INTRODUCTION

The practice and discipline of public administration in Nigeria is beclouded by

problems which are internal (self-inflicted) and external (environmentally induced).
These problems impact negatively on public institutions and in the employees of
government such that what is demanded from government by the citizens becomes a far
cry from objective commitment on the part of government and on the deplorable results
that comes from administrators performance.
It has to be recognized that the public administration system in a country is in a
causal relationship with its environment. The environment therefore determines to a great
extent the structure and functioning of the administrative system and the latter in turn is
capable of modifying its environment to advantage. Indeed, the capability of a people to
collectively manipulate their environment to their advantage has been used by Bendix
(1960) to define ‘development’. However, when the environment is topsy-turvy, the
capability of the administrative system to manipulate its environment is hampered.
Seriously, these factors of revulsion, renders the administrative system weak in
implementing the nation’s collective decisions.
What do bureaucrats do all day in those hives of activity with the alphabet names?
What policies and programs will those agencies like Health and Human Services,
Education, Transportation, and Commerce be initiating or changing next? Every facet of
our daily lives is impacted in some way by the actions of the federal, state, or local
bureaucracies that manage and organize the public life of the country and its citizens.
Public administration trains the policy analyst who brings analytical skills to the task of
advising public servants on the merits of particular public policy issues and evaluates
programs as to which would best serve the interests of the constituents in the most cost-
effective way, and the public manager who implements public policy programs and
oversees or directs the operation of the program on a day-to-day basis.
Public administration is the study of public entities and their relationships with
each other and with the larger world: how public sector organizations are organized and
managed; how public policy structures the design of government programs that we rely
upon; how our states, cities, and towns work with the federal government to realize their

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goals and plan for their futures; how our national government creates and changes public
policy programs to respond to the needs and interests of our nation.

DEFINITION OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

Public administration consists of the provision of services and regulation of inter-
group relations in society. Maintenance of law and order, defense, welfare of society,
application of science and technology and eradication of poverty in the developing
countries. In a word, the security and independence of the state and social and economic
welfare of a society is a function of public administration. Bhambhri in Polinaidu (2005)
says “When public administration is so important in our daily life, its study is naturally
worthy undertaking”.
In order to properly understand the term public administration we must first be
clear about what we mean by the adjective ‘public’. The word public is used in a variety
of meanings but here it means ‘governmental’. Public administration, therefore, simply
means governmental administration that operates in political settings. It’s focus is
specifically on public bureaucracy. As Nicholas Henry says, “The study and practice of
public bureaucracy is called public administration”. The public aspect of public
administration lends special character to it. What is crucial in public administration is that
it is an agency of the public. It concerns the management of public agencies that carry out
public policies in order to fulfill state purposes in the public interest. Since government
provides services for the people in the public interest the administration of governmental
affairs is known as public administration. According to Simon, Smithburg and Thomson,
public administration refers to the activities of groups cooperating to accomplish the
common goals of government” Such common goals include defence, safeguarding the
frontiers, maintenance of law and order, fire protection, communications, public health,
education and many other services that we enjoy.
In meaning, public affairs, public administration focuses principally on the (i)
planning (ii) organizing (iii) directing (iv) coordinating and (v) controlling governmental
operations. This little background forms the major emphasis of this unit as we look also
at the nature and scope of public administration, particularly as it has come to be referred
to and practiced today.

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 Public administration, in its simplest terms, is “what government does.” However,
the actions and activities of government are so expansive that a simple definition is not
feasible. The definition of public administration can be broken down into several
different factors. First, public administration has a political definition. Under its political
definition, public administration is the actions of government that affect the daily lives of
the citizens living under that government. These actions can be either direct, as when
public employees serve members of the populace, or indirect, as when government
agencies hire private contractors to carry out some aspect of public policy. Also, public
administration’s political responsibilities include making decisions about what to do or
not do while implementing the public interest. Finally, public administration is a
“collective doing”: it is the work of a group to meet a goal that individuals could not meet
as easily or well under their own, singular power.
Public administration also has a legal definition. Public administration is
inseparable from legality, since its creation and its actions are defined by law—it is
expressed in the action of implementing legislation, and also in regulating the behavior of
individuals and groups. Other legal definitions of public administration include its
“largesse” power, or the ability to bestow jobs, goods and services on the citizens, and its
role in the eyes of some as theft, as regulations and taxes take the rights and money from
citizens. Those who criticize public administration in this manner often see it as theft
regardless of ends—for instance, government organizations still rob people through taxes,
even if that tax money goes toward education, health care, or other programs to benefit
those same people.
Third, a managerial definition of public administration can be applied. Public
administration is the executive function, carrying out legislation. Since such action needs
to be managed in order to occur properly and efficiently, the process of running public
organizations has become a management specialty. The vast majority of public
administrators are members of middle management. Critics of public administration often
apply the managerial definition to describe public administration as a “Mickey Mouse”
venture: one that exerts considerable effort for very little gain.
The last major definition of public administration is an occupational one. Public
administration is a job, but it is a very broad job title that includes within it almost any

3
specialized career or skill possible. In the broadest sense, public administration includes
anything and everything public employees do. Two of the common traits of all public
administration jobs is that they rely very heavily on writing skills, and that the people in
these jobs are often idealistic—they see themselves as working toward a better good for
society. Finally, public administration has become an academic occupation as well as a
public or career one: the study of management as applied to the public sector and the
environments in which public administration operates have become more expansive in
recent years.
Public administration houses the implementation of government policy and an
academic discipline that studies this implementation and that prepares civil servants for
this work. As a "field of inquiry with a diverse scope" its "fundamental goal... is to
advance management and policies so that government can function." Some of the various
definitions which have been offered for the term are: "the management of public
programs"; the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day"; and
"the study of government decision making, the analysis of the policies themselves, the
various inputs that have produced them, and the inputs necessary to produce alternative
policies."
Public administration is "centrally concerned with the organization of government
policies and programmes as well as the behavior of officials (usually non-elected)
formally responsible for their conduct" Many unelected public servants can be considered
to be public administrators, including police officers, municipal budget analysts, HR
benefits administrators, city managers, Census analysts, and cabinet
secretaries.Template:Kettl, D.F. and Fesler, J.W. (2009).
One scholar claims that "public administration has no generally accepted
definition", because the "scope of the subject is so great and so debatable that it is easier
to explain than define". Public administration is a field of study (i.e., a discipline) and an
occupation. There is much disagreement about whether the study of public administration
can properly be called a discipline, largely because of the debate over whether public
administration is a subfield of political science of a subfield of administrative science".
Scholar Donald Kettl is among those who view public administration "as a subfield
within political science".

