Ezeani, Onyebuchi Emmanuel
Department or Political Science
University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
Abstract
This article appraises the contributions of the Nigerian civil service to nation development. The article notes that its contributions notwithstanding, the performance of the civil service has fallen below” expectations. It has over the years particularly, since the late 1970s onward, remained ineffective, inefficient and incapable of reforming itself and the rest of the economy. This has prompted the many reforms of the service undertaken by successive governments in Nigeria, which aimed at improving its efficiency and effectiveness” “The article identifies the main the main pathologies of the Nigerians civil service such as corruption, conflictual relationship between politicians and administrators, lack of flexibility among bureaucrats, ethnicity and indiscipline, politicalization of the service, et cetera. Finally, it recommends ways of making the Nigerian civil service more efficient and effect.
Introduction
The importance of the civil service in the socio-economic all political development of a nation cannot be over-emphasized. This is more so in developing countries such as Nigeria where, over the years, the government has come to occupy the commanding heights of the socio-political and economic life of the nation. In other words, Nigerian government occupies a significant position as a dominant instrument of change. Thus government has over the years assumed responsibility for funding education, establishing ministries, provision of social infrastructure, providing employment, among others. No government can perform these enormous and unique tasks without the assistance and cooperation of the civil service. As Akingbade {1972:245} rightly points out “The effectiveness of a government is to a very large extent dependent on the efficiency and competence or its civil service”. The term “civil service” is used here to denote those public officials of a permanent and non-political status, who arc direct employees of the federal, state and local governments, other than the police, the armed forces personnel, the judicial personnel, employees of statutory corporations and boards; and the teachers. “The civil service is therefore a component of public bureaucracy” (Nwosu, 1077: 41). The primary responsibility, of the civil service is policy implementation.
The failure of successive regimes in Nigeria to transform the Nigerian economy and raise the living standards of Nigerians has brought to the lore the issue of the actual contribution of Nigerian civil service to national development. Some critics believe that the Nigerian civil service has contributed to the disappointing performance of successive regimes in Nigeria. This they attribute to a “civil service that has, overtime, lost its inherited commitment to political neutrality, professionalism and a developmental meritocratic ethos” (Olowu. et al, 1997: 1). But there are others who argue that the civil service has not been a complete failure. They contend that the civil service has recorded outstanding achievements in national development in spite of the turbulent context in which it has had to operate and that whatever shortfalls of the civil service is a reflection or the moral and political crisis which has befallen the Nigerian state (Olowu,et al 1997:1).
This article is an attempt to contribute to the on-going debate. It evaluates the contribution of the Nigerian civil service to national development under successive regimes in Nigeria. The pathologies of the Nigerian civil service are identified and suggestions are made in the article on ways of strengthening the civil service to enable it contribute more meaningfully to national development.
The Emergence And Growth Of Nigerian Civil Service
The Nigerian civil service is a colonial creation. Its origin can be traced to the colonial civil service established by the British to govern Nigeria, as a colonial territory. The colonial civil service was characterized by certain features. First, it was meant to help the government maintain law and order as the basis for progress and development. Second, the upper echelon of the civil service was dominated by the Europeans. Third, there was concentration or all powers {executive, judicial and legislature} in the hands of appointed officials to run the affairs of the colony. Finally, the colonial service coopted traditional rulers in administering the country.
Between 1946 and 1951. that is during the period when the Richard’s Constitution was in operation, Nigeria was served by one civil service. With the introduction of the Macpherson constitution of 1955, Nigeria became a federation, with a federal government at the center and regional governments for each of the three regions. This led to the creation of a federal civil service for the center, regional civil service for each of the three regions, and corresponding establishment of Public Service Commission I’Ol1 each tier of government (Olowu, et al, 1997: 3 of 6). The Federal Public Service Commission was granted full power to appoint, promote, dismiss, and discipline junior civil servants. At Independence on I October 1960, the powers of the renamed Federal Civil Service Commission were extended to cover all civil service grades.
