ADVERTISEMENT
The Sun Nigeria
  • National
  • Columns
    • Broken Tongues
    • Capital Matters
    • Diabetes Corner
    • Duro Onabule
    • Femi Adesina
    • Frank Talk
    • Funke Egbemode
    • Insights
    • Kalu Leadership Series
    • Kunle Solaja
    • Offside Musings
    • PressClips
    • Public Sphere
    • Ralph Egbu
    • Shola Oshunkeye
    • Sideview
    • The Flipside – Eric Osagie
    • Tola Adeniyi
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • The Sun TV
  • Sporting Sun
  • The Sun Foundation
No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • Columns
    • Broken Tongues
    • Capital Matters
    • Diabetes Corner
    • Duro Onabule
    • Femi Adesina
    • Frank Talk
    • Funke Egbemode
    • Insights
    • Kalu Leadership Series
    • Kunle Solaja
    • Offside Musings
    • PressClips
    • Public Sphere
    • Ralph Egbu
    • Shola Oshunkeye
    • Sideview
    • The Flipside – Eric Osagie
    • Tola Adeniyi
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • The Sun TV
  • Sporting Sun
  • The Sun Foundation
No Result
View All Result
The Sun Nigeria
No Result
View All Result
ADVERTISEMENT
Home Columns

Civil servant as contractor and politician

26th May 2019
in Columns
0
Plato’s Republic and the idea of reforming Nigeria

With a new culture of public service enthroned, a new generation of ‘public managers’ who can see rent-seeking and ethnic power play as the dominant script of public service in Nigeria, concocted the game plan that inexorably distorted the workforce composition in favour of contractors and politicians in disguise. The proportion of the workforce in this mold may be in the minority at first, but today, they constitute a significant number and are perhaps in charge.

A second factor that compounds the first is Nigeria’s unemployment crisis that has messed terribly with the already compromised gatekeeping task of the civil service commission. With the encroachment of bureaucratic corruption and the totality of what we now call the Nigerian factor, it became possible for just anyone who has failed to get desired employment to turn to government work, especially the public service. and everyone knows the perception of slackness that attends working with the government. The dereliction of duty that comes with this lackadaisical attitude to work moderated by smartness or being streetwise and remote control by godfathers is directly proportional to the lowering efficiency of the public service. So, we end up with all sorts of people who get into the public service with all sorts of “qualifications” and documents and “competences”. Public offices are thus transformed into a part of the clientelist network of prebendal rent-seekers who poach on the normlessness that the structural adjustment programmes of the 1980s inserted into the weakened public institutions in Nigeria.     

The question of who a public servant is carries the burden of the historical struggle to forge an institution that would carry the weight of government and governance. From Weber’s theoretical fabrication to the British administrative tradition, the idea of the public service has been defined around the concept of a vocation characterized by public-spiritedness.

Weber gave us the understanding of a noble profession that is akin to a priesthood, a calling defined by spirituality of service that takes the idea of a supreme being serious as a means of achieving integrity and human relationship with others in the workplace. As a noble and spiritual calling, the vocation of public service demands honor, integrity and a selfless dedication that is founded on deferred gratification of those base desires that move ordinary humans.

The Levites in the Scriptures had to defer their lots for the greater glory of Israel! Thus, for a public servant who understands, public values are more important than private interests. Public-spiritedness therefore ensures that a public servant is bound by the ethos of personal and public accountability for his or her responsibilities to the public he or she has been called upon to serve selflessly.

Public-spiritedness is backstopped by a professional competence that makes the public servant more than just a dispassionate broker of ideas and institutional memory into a great exemplar of hard work and skilled commitment. The nobility of the public service vocation is measured in the consequences of applying the professional skills and competences to public issues and seeing the results in the democratic service delivery that empowers the well-being of the citizens. When, as in the case of Nigeria, the public service is burdened with too much dysfunction that undermines this spirituality and destroys the capacity readiness of the public service, then its noble credentials become tattered. Indeed, this is the very implication of weak institution that makes the objectives of democratic governance in Nigeria a very difficult one for consecutive governments since independence. This is the reason why democracy has not yet been empowering for Nigerians. Democratic dividends come from a truly functional public service with truly committed and ethically conscious public servants who are dedicated to the idea that gave birth to the profession in the first place.