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 The North American Industry Classification System definition of the Public
Administration (NAICS 91) sector states that public administration "... comprises
establishments primarily engaged in activities of a governmental nature, that is, the
enactment and judicial interpretation of laws and their pursuant regulations, and the
administration of programs based on them". This includes "Legislative activities,
taxation, national defence, public order and safety, immigration services, foreign affairs
and international assistance, and the administration of government programs are activities
that are purely governmental in nature".[14]
Evolution and Growth of Public Administration.
Public administration as an activity is as old as civilization but as an
academic discipline is a little over a hundred years old. This, however, does
not mean by implication that thinkers in earlier ages had never said anything
significant about public administration. Functioning of the governmental
machinery has attracted the attention of scholars and administrators since the
earliest periods of history. Kautilya’s Arthashastra, the Mahabharata, the
Ramayana and the maxims and teachings of Confucius in the realm of
Oriental thought contain many profound observations about the organization
23
and working of government. In the history of western political thought,
Aristotle’s politics and Machiavelli’s The Prince are important contributions
to administrative thought and practice.
Scattered thoughts, however, do not constitute a discipline though it is
interesting to note that even without systematic teaching and study of the
subject, great cities, public works and monuments have been built, vast
empires administered, huge armies organized, taxes collected, effective law
and order maintained and enforced throughout history. Therefore, public
administration as an activity proceeded long before systematic study of the
subject began in the eighteenth century. Official academic status to the
discipline did not come until World War I when professional chairs in public
administration were established and subject textbooks published.
“Only when governments could be differentiated from other societal institutions

5
and their activities developed to the point where professional administrators
were indispensable for their effective performance, could modern public
administration emerge. The term public administration began to creep into
European languages during the seventeenth century to distinguish between the
absolute monarch’s administration of public affairs and his management of his
private household. The contemporary discipline arose out of the
bureaucratization of the nation-state when the church was separated from the
state and government was superimposed on all other social institutions within a
definite territory. (Paulinadu, 2005:4)
Modern public administration was first taught as a part of the training course
of public officials-on-probation in Prussia. The subject was largely compiled
and taught in a descriptive manner by professors of cameral sciences, which
then included all knowledge considered necessary for the governance of an
absolutist state. The cameralist approach continued to influence European
studies in public administration well into the twentieth century, until it was
replaced by the administrative law and legal studies approach. Ideologically
cameralism gave way to bureaucracy. Civil service recruits had to study
administrative law and gradually all over Europe including Nigeria public
service training schools started offering courses on administrative law and
public administration.
As E.N. Gladden says, the field of public administration is mainly a debate
over definitions. Despite more than a hundred years of development, public
administration lacks a significant definition that is acceptable to all students
of public administration. Various scholars have defined it in different ways.
While the traditional writers have defined public administration in its
narrower sense, the modern scholars have defined it is its wider sense. Let us
examine both the views by quoting some important definitions.
Traditional Definitions
The following are some of the important definitions of public
administration, which reflect the traditional view of the disciplines.
1. Public administration is detailed and systematic execution of law. Every

6
particular application of law is an act of administration”.
Woodrow Wilson.
To Wilson, “Administration is the most obvious part of government, it is
government in action, and it is the executive, the operative, the most
visible side of government”.
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2. “Public Administration consists of all those operations having for their
purpose the fulfilment or enforcement of public policy”.
L.D White
3. “By public administration is meant, in common usage, the activities of
the executive branches of the National, state, and local government”
Herbert A. Simon
4. Public Administration is that part of the science of administration which
has to do with government, and thus concerns itself primarily with the
executive branch, where the work of government is done, though there are
obviously administrative problems also in connection with the legislative
and judicial branches”
Luther Gulick
5. “Public administration is the action part of government, the means by
which the purposes and goals of government are realized.
Corson and Harris
6. “In its broadest sense, it (public administration) denotes the work
involved in the actual conduct of governmental affairs, regardless of the
particular branch of government concerned. In its narrowest sense, it
denotes the operations of the administrative branch only”.
W.F. Willoughby
7. “… Administration consists of getting the work of government done by
coordinating the efforts of people so that they can work together to
accomplish their set tasks”.
Pfiffner( in Polinaidu,2005:4&5).
The definitions quoted above reflect the narrow traditional point of view of

7
public administration. This view locates public administration in the
executive branch of government. Its main business comprises all those
activities that are involved in carrying out public policies as expressed in
laws made by the legislature and interpreted by courts. It is denied any role
in both legislative (i.e. policy – making) and judicial functions. Its main
business is to get things done and not to decide what things to do.
Public administration is thus identified with the administrative side of
government as opposed to the legislative and judicial sides. Therefore, the
traditional view is unduly restrictive as an explanation and does not fully
capture the scope of public administration. It emphasizes the locus but not
the focus of Public Administration. The reason is that administration not
only carries out policy but also recommends it. Administration is also
concerned with the hearing and deciding cases and controversies not
allocated to the judiciary. For all these reasons the traditional view
presents too narrow, formalistic, and legalistic picture of Public
Administration.
3.5a Some Modern Definitions
31
Some modern textbook writers such as M.E. Dimock, James Fesler and
F.A. Nigro have used the term “Public Administration ‘in its wider sense.
In their opinion, public administration has some responsibility in
formulating governmental policies, besides executing them. The definitions
quoted below are illustrative of the modern broader view of public
administration.
1. “… Public administration is the area of study and practice where law
and policy is recommended and carried out”.M.E. Dimock and G.O. Dimock
2“public Administration is policy executive and also policy formulation’
James W. Fesler
1. “Public Administration
i. Is cooperative group effort in a public setting
ii. Covers all three branches – executive, legislative, and judicial and

8
their interrelationships.
iii. Has an important role in the formulation of policy and is thus a part
of the political process.
iv. Is different in significant ways from private administration, and
v. Is closely associated with numerous private groups and individuals
in providing services to the community.

