Concluded
Everyone remembers the horrific economic conditionalities of the structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) of the 80s, and the tough austerity experience they foisted on Nigerians. When funding of tertiary education through justifiable cost recovery came as one of the consequences of these economic conditionalities without policy makers thinking through the safety nets to mitigate equity considerations, Nigeria went into a human development collapse. The public services were also not spared the debilitation of institutional collapse which SAPs inflicted on Nigeria. It is therefore logical that the public administration dynamics in Nigeria will also be drawn into this lack of governance philosophy around which the public service could be energized to deliver democratic goods and services to Nigerians.
One major consequence of this is that the public service, since it was established in 1954, has failed to develop a developmental capability that must logically follow a development philosophy of the Nigerian state. Nigeria’s public service, as it is, cannot become the operational institutional arm of a developmental state in Nigeria. A developmental state, by itself, encapsulates a definite philosophy of governance. That philosophy insists that governance must be deployed to the empowerment of the citizens. A developmental state with a governance philosophy can only function when there is also in place a public administration philosophy, a definite tradition of public service, guided by the philosophical understanding of the public, professionalism and the ethics of service. When Max Weber enunciated the idea of the bureaucracy as a vocation, he intended that it would be a profession that would be the sole custodian of the government’s responsibility to the people. In its historical trajectory, public service was essentially seen as a calling similar to the priesthood.
If it is seen as a priestly calling, in spite of the defining strictures of institutional economists that partially enthroned private sector philosophical underpinnings in the public service through the new public management theory, then public administration must be integrated within ethical and political frameworks. On the one hand, joining the public service cannot be taken lightly as a bread-and-butter case. Becoming a public servant must be preceded by an ethical soul-searching: What is the soul of what I do as a public servant? What gives me strength when the stress of work becomes too much? Why am I here at all? What lies at the core of public service? Am I a good public servant? Am I contributing anything to the meaning evolution of the Service? Is my spirituality a plus in my workplace? On the other hand, the state must itself search for a viable collaborative model that will enable politics and bureaucracy work together to achieve efficiency and productivity.
Relationship between a bureaucrat and a politician could either be antagonistic or cooperative. It becomes cooperative if both partners are motivated by a development and governance philosophy around which they can collaborate to enhance performance.
There is no way, in the reflection on the philosophical basis of public administration, that one will not be forced to confront the administrative successes of the Old Western Region. There was in place a governance philosophy premised on infrastructural development and productivity. The Awolowo government encapsulated this philosophy through the motto of “Life Abundantly.” And this was the philosophy that was sold to the public service under the leadership of Chief Simeon Adebo. It was this governance philosophy that instigated the solid professional capability, also captured by the motto of “Work Abundantly.” The Awolowo-Adebo model therefore signals a robust paradigm that defines the success of any developmental state. One of the most unfortunate moments in the trajectory of administration in Nigeria was defined by Simeon Adebo leaving the federal civil service in the early 60s for the Western region, precisely because of the lack of any coherent development or governance philosophy around which a tradition of public administration could have emerged in Nigeria.
In fact, there were already in place three significant conditions that could have facilitated a solid philosophical framework for governance in Nigeria: First, there were a set of individuals, like Simeon Adebo, Jerome Udoji, Ali Akilu, S. O. Wey, etc., schooled in the value-based institutional parameters of the retreating colonialists, who were eager to lay the foundation of an indigenous governance philosophy in Nigeria. Second, there was equally in existence a development-sensitive national dynamics rooted in a proper federal framework consisting of a centre and regional arrangement engaged in competitive learning and sharing. Third, there was also a development atmosphere around the twin imperatives of nation building and economic development in spite of bitter high politics.
I will argue that to arrest the downward spiral of governance in Nigeria, and install a philosophy of gov\ernance, requires making a philosophical move. To become a developmental state, Nigeria needs a reform philosophy which must be founded on a template of administrative engineering that is either radical or gradualist. The beauty of a radical reform is that it pulls down the old order in order to build a new one on its ashes. But radical administrative reform is easier said than done. It comes with a lot of institutional displacements whose end one cannot predict.
On the other hand, a gradualist reform can, and must indeed, commence from democratic governance to evolve a philosophy founded on the professional efficiency and measured performance of the public servants. The imperatives of nation building and economic growth still subsist within a federal framework that could be strengthened through a serious constitutional review. All that is needed, as a matter of urgency, is a new breed of public managers who have the capacity to instigate the emergence of a new governance philosophy that will transform Nigeria’s development profile.