Problems of Civil Service in Nigeria & Solutions

Share









Tweet



0

Shares



The Nigerian civil service consists of a workforce of employees under

the Nigerian government agencies and ministries except for the

military and police. As you may well know, Nigeria is one of the

largest countries in Africa by land and population. It is therefore

expected that it will have a huge civil service task force. However,

one would expect that alongside this wide task force would come

maximum use of human resources for the development of the nation but

this is not the case in Nigeria. In fact, one of the biggest problems

with the country is the poor state of the civil service. This article

takes a look at the major problems of the Nigerian civil service and

solutions to these problems.









(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

Problems of Civil Service in Nigeria & Solutions







Read on below:





(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

Erosion of Public service ethics



In Nigeria, the constitution has prescribed ethical codes by which all

employees of the government are supposed to operate. These ethical

codes serve as checks for Public servants and are the standards by

which workers are held accountable to the society and the law. These

ethical codes are supposed to indicate negative consequences for those

who act against them. Ethical codes in the Nigerian constitution

include impartiality, transparency, selflessness, integrity,

objectivity, and independence. However, the general conduct of many

civil servants is in opposition to these codes. Worse off is that

those who err are often not brought to book. The disregard for ethical

codes in the civil service can be resolved if the government develops

policies, practices and procedures and reviews long-standing ones to

ensure civil servants operate according to these ethical codes. Those

in government need to lead by example by performing actions that are

constitutional. The government also needs to incorporate ethical

procedures into management frameworks so that those in managerial

positions do what is right and consistent with the ethical codes of

civil service.



Inappropriate organization structures



The Nigerian civil service has long had a testimony of being

disorganized. This leads to a lack of effective management. For

example, records, documents, files and other sources of information

that hold history of the country in specific departments and also

details the records of citizens are not well arranged or kept.

Inappropriate organization structures also lead to duplication of

offices and positions. You will find that there are many unnecessary

positions and jobs in the civil service through the creation of

ministries and departments with similar functions. This leads to a

waste of funds and manpower resources. The civil service workforce is

filled with workers who do not have specific roles to play and end up

being unproductive. The government needs to review offices and

positions in the civil service so offices and positions that are

duplicated can be cancelled.



Over-staffing



The civil service is highly over-staffed and this is a pointer to the

root problem of unemployment in the country. Due to the high rate of

unemployment, people insist their relatives and kindred get fixed up

into positions and then the civil service has more staff than is

required and with little work to do. However, this is a difficult

problem to deal with because if staff are cut down, then many will

lose their jobs and add up to the rates of unemployment in the

country.







(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

Unproductive work operations



There has often been a complaint of civil servants adhering strictly

to bureaucratic processes and official rules to the detriment of

productivity. Although the bureaucratic process is meant to help with

impartiality and uniformity of work, it however slows down most

functions and then leads to unproductive work operations.



Bribery and corruption:

It is sad that the most common menace in Nigerian society also

pervades the civil service. This has affected the smooth running and

effectiveness of the civil service because those in top positions in

the civil service demand for bribes and other means of gratification

before doing their jobs.



The poor condition of service



The Nigerian civil service offers a quite poor condition of service to

workers. You will see this in the condition of infrastructures, work

materials, low salaries, and inadequate bonuses. The poor condition of

service causes peoples not to be motivated to work and not to take

their jobs seriously. Salaries of civil servants need to be reviewed

and upgraded to meet the demands of the present time and serve as a

good remuneration for work done.



Negative or poor attitude to work



Civil servants in Nigeria are known to display a nonchalant attitude

to work. The nonchalant attitudes of workers can be traced to poor

remuneration, poor working conditions and the absence of punishment

and penalties for the erring workers. There needs to be a

reinforcement of penalties for civil servants who are negligent of

their duties.







(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

Insecurity



Nigeria suffers great insecurity in different parts of the country due

to terrorism, kidnapping and robbery. All of these add up to

political, economic and social instability. For example, the security

challenges experienced in Nigeria has its toll on economic activities

in the country in areas such as trading, farming, etc which in turn

causes inflation and affects the national economy. When there is a

high level of insecurity in the society, it becomes almost impossible

to maintain a good quality of service among the people, not only, but

especially in affected areas.



Lack of training



Most times, Nigerian civil servants do not get to undergo adequate

training in their respective fields. This is seen in the quality of

service they put out. The Nigerian government needs to make it

compulsory that every member of the civil service undergoes adequate

training and keep learning with special courses. This is one way to

address the ineptitude of most civil servants.



Tribalism, favouritism and nepotism



In Nigeria, much impartiality is practised in the appointment of

personnel to job roles and positions. Some will favour people of their

tribe or kindred even if they are unqualified for the job. The civil

service cannot deliver the quality of service needed to push the

country forward if the hire is made on the basis of who knows who.



Political interference



There needs to be independent of the civil service so that workers can

carry out functions without the interference of politicians. Many

people get into position in the civil service by bribing politicians,

they then become puppets to those in government and cannot carry out

their roles independently. All these are hindrances to the

effectiveness of the Nigerian civil service.

















(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});







(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});





(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

jQuery(document).ready(function( $) { $.post(

'https://nigerianfinder.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php', {action:

'mts_view_count', id: '291101'}); });









Share









Tweet



0

Shares