PROBLEMS OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEM: The impact of the environment on public
administration consist of the pressures and influences
emanating from the Socio-cultural, political,
pressure group, interest group, trade union,
economic, national and international environments,
which often constrain the structure,
process and output of public administration.
These are factors which though are external to
public institutions, but impinges upon administration
thereby affecting the efficiency, effectiveness
and goal attainment of public administration
and government.
Public Administration as a field of study
always poses critical questions that demands for
deep intellectual reflections. As a field of study
that examines the practice of managing the
business of government and as a body of knowledge
that looks into the process of management in
the public sector, public administration is best
considered from the standpoint of interrelationships
and that of comparison. Public administration
in modern societies is characterized by its

9
performance in the various concerns of housing,
health services, transportation, education,
welfare, social services, law and order etc. The
social welfare state has extended far and wide
and Nigeria being a country that operates the
mixed economy system, her performance in the
field of governance and administration has to be
compared with how successfully other democratic
nations have performed.
According to Riggs (1962), any truly scientific
study of public administration must be
comparative and to be truly comparative, it must
be ‘empirical, nomothetic and ecological’. He has
gone further to use this idea to explain the
differential problems confronting bureaucracies
in the western and developing societies. Riggs
(1961) defined developing societies as ‘prismatic’
or transitional societies characterized by
rapid change, uncertainty, overlapping and
ineffective differentiated structures. These marked
characteristics constitutes inherent prob-lems
in Nigeria’s public administration which inevitable
leads to these questions.
1. How has government fulfilled their own part
of the ancient contract to the citizens?
2. Do governments and public officials really
work hard for the public money delivered to
them continuously and in increasing amounts?
3. How much has the myriad environmental
problems in the Nigeria Nation really impinged
on the performance of government viceversa

10
the value with which the citizens regard
the government?

POLITICAL FACTORS
The Nigeria state which is a cluster of diverse
ethnic Nationalities lack that cohesive force that
may form for a national ideology. Leaders struggle
to take control of the centre so as to dispense
privileges to their kingsmen or ethnic affliations.
A political leader from the western part of the
country had to cry out in his famous book. Said
Awolowo (1947) that Nigeria was ‘a mere geographical
expression’. That is, in terms of social
relationships and national identification, one
could not speak of Nigeria in the same sense as
one could speak of such of its components like
the Benin Kingdom, Egba Kingdom, Kano
Emirate etc.
After independence in 1960, there was the
unequal distribution of political power on a
regional and ethnic basis. This resulted into
inequality of socio economic development as
every leader concentrated on developing his
region. In the realm of administration, the politics
of regional affiliation has denied Nigeria of a
national character and hence also of evolving
concrete notions of national interest. Therefore,
there now arose in the encyclopedia of Nigeria’s
administration, such policies as Zoning, Federal
character, quota system etc.
The struggle to control the centre by ethnic

11
leaders has resulted into the inability to have a
successful and acceptable population census. This
affected the drive for viable planning and policy
making by both the politicians and administrators.
This largely accounts for the failure of many national
development progra-mmes. By advantage of
hindsight that history provides, Amuwo (1996)
contends that it does appears that after all, public
policy objectives are enunciated for elected
civilian politicians, mainly as vote-catching contrivances,
and part of an elaborate game plan to
secure legitimacy and win political acceptance.
The consequence is that there now arise a ruling
class that lacks Utopia, that has no vision and
that dreams no great dreams. This attribute,
impact negatively on the citizenry, the nation and
on adminis-tration.
In Nigerian politics and administration, the
rise to fame, wealth, power of virtually all senior
government officials and public officers is through
the agency of the state. While in all political
system of all ideological persuasions put together,
certain special privileges and largesse are attached
to political appointment, such brazen venality
need not be cultivated in order to ensure comfort.
The Nigerian topology appears different; it has
almost become a rule. This debilitating arrogance
exhibited by both the political and administrative
leadership is copied by the civil society as they
see the state as a prebend. Appointment to public
offices is conceived as God sent, a life time opportunity

12
to once and for all break the bondage of
poverty. Amuwo went on to state that it matters
little whether or not the appointee performs.
Indeed, criteria of performance have nothing to
do with how well or badly the job is done. Performance
is evaluated on the basis of material selfactualization
of the appointee, accentuated
comfort of his family and how well the appointee
relates to his friends. The danger here is that the
state and administration will become centralized.
The political class has largely failed to keep
the sovereign obligation that they owe to the
people. This class-whether military or civilian has
120 AKPOMUVIRE MUKORO
formed a cabal. They are very few in number and
they continue to rotate themselves in government.
Since their primary objective is to hold on to
power and accumulate wealth illegally, they
inevitably lack vision. The resultant impact of
their policies generates rancour, lack of patriotism
and the tendency to want to get back at the
uncaring system (state) by the civilian population.
People’s temperaments becomes always on edge,
there is frustration, anger and agitation which
results into violence, strife and crime. That
relationship that should go with leadership and
followership manifest only at the negative.
All these evil tendencies on the part of
leadership has always resorted into military coup
and counter coup. This has further politicized the
military institution itself together with the fact that

13
military incursion into politics is an aberration.
The advent of the military into politics according
to Jemibewon (1982) who was a one time military
governor of Lagos state lamented as ‘regrettable’,
because it has done more harm than good to both
the military institution and that of the civilian
including the public service.
From the international arena, one can say that
globalization and improvements on information
technology constitute demands that are placed on
both the political and the adminis-trative class.
Also, the influence of the supper-power nations
and other advanced societies, impact on what is
to be done in terms of policy and in terms of
implementation. There is the room to make
comparism so that checks can be drawn. The
impact of education and knowledge acquired from
other climes changes the orientation of people.
What is however left for conjecture is whether
their impact is on the positive or on the negative
side.
ECONOMIC FACTORS
This is made up of the financial institutions,
the organized private sector, natural and mineral
resources, technology and agriculture, which all
have varying impact on the public service organizations.
The nation’s development plans which results
from the consultation carried out with the different
interest group in the society reflects on the
economic environment of government.
Although, Nigeria was largely an Agricultural

14
economy in the 1960’s, with the discovery of oil,
there was a complete disem-phasis on agriculture
and shift of concentration to oil. Presently,
according to Olalokun (1979) petroleum contributes
to over 90% foreign exchange earnings for
the nation. While the scramble for oil was on, the
leadership which always comes from the majority
ethnic group never paid heed to the plight of the
minority oil producing communities of the Niger
Delta. All the benefits that accrue from oil sales
is appropriated by the central (federal) government.
While the pollution and environmental
degradation that results from oil exploration is
suffered by the oil producing communities, the
rest o the population keeps quiet and even device
more means to continue the subjugation of the
minority ethnic people of the Niger Delta. The
situation is so bad that there is now extreme
poverty amongst the people. The resultant effect
of this is anybody’s guess; lawlessness, crime,
strife, communual warfare etc. The progressive
centralization of the instruments of power and
administration has been responsible for this,
because stakeholders are not involved in governance,
policy making and implementation.
The attitude of the Nigeria state to the discovery
of oil has resulted into the neglect of Agriculture
and the rural areas in the develop-ment
process. The urban areas have become over urbanized
and according to Mabogunje (1960), they
have become parasites on the rural areas.

