AN EVALUATION OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SERVICOM IN THE FEDERAL PUBLIC SERVICE IN NIGERIA 2010-2017

Abstract

This research evaluated the implementation of SERVICOM reforms in the Nigeria federal public service in South-east Nigeria, with particular reference to Federal Ministry of Works, Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) and Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB). The study was necessitated by the continued decadence and stigmatization of the public service with over centralization, incessant conflicts between cadres, scant emphasis on results and concrete performance, excessive focus on compliance with regulation, forms and procedure, counter-productive separation of authority from responsibility at the top of the public service hierarchy, dangerously low staff morals and productivity, inappropriate staff deployment practices which often ignored the specialization of staff and corruption among others. The study employed strategic model of Human Resources Management.

TABLE OF CONTENT

Title page

Approval page

Dedication

Acknowledgment

Abstract

Table of content

CHAPETR ONE

1.0   INTRODUCTION 

1.1        Background of the study

1.2        Statement of problem

1.3        Objective of the study

1.4        Research Hypotheses

1.5        Significance of the study

1.6        Scope and limitation of the study

1.7       Definition of terms

1.8       Organization of the study

CHAPETR TWO

2.0   LITERATURE REVIEW

CHAPETR THREE

3.0        Research methodology

3.1    sources of data collection

3.3        Population of the study

3.4        Sampling and sampling distribution

3.5        Validation of research instrument

3.6        Method of data analysis

CHAPTER FOUR

DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

4.1 Introductions

4.2 Data analysis

CHAPTER FIVE

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Summary

5.3 Conclusion

5.4 Recommendation

Appendix

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

• Background of the study

The interaction among management, personnel, and elected officials in pursuit of good governance has sparked some unique and revolutionary ideas that have continued to precipitate a shift in how personnel and its services are organized and delivered in the public sector. Such shifts or changes can be argued to have started formally in the United States in 1883 with the passage of the Pendleton Act (Public Service Act of 1883), which began the slow process of the professionalization of the Public Service at the federal level in the United States (Batchelder and Ross, 2009:1). The Post World War 1 & 11 socio-economic and development experiences pushed Public Service Reform (PSR) into certain position of prominence as an alternative to development.

Thus, Public Service Reforms became prominent in development policy in the 1990s as governments, more often than not, undertook reforms under budgetary pressure. Pressured by macroeconomic imbalances, many governments promised to cut the size of their bureaucracy on the advice of most international agencies. For instance,in 1994, Kenya pursued downsizing and rationalization of the civil service while Tanzania pursued same in the 1980s. Ethiopia, Gambia and India equally implemented the same policy (Klugman, 1994:4). Such reforms swept across countries in South America particularly during their implementation of austerity measures. In Nigeria, the character of public service reform is tied to its colonial root. After the 1914 amalgamation, Britain imposed a unified but alien public service on Nigeria without giving much thought to its impact on the Nigerian traditional communities with their conflicting values, interests, norms and authority structure (Kinglsey 1963)