From 1954 when the federal constitution was inaugurated, to 1967 when the ‘old federal system’ was destroyed by the emergence of the military in the Nigerian political process, the federal and regional/state civil service exhibited certain common features. Firstly, there was a commitment to devolution of administrative power from the expatriate to indigenous personnel (a process referred to as “Nigerianization”). The “Nigerianization policy proceeded at a quicker pace in the Eastern and Western civil services which inherited more able and experienced administrative officers from the defunct unitary service (Nwosu, 1977: 51), However, clue to the educational backwardness of the North and the lack of qualified personnel the ‘Nigerianization’ process was pursued with great caution by the Northern regional government. At the federal level, the “Nigerianization1 process was slow due mainly to the fact that there were few qualified but experienced Nigerians to replace the expatriate heads of departments and ministries after the massive exodus of the Eastern and Western civil servants to their respective states.
Secondly, all civil services had comparable pay and salary structure. This was the outcome of the report of the Commission on Public Services of the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1954-55 (popularly known as the (Gorsuch Report). According to Olowu et al (1997:4 of 6)
“that report observed that it was not in the interest of the regional governments to differ greatly in matters on structure and remuneration of public services …. Because the more they differed, the more difficult it became to devise terms of service for a federal organization”.
The policy lasted up to 1997 when it was abandoned by the Federal Government, and each state was required to establish its own salary structure on the basis of its ability to pay (Federal Republic of Nigerian: 1997 Budget Speech).
Finally, following the British tradition, all the civil services continued to be characterized more or less by permanence, anonymity impartiality and neutrality. However, adherence to these attributes among civil servants varied according to the regime in power. For example, where-as these attributes were maintained in all the civil services during the first civilian rule (1960-1960} because the civil service operated under the protective shield of the politicians; they were greatly eroded during the first military regime of General Gowon (1967 to 1975}, when the higher civil servants dominated the policy process. However, between 1975- 79, the attributes of political neutrality, anonymity and impartiality were observed to a reasonable extent.
It is important to mention that the creation of states in Nigeria which started in 1967, led to increase in civil services from 4 in 1954 to 13 in 1967 and now 36. This led to significant increase in the number of civil servants. In addition, the increase in oil revenue coupled with the drive towards increased representativesness were yet other factors that contributed to the phenomenal growth of the civil service. Table I. shows the growth of the Nigerian Federal civil service from 1966-1993.
Table 1
SIZE OF THE NIGERIAN FEDERAL CIVIL SERVICE 1966-93
| Year | Junior Staff | Senior Staff | Total |
| 1966 | 46,676 | 8,313 | 54,989 |
| 1270 | 32,736 | 12,418 | 45,154 |
| 1974 | 74,198 | 24,679 | 98,877 |
| 1975 | – | – | 122,086 |
| 1978 | – | – | 187,677 |
| 1979 | 174.042 | 21,877 | 195,919 |
| 1980 | – | 2 13. 802 | |
| 1984 | – | – | 157,103 |
| 1985 | – | – | 255,156 |
| 1988 | – | – | 251,657 |
| 1990 | – | – | 273,392* |
| 1991 | 134,762 | 47,380 | 182,142 |
| 1992 | 146,819 | 47.599 | 194,418 |
| 1993 | 149,052 | 49,879 | 198,931 |
Source: Olowu, et al (1997: 3 of 5)
Another important development in the Nigerian civil service since independence in 1960, is the many reforms of the civil service embarked upon by some past regimes. These reforms were aimed mainly at the structure and conditions of service in the public service. Notable among the reforms arc. Jerome Udoji {1972-74}, and Babangida 1988 Civil Service Reform, which was borne out of the recommendations of Dotun Philips Commission and the Political Bureau Report. An important outcome of the 1988 civil service reform was the professionalization of the civil service. By this, both generalists and specialists should make their career entirely in the Ministry or Department of their choice, and thereby, acquire the necessary expertise and experience through relevant specialised training. Other innovations introduced by the reform include (1) the Minister should be the Chief Executive as well as the accounting officer of his ministry. (2) The appointment of Permanent Secretaries who were now known as Director-Generals was made political. This has continued till today.
With regard to the structure, the federal and state civil services are presently organized around government departments, or ministries, and
Extra ministerial departments headed by Ministers (federal) and Commissioners (state), who are appointed by the president and governors, respectively. These political heads are responsible for policy matters. The administrative head of the ministry is the Permanent Secretary who is now the chief accounting officer. The Secretary to the government is the chief adviser to the government. He sets the agenda for the meeting of the council of ministers and the state executive council. The Head of service is the overall administrative head of the civil service.