Since the public service cannot reform itself, the onus falls on the government to jumpstart the rehabilitation of the public service not only to achieve its former glory but also to become sufficiently ready to face current and future challenges of national development in Nigeria. One of the most delightful reform moves that the Nigerian government has undertaken, as far as I am concerned, is the inauguration of the National Strategy for Public Service Reform (NSPSR) and its iteration in current strategic plan for reform of the Federal civil service. These documents capture the vision and mission of restoring the dignity, nobility and efficiency of the public service in Nigeria. They outline the fundamental objective as transforming the Nigerian public service system into a world class institution delivering effective goods and services to Nigerians. However, what we need to insist on is that restoring the nobility and efficiency of the public service system in Nigeria is more than just achieving some operational and technical details of reform. On the contrary, we need more in terms of reform dynamics that encompass more than the public service itself.

I have called this a cultural adjustment programme that looks more towards cultural and value reorientation than just operational and structural reform details. Nigeria as is, lacks a national integrity system and a deep framework of values that conditions its national life. The state and all its apparatuses are seen by many, politicians, public officials and even the citizens, as the national cake to be shared and consumed unscrupulously without any thought for anything else. If the public service must function efficiently and optimally within the dynamics of vision set out by reform strategic plan, then the national psyche need to change first. Nigeria, or any other nation for that matter, needs values to be able to function. And this must be a value orientation that will encompass both leaders and followers. It is through the lens of values that both the leadership and the followership are able to see clearly what direction the policy architecture of the nation ought to be oriented. Valuelessness is directly proportional to directionlessness! Institutional reform is founded on the retrieval of a national sense of direction. Chief Olusegun Obasanjo saw the significance of this in 1999 when he announced the need for a moral rebirth in Nigeria. Such a moral rebirth must be factored into the dynamics of education reform that starts very early with a new set of young and impressionable citizens about the values of serving Nigeria without expecting anything in return. That was what Simeon Adebo, Jerome Udoji, Samuel Manuwa, Joseph Imoukhuede and the many other patriots taught us. and that lesson is the very framework for national renewal.

       

Concluded

Rapheal

Rapheal

Related Posts

Letter to Independent National Electoral Commission (1)
Columns

New currency notes: What a country!

26th January 2023
The wolfs in our midst
Columns

Fuel scarcity: Our eerie way of life

26th January 2023
Promoting National Cohesion and challenges of Media
Columns

Caroline Olory: Nature’s Mother Teresa

26th January 2023
Next Post
Grappling with rising suicide cases

Grappling with rising suicide cases

Lauretta Onochie, Personal Assistant to President Buhari on Social Media:  I’ve no regrets for doing my job

Lauretta Onochie, Personal Assistant to President Buhari on Social Media: I've no regrets for doing my job

Ogun projects: Buhari lauds Amosun

Ogun projects: Buhari lauds Amosun

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Highlights

Lagos APC educates traders, artisans on electoral laws

No leader can create new Nigeria overnight – Obasanjo

Businesses, customers reject old notes as CBN’s Jan 31 deadline closes in

Reject politicians that’ll drag Nigeria back to corruption, Buhari warns

Protesters block Lagos-Benin road over fuel price hike, scarcity

Immigration produced more than 1.8m passports in 2022 –Aregbesola

Trending

We need $6bn in 3 years to address logistics challenges –DHQ
Cover

Military vows to deal with those plotting to scuttle polls, pledges neutrality 

27th January 2023
0

From Molly Kilete, Abuja  The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has warned those plotting to scuttle the electoral process...

