Human development in the civil service

It was recently reported that the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (HoS), Danladi Kifasi, lamented that ministers and government officials now resort to hiring of consultants to do the tasks federal civil servants are employed to do because of poor service delivery. According to him, as a policy implementing organ, government and the citizens look up to the civil service to show the way out by rendering services in a most professional, efficient and effective way. Unfortunately, the performance of the civil service in recent time, have raised questions as to its relevance in the scheme of things. There is growing disenchantment among the citizenry as to the quality and cost of service being delivered to the people.

The Nigerian Civil Service has its origins in organizations established by the British in colonial times. Since then, various panels have studied and made recommendations for reformation of the Civil Service. But, fifty-four years of Nigeria’s existence is not only characterized by the under development of the bureaucratic setting, but has also generated orchestrated economic crunch, political instability, social disorder and manpower decay. The Nigerian Civil Service has over the years suffered a tremendous set back from the hands of various military and civilian governments that have ruled this country. Simply put, promotion of sustainable human development, which, under normal circumstances, should have been the major preoccupation of post independent governmental machinery, is addressed with profound discomfiture, smugness, lassitude and absolute indifference.

To this point, civil servants suffer administrative stagnancy, obsolesce, and other form of cliché practices generated by pronounced unwillingness of government machinery to reposition the nation’s civil service in real truth and in spirit.

There is no doubt; the post independent civil service in Nigeria has not adequately promoted sustainable human development in the bureaucratic setting; and this has actually hampered the optimum goals of the entire administrative system.

Compared with the 1960s and 1970s, the civil service by 1990 had changed dramatically. It had been politicized to the extent that most top officials openly supported the government of the day. 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.

Although the HoS has expressed his determination to build on the existing reforms and reposition the Federal Civil Service, into a merit-based service with skilled, competent, disciplined and confident public servants that can be trusted. And that Project Performance and Monitoring Taskforce will be constituted in his office to monitor and evaluate performance of projects in various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

We know that the transformation of the civil service will require the actualization of sustainable human development in the context of contemporary civil service in Nigeria. Sustainable human development is a pattern of resource use that aims to meet human needs while preserving the milieu so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for generations to come.

One of the core problems of the civil service aside from being over bloated is the very poor remuneration package of civil servants. Civil servants are the most disadvantaged and depressed wage earners in Nigeria. The salaries and allowances of civil servants are very poor in relation to the rising cost of living and the amount required for reasonable subsistence. Even within the public sector, the salary of the civil servants is worse.

Hence, the Nigerian civil service truly needs bold and far reaching reforms, not half-hearted, and arbitrary changes. We need to keep the permanent secretary, permanent; create a lean, dynamic, and imaginative civil service; recruit the highest quality of individuals to the service, and above all, we need to remove quota as a condition for the recruitment of the Administrative cadre of the service, and base both recruitment and advancement on merit.