The Role Of Tile Nigerian Civil Service ill National Development
With the attainment of independence by Nigeria in 1960, the primary role of the civil service changed from the maintenance of law and order and the collection of revenue to meet the cost of services, to the promotion of economic and social services. The civil servants became important partners in the effort of the political leaders to raise the standard of living of the people and in building a new nation. So, how prepared was the civil service to assume the new role assigned to it at independence?
The Nigerian civil service was at independence very fragile and inexperienced as it was a product of a deliberate attempt at not only Nigerianizing the service, but also maintaining a ‘Federal balance’ by way of quota (Okunade, 1989: 9). Furthermore, hardly had the Nigerian civil servants, particularly the senior civil servants most of whom assumed their offices less than five years before independence settled down when the country was engulfed in a series of political crises. The series of intra-patty and inter-party crises that engulfed Nigeria shortly after independence, had adverse effects on political neutrality of the civil service and their ability to concentrate on the task of national development. Some senior civil servants in order to safe-guard their jobs became involved in politics by aligning with one of the factions in the crises. This was very evident in the then Western Nigeria where as punishment to some senior civil servants who maintained the idea of a politically neutral and impartial civil service, the government in 1963 abolished the post of head of the civil service, imposed harsh disciplinary actions on a few Permanent Secretaries (including banishment to unimportant posts and suspension from work in two cases in 1965) (Adamolekun, 1986: 81).
At the federal level, ministers accused their senior civil servants of disloyalty. They alleged that some higher civil servants disclosed confidential documents to members of the opposition in the federal parliament. The allegations of distrust and disloyalty suggest that many ministers did not regard their senior civil servants as confidential advisers. This had adverse implications on both policy formulation and implementation and on the functioning of the machinery of government. Commenting on the role of the senior civil servants in the collapse of the civilian rule in 1960, Adamolekun (1986: 94) said:
… the higher civil servants were also partly responsible for the collapse of civilian rule in 1966. For example, but forthe deus ex machinain the form of a coup d ‘etat, a faction of the Western Nigeria civil service leadership was on the verge of cooperating with the decadent political leadership to subvert the civil service. In the regions with functioning dominant parties, the civil servants served as agents in the suppression of opposition parties, notably through their role in electoral administration. Furthermore, the senior civil servants of the federal level were almost as involved in ‘the regional-tribal nexus1 as were the politicians. At both the federal and regional levels, some senior civil servants colluded with political leaders in diverting public funds for personal enrichment….. The saving grace for the civil servants was the civilian shield for their weaknesses.
In summary, the civil service played a minimal role in national development during the first civilian rule in Nigeria which lasted from 1960 1966. The political climate then was not conducive for effective functioning of the civil service. On the whole, the civil service as an institution survived the collapse of the civilian rule.
The inception of military rule in 1966 which lasted up to 1979 witnessed a more active involvement of the civil service in the task of national development particularly, during the eight years of General Gowon’s regime 1966-1975. Gowon’s regime was characterized by the dominance of the senior civil servants in policy formulation and implementation. The lack of experience by the military in matters of a policy nature and the wealth of experience of the Senior Civil Servants, among others, accounted for the dominance of the latter in policy formulation.
Gowon’s era saw the emergence of Super-Permanent Secretaries who were more powerful than the Ministers and Commissioners. Some of them were appointed chairmen of very important parastatals. The Permanent Secretaries were so powerful that a former civilian head of state, AlhajiShehu Shagari, who was a federal commissioner under Gowon’s regime had this to say:
In a military regime, actually the policies are formulated by the civil servants themselves, not by the military, not by the commissioners. It is the civil servants themselves who formulate policies and execute those policies. That is the position in a military regime…. Under military rule, when a commissioner and his permanent secretary were in disharmony, it was the commissioner who was removed (cited in Adamolekun. 1986: 118).
,’
The important role played by the civil service in national development from 1966 to 1975 can be seen from their activities during this period. In the first place, the civil service was the only institution which provided the machinery necessary for the military regime to function at all after the coup d’etatin 1966,
when the military sacked the civilian government and suspended all democratic institutions and structures. Again, in 1967 when General Gowon created a 12 state structure of administration in the country, the civil servants played an important role in the discussions and examinations of the problems and the details which led to this epoch making decision. In addition, it was on the civil servants that the responsibility fell for making the decision a reality (Lawson, 1974: 138). The civil service also played an important role in executing the civil war. Furthermore, at the end of hostilities in 1970, when the Gowon government declared a policy of general amnesty, it was the civil servants of all grades who ensured the implementation of the rehabilitation, reconstruction and reconciliation policy of the federal military government. The civil servants also made significant inputs into the formulation of both the 1970-75 national development plan and the indigenization policy.