15
With all these wealth from oil, Nigeria has
not been able to manipulate her environment to
advantage technologically. This means that huge
programs of economic and social development
can be aborted by the absence and in- appropriateness
of technology. Administrators play a
pre-eminent role in the process of policy making
and implementation. Therefore they contribute a
great deal at influencing the economic system
through the control and operation of governmental
administrative machinery. The bureaucracy
affects the lives of the citizen. Therefore
the quality of personnel employed into it matters
a lot. This is where government attempt to
regulate the economy through national economic
planning, needs a well trained and competent civil
service. Even at that, most of the national development
plans have ended up failing because of the
internal contradictions arising from the plan
environment. These contradictions are the type
of centralized federalism being practiced which
excludes major stakeholders and encourage
wasteful competition and conflict. The ideological
pursuit of mixed economy where governTHE
IMPACT OF THE ENVIRONMENT ON NIGERIA’S PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
121
ment gets involved in the management of certain
sectors of the economy that should have been left
with the private sector encourages this wasteful
spending. Considering the lack of an ideological
unity and presence of mutual suspection amongst

16
politicians and adminis-trators, virtually all the
development plans have ended up being
unworkable.
SOCIAL AND CULTURAL FACTORS
Studies by Riggs (1964) argued for the fact
that most developing nations exist in an
environment where the traditional and the modern
ways of doing things co-exist. This result into the
problems of communication, political mobilisation,
ethical/ethnic confusion etc. In Nigeria for
example, there is the presence of several indigenous
mother tongues, but the English language
serve as the medium of communication. And with
the high level of illite-racy, the substance of
message being dissemi-nated is lost to reason and
only the few literate population benefits.
The fanatical religious group in almost all the
religious sect creates problem and there is always
conflagration over minute things that should not
raise much dust. Tribal and clan allegiance still
holds strong in the Nigerian polity. This is even
more made to fester by the ruling elite. The end
product is confusion in policy making and in its
implementation. The effect of all these on public
Administration has been unsettling. The civil
service is torn by the presence of ethnic and selfish
allegiance and the pursuit of positive result
becomes a far cry from objective expectations.

1. Lack of Good Leadership; The ruling class often times do not have a clear
agenda of what they want to pursue and estimated time of achieving such. In

17
other words, it is a leadership without a vision and thus cannot elicit the
support or unleash the potentials of the followers.
2. Lack of Political and Economic Stability; Nigeria as a country has faced
series of change in governance with the military ruling for a greater
proportion of it’s years since independence. These military regimes too have
not been stable as government can be changed in a short time as Six months.
This long term instability has come to affect the nature in which government
activities are carried out.
During the military regimes, the entire constitution of the country is
suspended and the use of decrees which has no regard for human face in
administration is often introduced. This trend made if difficult even for the
few moments of civil rule up to the present time where elections are unstable
and erratic.
3. Cultural and Social Inequalities. Nigeria has over 250 ethnic groups and
each clamouring for a place at the federal public service. Such struggle for
representation which is based on quota system and at times based on the fact
that each group wants to belong to the service. Such situations have come to
question the very need for merit and efficiency as appointments are no longer
based on merit.
4. Lack of favourable economic environment for both domestic and foreign
investment .This situation in the economy is brought about by incessant
industrial strike action by public workers in demand of improved conditions
of service. Wars and conflict particularly the recent Niger-Delta militancy
activities which have reduced Nigeria’s oil earnings by 40%.
5. Other problems include high poverty levels, high illiteracy levels,
inadequate infrastructure, and heavy dependence on foreign aids And
foreign technical support. And because of the dependence, local initiatives
are killed and usually not appreciated.
6. Corruption. This has eaten so deep into the public sector, as contract
sums are inflated and bad behaviours go unpunished. This, therefore,
encourages the abandonment of tenets of commitments and a sense of

18
service to the nation becomes a mirage.
7. Inadequate infrastructures to facilitate productivity. Industries have
learn to produce with obsolete equipments, while the situation in tertiary
institutions are such that science students are only thought theory without
practicals.And the result is the production of half-baked graduates.
8. The Nigerian experience in trying to bring about transformation of it’s
public service appears to be muddled up between the presidential and
parliamentary system of the public service. The result is that, political
interference in the service has brought about the emergence of half-baked
153
bureaucrats to manage the public service at various tiers of government.
Consequently, the presence of ill-groomed, inexperienced and incompetent
bureaucrats in the service.

CORRUPTION PROBLEM
Corruption at high places and gross misadministration spoilt the reputation of the civilian
administration and compelled the military to come back to power. By the time the
military took over on
December 31, 1983, every Nigerian was sure there were going to be drastic changes. And
it happened so.
Isuikwuato and Okigwe which had already been enjoying some kind of autonomy as
distinct Local
Governments were once again amalgamated into a single Local Government Area. The
Government of
the long-capped civilian President, Alhaji Shehu Aliyu Shagari was overthrown by Major
General
Mohammadu Buhari, a dynamic but non-tolerant young military officer from the present
Katsina State
of Nigeria. Military overthrew military in 1985. This brought into power another Head of
State and

19
President of Nigeria, General Ibrahim Badamosa Babaginda. His coming into power
brought drastic
changes one of which was the creation of more Local Governments. This, according to
Government, has
been to enhance grassroot development throughout the nation. Isuikwuato District was
one of the lucky
ones affected by this new policy. On the 29th of May 1987, Isuikwuato became a Local
Government of its
own. This has been the summary of the onerous journey so far, from clan, through
district, to Local
Government Area which it still remains now 2010.

The history of corruption is as old as the world, because ancient civilizations have traces
of widespread ‘illegality and corruption.’ Thus, Lipset and Lenz 2000 note that
"corruption has been ubiquitous in complex societies from ancient Egypt, Israel, Rome,
and Greece down to the present." Corruption is also believed to be endemic in modern
governments and it is not peculiar to any continent, region, or ethnic group. This does
not, however, mean that the incidence and magnitude of corrupt activities are the same in
every society. Some countries are obviously more corrupt; yet others have better plans in
managing corrupt activities. Obviously, Nigeria is not one of those countries with a better
handle on corruption, despite its unending corruption commissions and all the noise made
by every administration on the efforts to transform the nation into a corruption-free
society.

Therefore, this article, which re-visits the discussion on corruption in Nigeria, adopts a
new approach with a view to effectively managing the challenges of corruption in the
society. More importantly, the discussion on the phenomenon is necessary now that the
nation has sworn in the second and ‘brand new’ Chief Olusegun Obsanjo administration

20
(and new a Congress) at Abuja, because the magnitude of corruption the society
witnessed in his first civilian administration was alarming, to say the least. However, with
the on-going political somersaulting in the society, it does not look that the new
administration would be anything different than the previous one.