The Sun Awards: Osoba is Chairman as R&B crooner, Chike, thrills audience tomorrow

The Sun Awards: Osoba is Chairman as R&B crooner, Chike, thrills audience tomorrow

27th January 2023
Mafab Communication goes live with 5G network in Lagos

Mafab Communication goes live with 5G network in Lagos

27th January 2023
APC news

Lagos APC educates traders, artisans on electoral laws

27th January 2023
Shelve calls for Nigeria’s disintegration, work for unity, Obasanjo tells agitators

No leader can create new Nigeria overnight – Obasanjo

27th January 2023
ADVERTISEMENT

Follow us on social media:

Latest News

  • Military vows to deal with those plotting to scuttle polls, pledges neutrality 
  • The Sun Awards: Osoba is Chairman as R&B crooner, Chike, thrills audience tomorrow
  • Mafab Communication goes live with 5G network in Lagos
  • Lagos APC educates traders, artisans on electoral laws
  • No leader can create new Nigeria overnight – Obasanjo
  • Businesses, customers reject old notes as CBN’s Jan 31 deadline closes in
  • Reject politicians that’ll drag Nigeria back to corruption, Buhari warns
  • Protesters block Lagos-Benin road over fuel price hike, scarcity
  • Immigration produced more than 1.8m passports in 2022 –Aregbesola
  • Protesters block Lagos-Benin road over fuel price hike, scarcity
  • “No longer game as usual,” Aregbesola talks tough on prison breaks
  • Extend deadline for old Naira notes, COSEYL tells CBN
  • Soldiers kill 157, terrorists, bandits, destroy 38 illegal refineries, arrest 40 oil thieves in 2 weeks – DHQ
  • Nigeria, India trade volume hit $14.95b
  • Obasanjo knocks politicians trying to “reinvent Nigeria”
  • Nigeria Decides 2023: DHQ assures crisis-free polls
  • Insecurity has impoverished Esan communities in Edo -Egbiki
  • Anambra North youths endorse Oduah for Senate
  • Gombe: Student group protests tuition fees, says hike leads to mass dropout
  • Osun: Adeleke inaugurates women group for Atiku campaign

Categories

  • Abuja Metro
  • Anambra Watch
  • Arts
  • Broken Tongues
  • Business
  • Business Week
  • Cartoons
  • Citizen Joe
  • Columns
  • Cover
  • Culture
  • Duro Onabule
  • Editorial
  • Education Review
  • Effect
  • Elections
  • Entertainment
  • Events
  • Features
  • Femi Adesina
  • Food & Drinks
  • Frank Talk
  • Funke Egbemode
  • Gallery
  • Global Square by Kenneth Okonkwo
  • Health
  • Insights
  • Kalu Leadership Series
  • Kunle Solaja
  • Kunle Solaja
  • Letters
  • Lifeline
  • Lifestyle
  • Literary Review
  • Marketing Matters
  • Muiz Banire
  • National
  • News
  • Offside Musings
  • Opinion
  • oriental news
  • Politics
  • Press Release
  • PressClips
  • Public Sphere
  • Ralph Egbu
  • Shola Oshunkeye
  • Sideview
  • South-west Magazine
  • Sponsored Post
  • Sporting Sun
  • Sports
  • Sun Girl
  • Tea Time
  • The Flipside – Eric Osagie
  • The Sun Awards Live
  • The Sun TV
  • Thoughts & Talks
  • Time Out
  • Today's cover
  • Tola Adeniyi
  • Travel
  • Travel & Tourism
  • Trending
  • TSWeekend
  • Turf Game
  • Uncategorized
  • Updates
  • Views from Abroad
  • Voices
  • World
  • World News
  • About Us
  • Paper Ad Rate
  • Online Ad Rate
  • Change of Name
  • The Team
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy

© 2019 The Sun Nigeria - Managed by Netsera.

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • Columns
    • Broken Tongues
    • Capital Matters
    • Diabetes Corner
    • Duro Onabule
    • Femi Adesina
    • Frank Talk
    • Funke Egbemode
    • Insights
    • Kalu Leadership Series
    • Kunle Solaja
    • Offside Musings
    • PressClips
    • Public Sphere
    • Ralph Egbu
    • Shola Oshunkeye
    • Sideview
    • The Flipside – Eric Osagie
    • Tola Adeniyi
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • The Sun TV
  • Sporting Sun
  • The Sun Foundation

© 2019 The Sun Nigeria - Managed by Netsera.