While it cannot be denied that there were concrete achievements recorded by civil servants in the task of national development during this period, this achievement was marred by serious cases of corruption among the senior civil servants. Some senior civil servants at both the federal and state levels colluded with the military leaders to loot the national treasury. Thus despite the tremendous oil boom of late 1973, little progress was recorded in the area of revamping the war torn economy and improving the standard of living of the people.
This was the situation when the military struck against itself in July 1975. The major action during the first few months of the new military regime headed by General Murtala Muhammed was a purge of the public service. The vast majority of more than 11,000 officials who were purged belonged to the country’s thirteen civil services (the federal civil service and the civil services of the then twelve constituent states). The 1975 purge had adverse effect on the morale of the civil servants throughout the country. In the first place, the purge contradicted the concept of security of tenure which is the cornerstone of a career civil service. It also tarnished further the already dented image of the civil service. Furthermore, the purge made the civil servants afraid and reluctant to take decisions. According to Ayida (1979: 224):
In many quarters, the approach of many public officers to decision making did become tentative.
There was a visible and conscious attempt by officials to avoid responsibility for even routine decisions for fear of future probes and enquiries …, This indecision and the resultant lack of initiative almost assumed the proportion of sabotage and partial paralysis in some areas of government
activities.
With regard to policy implementation for national development, the performance of the civil services between 1975 and 1979 leaves much to bedesired. On one occasion, they were rebuked for poor performance by the head of state: “As is well known, files have commonly been missing, projects have been delayed and implementation has been, on occasions, distorted (FMG, ‘1979: 473). This was the situation when the military headed by General Obasanjo, in 1979, handed power to a democratically elected government headed by AlhajiShehu Shagari.
The idea of a career civil service was maintained under the Shagari regime (1979-1983). The civil service played some roles in national development through policy advice and its primary responsibility for the implementation of settled policies. However, the attempt to implement the federal character principle had negative effect on the civil service. In an attempt to redress the dominance of the federal civil service by some states/ethnic groups, the government embarked on targeted retrenchment/retirement and this dampened the moral of the civil servants. The Shagari regime was overthrown in 1984 in a military coup d’etat led by General Muhammadu Buhari. Under him, the civil servants continued to play its primary role of policy advice and policy implementation. However, the harsh economic policies of the regime such as wage freeze and embargo on employment dampened the morale of the civil servants further. The civil service was therefore ineffective by the time Babanginda succeeded Buhari through (pakce) a military coup in 1986. This fact was appreciated by the Political Bureau set up by Babangida when it states:
In spite of its strategic position, the institution has basically remained a cog in the wheel of the development of the country. Any attempt therefore, to chart a new political order for Nigeria has to squarely grapple with the problem of the civil service (Report of the Political Bureau, 1986: 256).
In order to revamp the civil service, the Babangida regime, introduced many reforms such as the professionalization and politicization of the civil service, et cetera. However the effect of these reforms were neutralized by the excessive politicization of the civil service to the extent that most top officials openly supported the government of the day. In addition, the introduction of the quota system of recruitment and promotion, adherence to the federal-character principle, and the constant interference of the government in the day-to-day operation of the civil service-especially through frequent changes in top officials and massive purges-meant that political factors rather than merit alone played a major role in the civil service. Also, the untold hardship imposed on the Nigerian workers by the Structural Adjustment Policies introduced by Babangida demoralized the civil servants and brought about negative attitude to work among most of them, In fact, under Babangida and the subsequent Abacha regime, the middle class in Nigeria was wiped out. Most civil servants lived below subsistence level. Despite this ugly situation, the civil servants continue to play
some role in policy advice and implementation of settled policies. For instance, they were instrumental to the formulation and implementation of the national rolling plan (1990-92 and 1992-94).