Nevertheless, the forms of corrupt activities prevalent in Nigeria include political

corruption, bureaucratic corruption, electoral corruption, embezzlement and bribery.
Political corruption, which takes place at the highest levels of political authority, is a
‘corruption of greed.’ It affects the manner in which decisions are made, manipulates and
distorts political institutions and rules of procedure. Bureaucratic corruption, which
occurs ‘in the public administration" or ‘the implementation end of politics,’ is the ‘low
level’ and ‘street level’ corruption. This is the type of corruption the citizens encounter
daily at places like the hospitals, schools, local licensing offices, encounters with the
police, taxing offices, etc. It is ’ petty’ -‘corruption of need’ - that occurs when one
obtains a business from the public sector through inappropriate procedure. However,
electoral corruption includes purchase of votes, promises of office or special favors,
coercion, intimidation and interference with freedom of election. And corruption in the
offices involves sales of legislative votes, administrative, or judicial decision, or
governmental appointment. Other forms of corruption include embezzlement (theft of
public resources by public officials) and bribery (persuade to act improperly by a gift of
money, etc).

If one may ask, who is to blame for the prevalence of corrupt activities in the society? Is
it the common person or those in power? No matter who the culprits are, convention
dictates that to effectively tackle a problem one should first and foremost determine and
understand the cause (s) –why it happens, before one could effectively manage the effect

21
(s) -what happens as a result. Similarly, to effectively control corruption in Nigeria it is
pertinent to understand the cause (s) before looking for ways to mange it.

From the foreground, it is ‘luminously evident’ that corruption is not peculiar to Nigeria,
but it is a viable enterprise in the society. But the situation in the society is complicated
because the system does not have the apparatus to trace and prosecute the ‘big
politicians’ that engage in grand thefts. Thus, greed and the ‘brazen display of wealth by
public officials,’ which they are unable to account for, points to the fact that those in
power are to blame more for corruption than the common people who are often pushed
into corrupt behavior in their struggle for survival. Until the society devices effective
sanctions to deal appropriately with the ‘big’ corrupt politicians, all efforts toward
tackling the menace are in vain.

The causes of corruption, which are myriad, include the culture and weird value systems
of the society. According to one who has lived in Nigeria, becoming corrupt is almost
unavoidable, because morality is relaxed in the society, and many people struggle for
survival without assistance from the state.

The influence or pressure of ‘polygamous household’ and extended family system, and
pressure to meet family obligations, which are more in Less Developed Countries, are
some of the causes of corruption. Thus, Merton (1968) acknowledges the relationship
between culture and corruption. And Banfield (1958) shows a relationship between

22
corruption and strong family orientation. The study, which helped to explain high levels
of corruption in southern Italy and Sicily, shows that "Corruption is linked to the strong
family values involving intense feelings of obligation." Lack of effective control and
taxing systems are other problems. Thus, Lotterman (April 25, 2002) who noted that bad
rules breed corruption, acknowledged that ‘ineffective taxing system’ makes it difficult
for societies to track down people’s financial activities.

Poor reward system is another serious factor, because Nigeria’s is probably the poorest in
the world. It is no longer news that workers in the society are not paid regularly.
Therefore, to check bureaucratic corruption workers should be paid, and when due,
because without getting paid they would devise ways to meet their family obligations
even if it involves breaking the law. Thus, lack of economic opportunity is a serious
problem in a society whose citizens are achievement oriented, but have relatively low
access to economic opportunities. This alone could explain the reason for the upsurge of
corrupt behavior in the society. Therefore, Lipset and Lenze (2000) note that the cultures
of societies "that stress economic success as an important goal but nevertheless strongly
restricts access to opportunities will have higher levels of corruption." And these are
detrimental to the sociopolitical and economic development of the nation because many
studies, including Mauro 1995 and 1997and Lipset and Lenz 2000, and Sen 2000 have
documented the negative impacts of corruption on societies.

The lukewarm attitude of the officers charged with enforcing the laws (judges, police and
other public officials) lead to corrupt behavior. They often let the culprits off hook when
they are ‘settled.’ What is currently happening in the trial of Chief Omisore and others
implicated in the murder of Chief Bola Ige (the Ige’s family has been frustrated out of the

23
case) and the recent Senator Wabara episode are cases in point. Because money
exchanged hand witnesses were allowed to modify their initial testimonies, and Mr. Imo
(in the case of Wabara) has been bought over. However, If these cases are not resolved
(killers of Bola Ige to be found and prosecuted) it may lead to another criminal behavior,
because one criminal behavior leads to another. Corruption has taught the society a
wrong lesson, that it does not pay to be honest, hardworking and law-abiding. Through
corrupt means many political office holders have acquired wealth and properties in and
outside Nigeria; and they often display the ill-gotten wealth without the society blinking.

Having briefly reviewed some of the causes of corruption in societies (because of limited
space we cannot catalog all the causes) let’s browse through its effects. Some scholars
(including Pye, March 1965) have argued that corruption could be beneficial to a nation’s
political development. In particular, Gluckman (1955) noted that scandals associated with
corruption sometimes have the effect of strengthening a value system of a society. In
spite of the apparent benefits of corruption, any person who has witnessed the devastating
effects of ubiquitous corruption in Nigeria would find it difficult to accept its apparent
benefits.

Therefore, Mauro 1997 and 1995 note that corruption negatively impacts economic
growth and reduces public spending on education The effect of corruption on education is
well stated in a statement made by Costello (Nov/Dec 2001) at a European Commission
(EC) meeting in support of Nigeria’s anti-poverty efforts. He said, "Nigeria has enough
money to tackle its poverty challenges. If the government can win this [its] battle against
corruption and mismanagement, the money will start to turn into functioning schools,
health services and water supply, thus laying the foundation to eradicate poverty" (Dike,

24
May 27, 2003). Also some studies, such as Lipset & Lenz 2000 and Cooksey 1999, have
tied poverty and income inequalities to corruption. Cooksey (1999) in particular notes
that corruption ‘reduces the size’ of a nation’s ‘economic cake’ thereby exposing some
‘segments of the population to poverty.’ Because of corruption and despite its abundance
material and human resources, Nigeria is the 26th poorest nation in the entire globe.

Corruption wastes skills, as precious time is wasted to set committees to fight corruption,
and monitor public projects that are often abandoned by unscrupulous politicians and
contractors. The unending chains of corruption-fighting commissions in the society
includes, the Code of Conduct Bureau and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other
Related Offences Commission (ICPC), the Police, Central Bank and the Court of Justice,
etc. But none of them has the will to fight corruption, because some of the officers are
themselves corrupt. Corruption leads to ‘aid abuse’ or aid foregone (Hope, et. al., 2000).
However, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank are introducing
tougher anti-corruption standards into their lending policies’ to tackle corruption.
Similarly, the Europe Union and the Organization of American States are reportedly
taking some tough measures against international corruption.