Service Compact with all Nigerians (SERVICOM) is an acronym for effective services delivery in Nigeria. Over the years, the Nigerian Public Service system has been poor and inefficient, characterized with corruption, undue outside influences, individual and group selfish interests, with other impediments plaguing the effective implementation of government policies that are being carried out through various public service administrative systems and establishments in Nigeria. Files, cards and letters hardly move in most public offices without follow-ups and bargaining, to the extent that services got from most public offices is like as if someone is doing somebody a favour, or at a particular price tag. These days’ applicants no longer get jobs easily, but buy jobs from employers who are positioned to give jobs. Also, missing files can only re-appear after someone has been settled. Most Nigerians therefore have been accustomed to regarding public service as something you battle for. Citizens are no longer people with the right to be served unless the public officer/ administrator collects a toll. Good services also are only meant for some privileged individuals and groups. This situation has some damaging effects on the trust the citizens have on the public service administration and other social institutions in Nigeria. These negative habits therefore, are becoming a way of life or culture in all segments of the public sector and societal lives in Nigeria. The Federal Government of Nigeria realizing that public offices/administrators are employed to offer services to the people, and that it is the citizens right or entitlement to get the expected meaningful services from any government in power, came up with the idea of SERVICOM to address the problems associated with service delivery, and to determine how best to remedy the Nigerian situation. Nigerians before then are aware of the appalling standards of service delivery in the country. On 1st July 2004, the SERVICOM commitment and declaration was made by the President, Vice president, Ministers, Secretary to the Government of the federation, Special Advisers, Presidential aides and Permanent Secretaries of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who entered a solemn Service Compact with all Nigerians by dedicating themselves to “providing the basic services to which each citizen is entitled in a timely, fair, honest, effective and transparent manner”. This preceded the earlier declaration made by the then President, Olusegun Obasanjo in June 2003 stating that, “Nigerians have for too long been feeling short changed by the quality of public service. Also, our public offices have for too long been showcased for the combined evils of inefficiency and corruption with impediment of ineffective implementation of government policies. Nigerians deserve better, we will ensure that they get what is better”. It is in the light of the above that this research is undertaken to assess the impact of SERVICOM on public service delivery in the Federal Ministry of women Affairs and Social Development. This study therefore is necessitated by the fact that there are poor, inefficient public and social service administration in Nigeria. It has also been fine-tuned to the worst stages as there are evidences of poor and inefficient Public Service Administration in schools, hospitals, water boards, Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) including public corporations like former Nigeria National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) or Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to mention a few. Nigerian citizens hardly get the real value for the taxes which they pay to governments, and or the monthly bills paid in respect of many public services, which are their rights or entitlements. It is against this background that the then president Olusegun Obansanjo organized a retreat of Ministers and Permanent Secretaries, with other top members of the Executive team in June 2003, to assert the ownership of the initiative to serve Nigerians better, through a purposeful leadership attributes of selflessness, integrity, accountability, openness, honesty and patriotism. This later translated to SERVICOM declaration of 1st July 2004 and the creation of SERVICOM chapter and units in most Public Service offices and institutions in Ministries and extra-ministerial departments in Nigeria. This pervasive social problems affect all citizens, as it retards growth and national development, promotes unemployment, poverty, and other social vices, which has become the order of the day, through an increased sharp and corrupt practices, in-efficiency and favoritism of all kinds, at tribal, religious, social and administrative levels, etc. The economic management reform, which is an integrated package of various economic reforms, was started in 2004. The reform programme was based on the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS). NEEDS is a ‘home-grown’ economic development strategy which focused on four main areas: improving the macro-economic environment, pursuing structural reforms, strengthening public expenditure management, and implementing institutional and governance reforms(Okonjo-Iweala and OsafoKwaako, 2007). The implementation of the comprehensive economic reform programme is in four main areas: Macroeconomic reform; structural reforms; government and institutional reforms; and public sector reforms. The Fiscal Responsibility Bill was passed into law on July 30, 2007 by President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and thus became an Act. It was published as Government Notice No. 80 in the number 126, volume 94 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Official Gazette as Act No. 31. The Act is to provide framework for the implementation of public sector reforms started by the Obasanjo administration. The Act, which introduced the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Medium Term Sector Strategies (MTSS) budgeting approach, is also expected to strengthen Nigeria’s economic growth.

The public service of any country stands out as the major machinery of government for the formulation and implementation of public policies. It does this by translating the plans and programs of government into concrete public goods and services for the use of the citizenry. Since public bureaucracy is primarily concerned with public administration, the management of public affairs therefore rests heavily on it. Whatever the system of government in practice in a country, the public service is designed to be the prime mover of the social and economic development of a nation. One of the challenges of government and of course the legitimate expectation of the citizens of a developing country such as Nigeria is the ability of the public service to properly direct their aspirations towards improving the general welfare of the citizens. This is because the primary responsibility of government is to deliver services through its public service effectively and promptly to citizens at affordable prices, particularly now that the country is under civil rule following the wind of democracy which has blown over countries of the world. However, the ability of the Nigerian public service to effectively and the working hands of government has had to service various regimes and administrations (Mimiko, 1999) and efficiently manage public affairs and ensure prompt and quality service delivery had always been called into questioning over the years. Consequently, a number of far-reaching reforms on its structure and personnel management aimed at improving its performance have been put in place by the Nigerian government since its inception. Indeed, the Nigerian public service as the most critical instrument of the modern state its efficiency has been put to test and it has undergone series of socio-economic, structural and political transformation, courtesy of the political leaderships of this country at one time or the other

• STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

It is pertinent to say that every organization is set up or established for a purpose; some are for profit making and other are not profit oriented, some are manufacturing, trading or service industry. The public service is an institution that is established by the government for the purpose of service delivery. Amidst this primary objective it is discovered that the public service has been found wanting in carrying out her responsibility effectively. It is on this backdrop that the researcher intends to investigate the impact of institutional strengthening and its efficiency in public service delivery.

• OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The main objective of this study is to ascertain the impact of institutional strengthening and the efficiency of service delivery; but for the successful completion of the study, the researcher intends to achieve the following sub-objective:

1. To ascertain the impact of institutional strengthening in public sector
2. To ascertain if there is any relationship between institutional reform and quality of service delivered by SERVICOM

• To investigate the role of government policy on the quality of service delivered by the public sector

1. To investigate relationship between public service and government policy
   • RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

For the successful completion of the study, the following hypotheses were formulated;

H₀: institutional strengthening have no impact on the efficiency of service delivery

H₁: institutional strengthening has a significant impact on the efficiency of service delivery.

H₀: there is no relationship between institutional strengthening and quality of service delivered by SERVICOM

H₂: there is a relationship between institutional strengthening and quality of service delivered by SERVICOM

• SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

At the completion of the study, it is believed that the findings will be of great importance to the federal government in strengthening the public service to ensure efficiency in service delivery; it is also believed that the findings will be of important to the head of civil service in ensuring that rules are adequately adhered to and policies are adequately implemented. The study will also be of importance to researcher who wishes to embark on research on similar topic as the findings will serve as a guide to further studies, finally the study will be of great importance to academia’s as the findings will add to the pool of knowledge.

• SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The scope of this study covers institutional strengthening and efficiency of public service delivery in Nigeria. However, in the course of the study, the researcher encounters some constrain which limited the scope of the study; some of these limitations are:

• Availability of research material: The research material available to the researcher is insufficient, thereby limiting the study.
• Time: The time frame allocated to the study does not enhance wider coverage as the researcher has to combine other academic activities and examinations with the study.
• Finance: The finance available for the research work does not allow for wider coverage as resources are very limited as the researcher has other academic bills to cover.
  • DEFINITION OF TERM

Public service

Public service is a service which is provided by government to people living within its jurisdiction, either directly (through the public sector) or by financing provision of services. The term is associated with a social consensus (usually expressed through democratic elections) that certain services should be available to all, regardless of income, physical ability and/or mental acuity.

Service delivery framework

A service delivery framework (SDF) is a set of principles, standards, policies and constraints to be used to guide the designs, development, deployment, operation and retirement of services delivered by a service provider with a view to offering a consistent service experience to a specific user community in a specific

Policy

A policy is a deliberate system of principles to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent, and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by the Board of or senior governance body within an organization where as procedures or protocols would be developed and adopted by senior executive officers. Policies can assist in both subjective and objective decision making

Government

A government is the system by which a state or community is controlled. In the case of this broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislators, administrators, and arbitrators.

• Organization of the study

This research work is organized in five chapters for easy understanding as follows Chapter one is concern with the introduction which consist of the (overview, of the study), statement of problem, objectives of the study, research question, significance or the study, research methodology, definition of terms and historical background of the study. Chapter two highlights the theoretical framework on which the study it’s based thus the review of related literature. Chapter three deals on the research design and methodology adopted in the study. Chapter four concentrate on the data collection and analysis and presentation of finding.  Chapter five gives summary, conclusion and recommendations made of the study.

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