The civil service continues to play some roles in the task of national development under the current civilian regime headed by President Olusegun Obasanjo. The morale of the civil servants appears to have improved considerably under Obasanjo’s regime due to the review and increase in the salaries and allowances of workers embarked upon by Mr. President on assumption of office in 1999. The civil servants are presently more disposed to work than was the situation during the last military regimes. The federal government appears to be under no illusion about the urgent need to effect the necessary reforms that will address the problems of the civil service. The government had embarked on measures to reorient senior public servants to the new administration’s expectation of them and to seek to reestablish, old civil service values of loyalty, integrity, dedication and competence. For example, in the past few years the government had organized retreats, seminars and workshops to promote the spirit of teamwork, accountability and transparency. In addition, the President has accomplished the revision of the Public Service Rules to underscore his “concern for discipline and proper conduct and practices by public officers in accordance with the provisions of the Rules” (Musa, 2002; 4). The Financial Regulations were also revised “for the restoration of rules and regulations and the need to adhere strictly to them in the conduct of government business particularly in the control and management of public funds and resources of government” (Musa, 2002: 4).
In summary, there is no doubt that the Nigerian civil service has played some role in the task of national development. To say the opposite is a mark of insincerity in the appreciation of its service to the nation. However, the performance of the civil service has so far fallen below expectations. It has over the years particularly, since the late 1970s remained ineffective, inefficient and incapable of reforming itself and the rest of the economy. This has prompted the many reforms of the service undertaken by successive governments in Nigeria, which aimed at improving its efficiency and effectiveness. Yet, the civil service is still characterized by inefficiency and ineffectiveness. The civil service is not without some problems. The civil servants operate under certain socio-economic and political environment which undermined their effectiveness and efficiency and by extension their contribution to national development. This fact must be recognized and taken into consideration in appraising the Nigerian civil service.
Pathologies Of The Nigerian Civil Service
The Nigerian civil service has over the years been plagued by a number of problems which adversely affected its role as an instrument for socio-economic and political development of the country. The problems include:
1. The nature of political competition in the Nigerian environment:
The Nigerian civil service has been transformed into the theatre for sharing the ‘national cake’ among the major ethnic and sub-ethnic groups, a factor responsible for the unending demand for fragmentation of governmental structure {units of ministries, divisions of major departments, et cetera} despite the obvious difficulties in sustaining the existing ones {Olowu, et al, 1997:1 of 5}. The situation is worsened by the public perception of the civil service as an amoral realm that is to be plundered to sustain individual survival or the survival of a community, ethnic or other primordial grouping {Olowu, 1997: 1 of 5}.
, particularly, the top civil servants tend to assume an air of superiority and self-importance and
wielded by administrators in government. It is important that certain amount of confidence exist between the politicians and administrators if the latter is to make a valuable contribution to national development.
2. The conflictual relationship between politicians and administrators: The administrators, particularly, the top civil servants tend to assume an air of superiority and self-importance and often look down on politicians many of whom they perceive as uneducated and ignorant of public service procedures. They also regard politicians as selfish people whose main interest .is to use government power to enrich themselves against public interest (Katako, 1971: 417., Olowu, 1997 :2 of 5). The politicians on the other hand have always felt threatened by the amount of influence and power wielded by administrators in government. It is important that certain amount of confidence exist between the politicians and administrators if the latter is to make a valuable contribution to national development.
3.Corruption: This is another problem which militate against the ability of the civil service to perform its role as an instrument of change. Senior administrators in particular have always colluded with politicians to loot the national treasury. The level of corruption in the civil service was exposed by the 1975 purge of the public service in which 11, 00 public servants, the majority being civil servants including super permanent secretaries, were either dismissed or retired (Asiodu, 1979:pp. 74-77). Many civil servants were also either dismissed or retired by General Muhammadu Buhari, when he assumed power in 1984, due to corrupt practices. The problem of accountability in the Nigerian civil service is further heightened by weak institutional structure for promoting accountability. As Olowuet al (1977: 2 of 5) rightly points out:
Long years of military rule has produced a situation in which key institutions for advancing accountability in government have been casualties of military rule: the press is censored, the legislature is suspended and the judiciary’s independence is severely constrained by law through ouster clauses.
In addition to the above is the persistence of colonial mentality whereby public service is regarded as an alien institution which is to be plundered.
4. Lack of flexibility Among Bureaucrats; Nigerian bureaucracy is characterized by inflexibility. By inflexibility we mean the tendency of the bureaucrats to cling tenaciously to routine, well established procedures for doing things or what some people refer to as redtapism.