Corruption is politically destabilizing. It leads to social revolution and military takeovers,

as some of these in Less Developed Countries point to corruption. Bribery and corruption
create the culture of late payment, and delays and refusal to pay for services already
executed in Nigeria. As was reported in Sen 1999 and as Hall (Reuters June 27, 2002)
noted on the WorldCom scandal, corruption leads to ‘information distortion’ as it ‘cooks
the books;’ and ‘a high level of corruption can make public policies ineffective.’

25
Corruption tarnishes the image of a nation; perhaps, Nigeria suffers more than most
societies from an appalling international image created by its inability to deal with
bribery and corruption. For instance, the 1996 Study of Corruption by the Transparency
International and Goettingen University ranked Nigeria as the most corrupt nation among
the 54 nations on the study, with Pakistan as the second highest (Moore 1997). In the
1998 Transparency International Corruption Perception Index (CPI) survey of 85
countries, Nigeria was ranked 81 (Lipset and Lenz 2000). Worse still, in the 2001
Corruption Perception Index (CPI) survey of 85 countries, the image of Nigeria slipped
further south, as The Transparency International Corruption Index, 2001 ranked Nigeria
90 out of the 91 countries studied (second most corrupt nation in the world) with
Bangladesh coming first.

However, corruption leads to slow traffic, potholed and trash-filled roads and streets, and
political killings (and other election irregularities) that was rampant during the 2003
elections (Shekarau, March 6, 2003). Corruption could upset ethnic balance and
exacerbates problems of national integration. The social brawl following the Chief
Moshood Abiola's June 12, 1993 elections rebuff is one of the many cases dotting
Nigeria's political landscape; and the heat created by this continues to raise the
temperature of the polity. Corruption is destructive of governmental structures and
capacity, destroys the legitimacy of a government, and makes governance ineffective. It
may alienate modern-oriented civil servants and cause them reduce (or withdraw) their
service and to leave a country (the ‘brain-drain’ episode is tied to corruption).

26
Nevertheless, given all this baggage, is it possible for Nigeria to ameliorate the effects of
corruption? Currently, the remedies for corruption in the society are not working, and the
inability of the leaders to report on the effectiveness, or otherwise, of the nation’s anti-
corruption strategies make apparent the war on corruption a joke. However, any society
faced with the challenges of corruption would continue to find ways and means to solve
the problem. This author has argued elsewhere that Nigeria cannot effectively control
corruption by merely instituting probe panels (Dike, Oct 6, 1999). The Oputa Panel and
Akanbi Commission could not (and would not) solve the corruption puzzle in the society.
Therefore, the society is still searching for effective ways to control the menace beyond
the mere rhetoric.

In its apparent effort to tackle corruption in the society, the nation has, in addition to the
above panels, tried the Judicial Commissions, the Code of Conduct Bureau, and Public
Complaints Commission without success. And the current civilian administration of
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has constituted the Economic and Financial Crime
Commission (EFCC) to fight money laundering, the INEC for elections-related
corruption, and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), which seems to
have power only over the corrupt poor. To win the war on corruption, Obasanjo’s slogan
of ‘no sacred cows’ should be put into practice by prosecuting all the known corrupt
political ‘heavy weights’ in the society, because they contribute to making the nation’s
laws inoperable. Thus, corruption, which is currently a high-profile issue, has created a
dangerous mixture of celebrity and corruption in the society. Thus, Nigeria’s corruption
laws are like a cob web that it is too weak for the ‘big’ politicians committing grand
thefts, but strong enough to catch the poor and powerless involved in petty thefts.

27
One would re-call that Chief Obasanjo made a ‘financial deal’ with the family of Late
General Sani Abacha who looted the nation. But he fired Mr. Vincent Azie (the acting
Auditor-General) whose audit report indicted the executive, legislative and judiciary
branch (among other agencies) for ‘improper accounting practices.’ See the Daily
Independent of Jan 13, 2003 and Feb 26, 2003 and Ugwuanyi, in Vanguard of Feb 21,
2003. The Abacha deal and the Azie’s case show that Chief Obasanjo does not have the
will to fight corruption in Nigeria.

To ameliorate the scourge of corruption, Nigeria must hold politician accountable for
their actions, and have effective judiciary and law enforcement to monitor the financial
statements of foreign and local corporations. Recently, Vanguard, May 27, 2003 reported
that Halliburton, a US Oilfield Service firm admitted that it gave a bribe of $2.4 million
to Nigerian tax officials through a Nigerian company (KBP Engineering Construction
Company) to avoid paying taxes of $5 million. Therefore, the society must restructure
and fortify the institutional ‘checks and balances among the country’s major social forces
and the separation of powers within the government.’

This writer recommends that Nigeria should borrow ideas from the US and other
advanced countries that are waging effective war against corruption. Although the US is
equally corrupt, but it does not let its corrupt ‘big wings’ off hook whenever they are
caught violating the laws of the land. The Associated Press (and other news
organizations) reported recently that the ImClone Systems founder, Sam Waksal (a drug-
company entrepreneur), who was found guilty of insider trading, was sentenced to seven
years and three months in prison and ordered to pay $4.3 million in fines and back taxes.
In addition, Martha Steward who was implicated in the ImClone scandal has been

28
indicted on conspiracy charges. If this were in Nigeria the officials in charge of the case
could become millionaires’ overnight, as money would change hands.

Therefore, to effectively control corruption in Nigeria, adherence to ‘ethical standards’ in

decision-making must be the foundation of the nation’s policy on corruption (Bowman
1991). The nation’s public officials are not worried about the ethical implications of their
corrupt behaviors. However, armed with ethics and virtue, the nation should reduce
personal gains from corrupt behavior by instituting "effective sanctions" for corrupt
behavior (de Sardan 1999). The World Values Surveys of 1990-1993, which has good
information on attitudes and values, shows a relationship between values and corruption
(World Values Study Group, 1994). Therefore, preaching the gospel of virtue alone (as is
often the case with the leaders of Nigeria) is not enough to fight corruption. And Nigeria
may not win the war on corruption without increasing it’s "economic pie" through good
economic policies and increase in productivity. And the press (including electronic
media) has an important role to play by exposing those involved in corruption.

