First in a series I intend to post from the FT Survey of Nigeria. I hope you
find it informative.
From the Financial Times Survey of Nigeria, Thursday March 30, 2000
NIGERIA: CIVIL SERVICE BY ANTHONY GOLDMAN
PUBLIC SECTOR IS IN NEED OF A DRASTIC OVERHAUL
After a generation of decay, the Nigerian civil service will recover only it
government shows resolve and a commitment to reform
Looming large on the Abuja skyline, the sleek, modern exterior of the
Federal Secretariat creates an impression of busy efficiency. Within,
however, offices packed to overflowing, complaints about low pay and
staffing levels and shortages of basic equipment speak of an altogether
different reality.
That gap between image and substance may prove to be one of the most serious
obstacles to be overcome if Nigeria's latest experiment with civilian rule
is to prove a success. A functioning civil service is a prerequisite for
sound advice to government and the effective implementation of policy. But
after a generation of decay, the Nigerian public sector is now widely
acknowledged to be in a dismal condition.
Foreign business and local interests alike have long complained of a
sclerotic system in which little is possible without either contacts or
bribery. Increasingly, however, but for the most well-connected and
established operators, even devices such as these cannot bypass the capacity
problems that the civil service can no longer hide.
Nigeria may today have as many as 2m people in the public sector, including
state and local government employees. The 2000 budget allocates more than
50 percent of the state's available income to the payroll. But what Nigeria
receives in return is harder to quantify.
"We still have some very good people, but at least85 percent of civil
servants are wasting their time or worse," said a middle-ranking official.
"Expertise has been lost, corruption is rife, morale is low, training has
collapsed and the culture of public service has effectively disappeared.
"Autonomy has been eroded and self-confidence has disappeared. Senior
officials change at the whim of ministers and are reluctant or incapable of
offering frank advice. Appointments and promotions are frequently made on
grounds other than merit, qualification or experience. Government service
is an excuse to skim contracts. The police, internal revenue, customs and
immigration are no better."
The absence of reform has created some serious anomalies. Salaries last
year were increased more than tenfold, massively staining the budgetary
process, but remain substantially below that available in the private
sector. A director-general of a ministry now receives around N350, 000
($3,500) a year.
To compensate, a package of incentives is available, including free cars and
accommodation, furnishing allowance, travel, expenses and other emoluments
that can push up the total package to around N10m for the most creative
mandarins.
"The system is totally opaque and in some cases just absurd," one senior
official explained. "The government will pay more than $200 a night for me
to stay at the Hilton because my official residence is not ready. But if I
want to make my own arrangements, which would be much cheaper, the allowance
is only N6, 000. So, obviously, I stay at the hotel and it costs Nigeria an
absolute fortune."
Six years ago Bola Ige, now power and steel minister, complained that "in
Nigeria today there is no civil service worth talking about. The corruption
that has covered the military administration has spread to the civil service
and overwhelmed it. In addition, the military has made a career in the
civil and public service unenviable for those with character or learning".
Some trace the source of decline to reforms instituted by General Babangida
(1985-93)-when the Civil Service commission lost power over senior
appointments to ministers-which institutionalised the politicisation of the
service and its loss of independence. Others point to the 1975 campaign to
cleanse the administration of "dead wood" by General Murtala Muhammad-when
many able officials were retired-for a fatal loss of morale and the
sharpening of ethnic sensitivities. But that process was itself a
reflection of popular discontent with an increasingly impenetrable and
corrupt bureaucracy that had seen its influence and power rise considerably
in the wake of the 1966 coup.
President Olusegun Obasanjo has pledged to revive and rebuild the service,
arguing that it is a critical tool for the process of national renewal.
Even before his inauguration last May, he had organised seminars for
incoming ministers and officials. After assuming office, he ordered a
review of financial regulations and civil service rules-the first such
review since the 1970s-in which he declared that the service had
"degenerated and fallen apart".
Translating good intentions into actions, however, has proved to be more
problematic. The reports have been completed and printed, but have not been
distributed. Some hold the civil service's own inertia and political
maneuvering at least partly to blame
"Jokers, incompetents and illiterates have been promoted to the most
strategic posts," says Olu Falae, a former secretary to the government of
the federation who ran unsuccessfully for the presidency last year. "The
people who constitute the problem are being asked to find the solution."
The prospect for a successful reform process seems, at best, mixed. Far
from rationalising the bureaucracy, President Obasanjo has ordered a
substantial recruitment drive as part of his poverty alleviation initiative.
New government agencies are being established, which overlap with existing
departments and may succeed only in fuelling turf wars and further
complicating the implementation of policy. "Recovery is possible but will
be difficult," says one of Nigeria's most respected former civil servants.
"It has taken ten years to sink so low and there will be no easy or quick
fix. We must reduce numbers, increase salaries, improve training and seek
help abroad. But the critical issue remains the resolve and commitment of
the government. It must recognise the need for change, specifically in
attitude."
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