Commenting on the inflexible nature of the Nigerian civil service, Katako {1971-416} said:
One of the major impediments to quick action, however, can be traced to excessive layering in
the ministries themselves. After a file has worked its way through the various departmental levels, the customary procedure has required that it begins all over again at the lowest clerical level proceeding for notations through the various secretarial ranks Lip to the permanent secretary’s desk. Procedural slavishness and dilatory tactics at lower levels have created bottlenecks, which only heroic action can break.
Inflexibility not only stifles innovation but leads to waste of time or delay in implementation of public policies. Innovative behaviour according to Palma {1985:273} requires a certain amount of flexibility and willingness to bend formal procedures to meet the task at hand.
5. Acrimony that Exists Between Generalist Administrators and Professionals: This problem elates back to the colonial era when professionals occupied the top management positions in the departments and the change to the parliamentary system in 1948, when these positions were taken by generalists as in Britain (Olowu et al, 1997:2 of 5). The problem has persisted since Nigerian’s independence in 1960 despite several approaches that have been adopted to solve it. Thus, “instead of the relationship of these officers to be characterized by “cooperative rational action” it is marked by “distrust” (Nwosu, 1979:78). The strained relationship between the professionals and the generalist administrators leads to delay, concentration of authority, and reluctance to delegate responsibility.
6. Poor Remuneration of Civil Servants: There are no doubts that civil service wages and salaries in Nigeria are not only low, but have also declined in real terms in the past two decades. Apart from the oil boom period of the 1970s, real wages declined on average by 14 per cent during the period (1970-1992 and 34 per cent during the 1980s, Crable 2). The main reason for this decline was the high rates of inflation that the economy was experiencing. The situation was very serious and almost unbearable from 1984 to 1998 (a period traversing the military regimes of Generals Buhari, Babangida and Abacha). During this period, the salaries and wages of the civil servants were below subsistence level. In fact, during the regime of General Muhammadu Buhari, there was a freeze on wage Increase.
Nigerian civil servants are poorly remunerated when compared with some of their counterparts working in certain private organizations. Wages in private manufacturing are, for example, much higher than those in the public sector (Table3). There have been two successive attempts since 1998 to increase the public sector minimum wage in Nigeria. The first was introduced by the military regime of General AbdulsalamiAbubakar in 1998 when the minimum wage was increased dramatically from USS$1.20 to US$41.77 per month (using a paralled market rate of 83.8 Naira to a $1). Another attempt at raising the national minimum wage was undertaken in May 2000 by the new democratically-elected administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo. The public sector minimum monthly wage was raised to US$53.91 (at the parallel market rate of NI02.02 = $1.00), that is by about 30 per cent in nominal terms, but without compensating sufficiently for the wage erosion of the past decade. Not only did minimum wages continue to be fixed, and thus quickly eroded by inflation, but were sometimes beyond the budgets of state governments. The latter were thus unable to pay workers, at the new minimum wage, resulting in conflict between labour and state governments (Salisu, 2001: 7).
Poor remuneration of workers has negative impact on their overall productivity. As Salisu (200 I: 7) rightly points out “A demoralized and disgruntled worker whose image has been unduly tarnished cannot be an elective instrument of change”. When the primary occupation is no longer remunerative, workers are bound to devote more time to other secondary Occupations in order to raise money to take care of the various needs of their families.
Table 2
Real wages (trends, annual change) and inflation rates (period average %) 1970-1997
| 1970-1979 | 1980-1992 | 1970-1992 | 1992-1997 | |
| Real Wages | 5.25 | -14.12 | -34.17 | n.a. |
| Inflation | 14.36 | 19.79 | 17.29 | 36.22 |
| Maximum | 2917 | 44.00 | 43.15 | 72.81 |
| Minimum | 3.40 | 5.56 | 3.40 | 7.36 |
Sources; National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission of Nigeria, Revised and Harmonised Public Service Structure and Allowances for the Federal Public Service, various years; Federal Office of Statistics of Nigeria, Annual Abstract of Statistics, various years. The trend in real wages was estimated by regressing the logarithm of real wages against a time trend over the different sub-periods.
Table 3
Monthly Wages and Salaries per Semi-skilled Worker in Selected Manufacturing Industries, 1990
| Naira | |
| Dairy Products | 13,000 |
| Grain Mill Products | 8,000 |
| Soft Drinks | 22,000 |
| Malt Liquor and Malt | 13,000 |
| Drugs and Medicine | 9,000, |
| Glass and Glass Products | 18,000 |
| Tyre and Tubes | 23,000 |
| Soap, Detergent and Cosmetics | 10,000 |
| Fabricated Metal Products | 10,000 |
| Electrical Appliances and Housewares | 11,000 |
Source: Federal Office of Statistics, Annual Abstract of Statistics, 1997.