To control administrative corruption, the society should not grant too much powers to
officers, such as customs and immigration and the poorly paid police officers that issue
business licenses, goods clearance documents and international passports. As well-stated
in 1887 by Lord Acton, "Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely."
Nevertheless, lack of adequate rewards for good skills and honest efforts are among the
reasons for the upsurge of corruption in the society. For that, adequately rewarding
workers for their services could go along way to controlling corruption in the society.
Nigeria needs all necessary weapons to combat corruption; the society should demand
that politics, which is now less a matter of issues, should be issues-based.

29
However, to tackle corruption in ancient China, Alatas 1980, Klitgaard 1988 and Sen
2000 noted that some bureaucrats were paid "corruption-preventing allowance" (yang
lien) as "incentive to remain clean and law-abiding." But can this method work in
Nigerian situation? Government activities must be transparent. And it should introduce
into its agencies watchdog outfits (anti-corruption bureaus; inspectors general; auditors
general), and ombudsmen =government official appointed to receive and investigate
complaints made by individuals against abuses or capricious acts of public officials, etc,
that would identify corruption practices and bring them to public attention.

Finally, the keys to effectively managing corruption in any society are honesty and
integrity, effective leadership and governance, transparency and accountability, because
corrupt leaders cannot wage effective war against corruption.

LACK OF CONTINUITY
This lack of continuity has created a situation where each P.R.O has always aimed at
pleasing the Chairman who has appointed him, while the true position of things in the
locality remains undiscussed. A true P.R.0 should be immune to political gymicks and
should give impartial advice to the Chief Executive of the Local Government Area. This
is not prevalent in Isuikwuato Local Government Area.

LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY

Public Accountability and Control

30
One of the norms of democratic administration is that power should be
commensurate with responsibility and the holders of public office should be
accountable to the people for the exercise of authority. This is considered an
effective safeguard against the misuse of power and abuse of public
authority. Various forms and measures of public accountability of
administration have been devised in all democratic states. In Nigeria,
SERVICOM was instituted by the then Obasanjo’s administration along site
the Ombudsman to ensure accountability and transparency in the sector.
According L D White, Public accountability consists of the “sum total of the
constitutional, statutory, administrative and judicial rules and precedents and
the established practices by means of which public officials may be held
accountable for their official action.” In other words, public accountability
refers to the liability of government servants to give a satisfactory account of
the use of official power or discretionary authority to the people. This is
considered a check against arbitrary use of authority. Various formal and
objective methods and procedures (legislative, executive and judicial) have
been gradually evolving to ensure the public servant’s accountability and
responsiveness to the public will in democracies.
With the ever-increasing functions and importance of public administration in
modern welfare states the issue of public accountability has assumed great
importance. The civil servants not only implement policy but in a large
measure are actively responsible for their initiation and formulation. In the
Third World countries where the bureaucracy becomes the chief agent of
social and economic change and progress, they have to be given a wide range
of discretionary authority to perform their functions. No clear norms and
precedents exist and in many situations bureaucrats are largely left to
themselves to take decisions. In the authoritarian administrative culture,
which pervades many of the Third World countries, an effective system of
public control over administration is a growing imperative to curb all kinds
of authoritarian tendencies.
A successful system of administrative control should strike a balance between

31
the effective use of public authority and the democratic rights of the people.
The extent and range of public accountability varies according to the
constitutional framework of the country. In direct democracies like
Switzerland, the control of the people over administration is far more direct
and effective than in indirect democracies. In communist countries like the
Soviet Union and China, public accountability, in effect, means
accountability of the administration to the communist party. In indirect
democracies, the major agencies, which exert control over administration, are
the legislature, executive and the judiciary. In the cabinet form of
government, as in England and India, legislative control is more effective
than in the presidential form. We will be looking at the example of India
because Nigeria’s public administration has borrowed a lot from it.

LACK OF PEOPLE’S PARTICIPATION

The degree and extent of people’s participation in the administration of
developing countries like India is greatly conditioned by the basic nature and
operational peculiarities of administration during the colonial period, when
maintenance of law and order and revenue raising were the prime
considerations of administration. The administrative apparatus and functions
107
were then to a great extent, autonomous and accountable to the public.
Public participation neither existed nor was solicited by the government. In
the authoritarian and unegalitarian political and administration culture in
which colonial administration functioned, the benefits of administration
accrued mostly to the upper and the privileged classes of society. In terms of
methods of operation administration was essentially coercive, formal and
procedural.
After independence with the adoption of the goals of a social welfare state,
the key responsibility for rapid socioeconomic progress and modernization
was undertaken by the state, which sought to implement them with the help of
public bureaucracy. With the beginning of the process of planted development

32
in India the planners and administrators have repeatedly stressed the need to
involve the masses and solicit their cooperation in the tremendous challenge
of development administration. To shake free the inertia of the masses that
had hitherto been only used to being passive recipients of government aid the
government sought to create an institutional infrastructure to promote popular
participation. Community development programmes were introduced mainly
to solicit popular participation in the development administration of the
government. The community development programme was a method of
soliciting community participation to assist the government authorities in
improving the economic, social and cultural life of the people in the rural
areas.
They include encouraging the village people to become self-reliant,
responsible citizens, capable of participating in socioeconomic development
and nation-building by proper utilization of the scare resources, adoption of
modern agricultural methods and practices. Utilizing the free time of the
villagers in useful community work; extending the principle of cooperation to
make the rural families credit-worthy; launching a multi-pronged attack on
hunger, disease, squalor, ignorance and idleness and upgrading the social
status of the village teachers and associating them in development
programme.
In short, the essence of the concept of rural development is the all round
development of the village community with the efforts of the people
themselves. Such participatory system was introduced to operationalise the
concept of democratic decentralization and devolution of their areas.
Slowness in taking decisions: Civil servants delay action on matters
referred to them, because of bureaucracy or red tape. This means overdevotion
to precedents and official routines. They cannot act promptly on
cases before them because their actions have to be strictly guided by existing
rules and regulations, in order to achieve uniformity and avoid undue
mistakes.
2-Lack of Initiative and Imagination: Civil servants seldom take decisions

33
independltly.They are, therefore, often criticised for being conservative and
lacking initiative. They have little or no opportunity to exercise individual
judgement and cannot bend existing rules to adapt to changing circumstances.
They are often unwilling to take responsibility or introduce new measures.
3-Poor attitude to work: Civil servants are often accused of lack of
dedication and devotion to duty, caused by poor conditions of service and
insecurity of jobs, leading to poor morale.
4-Ineffective organisation, wastefulness and misuse of man power:
Records are often not well kept, while documents such as file and important
letters can usually not be found when they are most needed. Offices and
duties are often duplicated in the various ministries, with no effective
coordination among them. Added to this, many civil servants with declining
productivity due to old age and poor health are retained in the service, while
healthy and well trained youths remain jobless. The result is a waste of
manpower and scarce economic resources, leading to overall inefficiency.
5-Remoteness from the rest of the service: Civil servants are often
inaccessible to the public. The officials treat members of the public
impersonally and are sometimes impatient with or rude to them.
6-Oppurtunity for Tyranny; this is associated with the delegation of
additional powers to civil servants over legislative and administrative
matters. The exercise of these powers by the civil servants may be abused.
(Oyediran et-al,2005:116&117).

