on professional
management because, accountability requires clear assignment of
responsibility, not diffusion of power.
It
is humbly submitted that some of these principles have been and are still being
applied in Nigeria. President Buhari upon assumption of office as president
stated that he would be paid 50% of the salary paid to his predecessor,
Goodluck Jonathan. [51]
This approach of the president towards governance is still being applauded by
Nigerians and some other public servants e.g. vice president Osinbajo has
followed the same exemplary path.[52] The
president has also embarked on an agenda to cut unnecessary expenses in public
service administration and instill discipline in the public service. The
president recently directed that audit queries must be answered with twenty
four hours of their issue[53]
following his displeasure on hearing that audit queries remained unanswered for
long periods, sometimes running into years, under previous administrations.
Some
of these doctrines were clearly experimented in the Civil/Public Service reform
reports of Udoji (1974), Onosode (1982) and to a greater extent motivated the
Obasanjo Service Delivery Initiative.[54]
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