Note: In 1990, the minimum wage payable to civil servants was about N500 per month.’ A university graduate on Grade Level 8 Step 10 in the civil service earned less than N5,000 per month.
7. Ettttticity and Indiscipline: This set of twin problems are very rampant in the Nigerian civil service. “Family, local, ethnic and other primordial ties and loyalties soqletimes compete or take precedence over loyalty to the service and the nation” {Nwosu, 1977: 79}. Recruitment of workers into the civil service, training and promotion of workers were sometimes influenced by ethnic consideration to the total abandonment of merit. Patron-client relationship exists in the Nigerian civil service. It leads to recruitment of mediocre and incompetent people. If it persists, the civil will “gradually cease to be innovative, goal setting and problem solving” {Nwosu, 1977: 80}
Indiscipline in the Nigerian civil service is caused partly by patron-client relationship as practiced in the lower cadre of the service. Commenting on indiscipline among junior civil servants, Nwosu {1977:80} said: An awareness on the part of subordinates that they have “god-fathers” who will protect them at all times, leads to a disturbing growth of insubordination and disobedience in carrying out lawful instructions or directives of supervisors who are not well placed in the hierarchy of a ministry or department.
Another source of indiscipline in the civil service is the poor remuneration of workers. If adequate incentives are not provided for the workers, they are bound to have negative attitude to work, absenteeism is bound to be high as some of them devote more time to secondary occupation.
8.Social Distance Existing Between the Senior Civil Servants and tile Masses: Most senior civil servants have little contact with the masses and therefore do not experience their problems. Consequently, they fail to take into consideration the problems of the masses whenever they advise the government on development policy choices.
9.Tile Issue of Representativeness: The 1979 constitution of Nigeria and other subsequent ones have made provisions for fair representation of all states and ethnic groups in the federal civil service, it is referred to as the “federal character” principle. The goal is to ensure that backward areas of the country are fairly represented in the federal civil service. The application of the “Federal character principle” undermines meritocracy and excellence in the civil service. As Olmwuet a/{1997:4 of 5} rightly point out, “strong demand for represntativeness undermines the civil service claims to objectivity and rationality, a factor that is also responsible for the often sharp internal divisions within the civil service usually along ethnic lines”.
10 Politicization of the civil service: The 1988 civil service reforms formally recognized the politicization of the upper echelons of tile civil service. Whatever may have been the motive behind it, politicization has negative effect on the civil service. As Olowuet al (1997: 5 of 5) rightly points out “politicization of the top civil service in an environment of high political instability and high tMrnov.er of officials has not only been wasteful of personnel, it has also led to a weakened role for the civil service in the development process”.
Recommendations
In order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the civil service, we recommend as follows:
I. There is need for a frontal attack on corruption in the civil service. The anti-corruption crusade of the present government is commendable. However, since similar exercises have failed in the past, appropriate incentive structures need to accompany the current efforts for it to achieve meaningful result. First, the leadership must evolve a culture of honesty based on transparency and credibility. It should endeavour to lead by example, showing zero tolerance on corrupt behaviour, even among the high echelon- of government (Salisu, 2001:22). In addition, the legal and institutional framework for dealing with corruption must be credible and independent of political control in order to ensure it a level of credibility.
2. Government must endeavour to pay attractive salaries and wages in the public service so as to lower the premium on errant behaviour and make dismissal from the civil service a painful and credible threat. In addition, there is need for efficiency-based incentive scheme that links reward to performance.
3. Efforts should be made by the government at various levels to depoliticize the civil service. Political interference in the daily operations of the civil service needs to be minimized if the confidence of the civil servants is to be restored. The attributes of neutrality, anonymity and permanence should be encouraged among civil servants.
4. There is need for constant training and retraining of civil servants to increase their competence and productivity.
5. Above all, the government must show that it has the political will to implement the recommendations of panels or commissions it sets up to reform the civil service. Lack of political will to fully implement recommendations contributed to the failure of past reforms.
References
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Akingbade, l.K. (1992) “Administrative Reform of the Civil Services: The Nigerian Experience” in The Quarterly Journal of AdministratiolJ, Vol. VI, NO.3.
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