Understanding the Implications of Ethnic Diversity in the Nigerian Civil Service (Published)
Ethnicity differentiated societies are often regarded as dysfunctional with poor violent civil conflict. This is because, Nigeria’s multi ethnicity suggests a tendency to show favoritisms to individual because of ethnicity. This paper examines the implications of ethnic diversity in the Nigerian civil service to undermine the consideration of merit principles in the recruitment process. The paper relies on the Weberian bureaucratic model prescription to guide the Nigerian civil service commission out of the recruitment process bedeviled by the factors sentiments. Among other things, the paper recommends strict measure on the prevailing principles that promotes mediocrity as against old philosophy of excellence, competence and qualification that facilitate improved implementation of government policies and programmes in the Nigeria civil service commission.
Keywords: Civil service, Ethnic Diversity, federal capital principle
Is the Brazilian Civil Service Reform About to Succeed (Published)
In late 2017, Brazilian president Michel Temer commissioned a survey about civil service and government expenditures at the World Bank. The results were catastrophic: The Brazilian government spends significantly more than it collects and allocates its resources in an inefficient way, impacting negatively the Brazilian economy growth. One of the villains pointed by the report is precisely the size of the government, the inefficient Federal Civil Service, especially the high salaries, and disproportional benefits from the Executive branch, especially regarding the Social Security regime. The initiative is part of the Federal Government to follow through a controversial reform on civil service, under current Congress debate, in a year of presidential elections. Will the reform succeed? We analyzed the challenges and pitfalls on the Brazilian Civil Service, and its reform proposals, in comparison to: (a) private service, and (b) to equivalent civil services from other countries. Finally, we addressed the discussion on its implications to the Brazilian economy, and brought recommendations for public managers, as well as future research.
Keywords: Brazil, Civil service, Public Administration
Reengineering the Nigerian Civil Service for Optimum Performance: The Path Not Taken (Published)
Civil Service anywhere in the world plays a very significant role in transforming government policies and programmes into reality. In most developing countries in general and Nigeria in particular the performance of Civil Service in discharging its duties is quite below expectation even after many reforms and restructuring had been carried out. The work identified and discussed what needs to be done for optimum performance of the Civil Service in Nigeria. It examined human and environmental factors that hindered Nigeria Civil Service from realization of its intended goals. The work is of the view that the attainment of optimum performance by the Civil Service in Nigeria is predicated upon the level of commitment and fidelity by the leading operator of the service. The work relied on secondary source and observation to gather the data that were used in this work. The work recommended among others that for Nigerian Civil Service to attain optimum performance there must be vigorous and sustained campaign to make propriety the prime mood of the nation’s culture.
Keywords: Civil service, Nigeria, Performance, Propriety
The Ecology of Recruitment and Selection of Personnel and the Quest for Efficiency in the Delta State Civil Service (Published)
The role of modern government have increased in volume and completely over the years. It is more so because the enormous responsibility of making a larger number of the citizenry comfortable rest squarely on the government. This symbiotic social contract between government and the people had always compelled every government to employ qualified and competent personnel into its service. This paper examines the problematic of the influences of ecological factors which tend to undermine the consideration of merit principles in the recruitment and selection process. Combining the content analysis with focused group discussion methods, the paper rely on the Weberian bureaucratic model prescription to guide the Delta state Civil Service out of the recruitment and selection process bedeviled by primordial sentiments. Among other things, the paper recommends a dis-emphasis on the prevailing principles that promotes mediocrity as against age-old philosophy of excellence, competence and qualification that facilitate improved implementation of government policies and programmes.
Keywords: Civil service, Ecology, Efficiency and effectiveness., Recruitment and Selection