Other problems of public administration worthy of mentioned include;-

1.One central problem of public administration according to Rodee et al(1983;pg 230) is
the
modern democratic state of increasing the efficiency of governmental performance
without
sacrificing the basic democratic principles of government and making its officers and
employees to remain responsible to the sovereign people.
2. The constitution confers immunity upon the president (and Governors) for

34
any act done in the exercise and performance of the powers and duties of his
office. He can, however, be impeached by parliament. No criminal
proceedings can be started against him, nor can he be arrested or imprisoned.
Civil proceedings can, however, be instituted against him during his term of
office in respect of any act done in his personal capacity after a two months
notice in writing. Serving governors and senators in Nigeria also enjoy such
immunities alike. This means they cannot be treated like ordinary citizens
because of the office they occupy.
3. The judicial officers are immune from liability, as provided for in the
constitution. This means that no judge, magistrate, justice of peace, collector
or other person acting judicially shall be liable to be sued in any civil court
for any act done or ordered to be done by him in the discharge of his official
duty, whether or not without the limits of his jurisdiction, provided that he at
the time, in good faith, believed himself to have jurisdiction to do or order
the act complained of.
As regards the non-judicial officials the position is that they are not
personally liable in respect of any contract or assurance made or executed for
the purposes of this constitution or for the purposes of enactment relating to
the Government of Nigeria. A public official incurs liability for torts and
illegal acts unless he has acted in good faith in the exercise of some statutory
power. Civil proceedings can be initiated against him after two months notice
in writing. For example, the criminal liabilities of any official as an ordinary
citizen are defined by the India Penal code, thus: “Nothing is an offence
which is done by a person who is or who by reason of a mistake of fact and
151
not by a mistake of law in good faith believes himself to be bound by law to
do it. This provision provides a wide protective umbrella to public officials.

Suggested ways of solving the public service problems.

Though history has shown that there is no system that works satisfactorily, it

35
is important to mention before we proceed that it is not good to have a public
service that is under the control of the executive and for the appointments to
change according to the turn of political wheel. This has often led to
instability and in some countries the system had proved nearly fatal. The
public service must be reformed in order to attain the public service of our
dream that can rival it’s counter-parts in other countries of the world.
This can be achieved if the following ideals are upheld;-
1. A Public Service that is proactive, anticipates problems and provides
well considered indigenous solutions and competent to evaluate foreign
based solutions usually packaged through experts/consultants or by
whatever other designation known.
2. A public service in which corruption is at Zero tolerance level.i.e
where corruption is near absent or insignificant to affect the goals of
the service.
3. A public service that provides structures and working conditions that
creates space for motivation, growth, efficient managerial succession
154
and fulfilment of the needs of the employees and not based on sectional
interest or tribal affiliations.
4. A public service that pursues unity by keeping the country together,
and committed to finding lasting solutions to the Niger Delta and other
ethnic nationalities.
5. A public Service that attracts and retains some of the best brains and
core competent holders that would render efficient and timely service.
6. A public service that is strictly driven by the observance of efficient
and dynamic Rules and Regulations.
7. A public service that is appropriately enumerated, and
8. A public service that is confident in it’s people and institutions that
can withstand changes in our democratic process.
3.5 a Other ways of Improving the Administrative Problems
The various administrative reforms commissions have suggested various

36
measures for improving the administrative systems. They broadly indicated
reforms in the following lines:
1. The development work, which is most often situational, needs some
flexibility from a strict observation of rigid rules and regulations.
Therefore, the rigid rule bound bureaucracies should be changed
into flexible action-oriented and more responsive instruments of
social change. The bureaucrats have to be positive, persuasive and
innovative.
2. The civil service must be made fully professional, dynamic, and
equal to the task through appropriate methods of recruitment and
training. The civil servants should combine administrative shills
with modern management techniques for greater effectiveness and
responsiveness in administration.
3. Creating right values and attitudes in the administrators. They are
required to be less oligarchic and closer to the ordinary people.
Thus, what is required is change in the behavioural orientation of
public administrators.
4. Simplification of rules, regulations, procedures and reduction of red
tape in the implementation of developmental policies and
programmes. This is also necessary for the convenience of the
public, the cutting edge level of public administration.
To be more precise, the following are some of the important
recommendations made by the expert committees and commissions for
restructuring the administrative system of a developing society like India
which can be applicable to Nigeria and other developing countries:
(a) De-emphasising hierarchy in the administrative structure
(b) Collegiate decision – making
155
(c) Giving precedence to the achievement of goals over strict adherence to
rules and regulations
(d) Decentralization of authority

37
(e) Democratization of administration
(f) Creation of new work culture, and encouraging creativity
(g) Elimination of archaic office procedures, and the use of such
technological devices as fax, personal computer and the electronic mail in
administration.
(h) Adoption of modern management techniques such as management by
objectives.
(i) Elimination of corruption so as to secure clean, honest, impartial and
efficient administration.
(j) Effecting the needed attitudinal and behavioural changes in the
bureaucracy through proper recruitment system and orientation training
(k) Securing integrity of administrators
(l) Promoting efficiency, economy, and public cooperation
(m)Specifying tasks and responsibilities for better implementation of plans
and programmes, and
(n) Facilitating expeditious dispatch of government work.

CONCLUSION
The experience of Nigeria is such that the
administrative state allows a clique of public
officials, the military and politicians to accumulate
wealth, get away with it and leave the
entire system to suffer for it. The effect of this
and other constellating factors earlier mentioned
render public administration ineffective, ineffectual
and corrupt. Administrators support
whatever government is in power and end up
becoming part of the rot. The environmental
implication of these drawbacks in the relationship
between government, adminis-trators, and the

38
public are that the myriad problems discussed
above becomes mutually reinforcing to one
another, thus manifesting negative results.
A way out is to allow political integration to
prevail. By this, there will be ideological unity
that would fashion out a path for the entire
citizenry and the nation to follow. Also, government
programmes should be able to bring the
good life for all, by ensuring that services
provided are satisfactory, facilities and infrastructures
work perfectly, there is accountability and
prudence in the dispensing and management of
public wealth and the rule of law is made to take
pre-eminence over mundane demands.
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