University of Nigeria Research Publications

KERGA, Peter

Aut

hor

PG/MPA/99/26848

Title

Evaluating Employee Performance in the Nigerian Local Government System: A Case

Study of Gwer L.G.A. of Benue State

Facu

lty

Social Sciences

Dep

artm

ent

Sub-Department of Public Administration and Local Government

Dat

e

March, 2001

Sign

atur

e

EVALUATING EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE IN THE , lGERlAN r LOCAL GOVERNMENT SYSTEM: i t CASE STUDY L$= G i E R LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA 3 F BENU% STATE {S:986-*1998) , .,

PETER KERGA PGIMPA199126848

SUPERVISOR: DR. F.C. OKOLI

MARCH, 2001

' f Declaration page I

I, Peter Kerga, hereby declare that this thesis is the result of my independent '1,

work and that it has not been previously submitted.

I shall accept genuine criticisms for errors and omissions discovered in the work.

20 MARCH, 2001

DATE 4 . .

iii

APPROVAL PAGE

Peter Kerga, a .postgraduate student in the sub-department of Pyblic

Administration and Local Government, and with Reg. No. PG/MPA/99/26848 has as p ~ r t ; a l f u l f h y . ; i t Of h e

satisfactorily completed hi>' +"V4 requirements for research work for the degree of -

Masters in Public Administration (MPA).

The work embodied in this project report is original and has not been submitted

in-part or full for any other diploma or degree of this or any other university.

DR. ;y7p+??+- F.9. OK0 I

DR. B.C. NWANKWO ,

CO-ORDINATOR. PALG

DATE '\DEAN, FAC. OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

iv

DEDICATION

For my late maternal great grandmother, Mama Martha Ngyorhena(nee, Wan-

Agav) Kwagh, whose motherly love on me was wonderfu1,S~s~pa~t~the love any other

human being on the earth has ever had on me.

She passedon to eternity on April 8, 1980. Her blessing is always accompanying

me, yielding tangible results.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Where others hi~vc fi~iled, me11 o f lnettlc can always succeed. 'This success is

however i~lways possible only with lhct assisrance mcl cooper;~rion of the people. Nearly

everybody i~l.oulid me hi~s never tiilccl in Iiclping Ine in one way or the other 'to surn~ount

m y hurdle in this ac;demic pu r s i~ i~ . .

M y supervisor, Or . F.C. Okoli, h;d been an invalu;tble I l i~ l lc l b o ~ h in fer~ilizi~ig my

idcas and ~ [ ~ . t . i ~ ~ l ~ l i n i ~ i g them along scholarly ~~liythiii. Also, many stipuli~ting issues

inipossible, possible.

Since independence in 1960, the Nigci.ii~tl ILcleralion is chi~lxterized by political

upheavals alicl economic doletrums, leacli~lg to, illter alia, rhe rni~lfunctiol~iilg ol' the

~UI .L ' ; ICICI .~~L~C institution. Local governlncnts as ~l l c enginc ol' g lxs~.oots develop~nenr, lor

ins~ilnce, have perfornlecl very abysmlly, anel 111c local populace lor whose scrvice local

governments are created, have tlor beer1 tlelivelul.

clclx~-~d 0 1 1 [he cnvironmenr. Rcsulrs and finclirlgs allel 11wir inlplici~tiorls bu1li.w his srand. 4. -

A1 11-IC elltl 0 1 ' ~l ic reseiirch, soluliol~s i~rc p'ol'l'cred li)r h e way forwi~rd.

vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1

PAGE

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .............................. Title page .: .:

............................................. Declaration page ...i.. ..

Approval page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Dedication page ......................................................

Acknowledgement page .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

...................................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Preface ,

Table of Contents ....................................................

List of Tables ......... .:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

SKETCH MAP OF GWER AMONG THE 23 LOCAL GOVERNME

...................................... AREAS OF BENUE STATE..

CHAPTER ONE

.......................................... . 1.0 INTRODUCTION

EVOLUTION OF THE NIGERIAN LOCAL

................................. GOVERNMENT SYSTEM b

BRIEF HISTORY OF GWER LOCAL GOVERNMENT.. .. .

THE CONCEPT OF HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

1 .I BACKGROUND TO THE PROBLEM ..................

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I

ii

iii

iv

4 . . v

vi

vii-x

xi

xii

........... 1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY ............ :. 12

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY ..... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

1.5 SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY ................ 14 . . 1

REFERENCES ......................................................... 18

CHAPTER TWO: RESEARCH PROCEDURE ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

2.0 ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF

GWER LOCAL GOVERNEMNT COUNCIL .................... 19

2.1 LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................. . / 25

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE NIGERIAN CIVIL SERVICE .... 26

FUNCTIONS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENTS ................... 27 ... E

THE NIGARIAN EXPERIENCE .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

2.2 HYPOTHESES FORMULATION .................................. 36

2.3 OPERATIONALIZATION OF KEY CONCEPTS IN THE HYPOTHESES 36

2.4 METHODOLOGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

2.4.1 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ............................... 40

2.4.2 METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

2.4.3 METHOD OF DATA ANALYSIS ........................... 44

............................................ REFERENCES

.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CHAPTER THREE: RESULTSAND FINDINGS b

3.0 WORKFORCE ..................................................

......................................... 311 STAFF MOTIVATION

3.2 JOB SATISFACTION .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I ..................... 1 3.3 ADMlNlSTATlVE BE'. rlAVlOUR I

\\

'I.

.............................. 3.4 BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION

3.5 FUNCTIONAL PROBLEMS .................................

3.6 DISTORTION OF EMPLOYEE PROFEESSIONAL EFFICIENCY

... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . REFERENCES

CHAPTER FOUR: IMPLICATIONS OF RESULTS'AND FINDINGS ... .

SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS ..................................

SOCIO-CULTURAL IMPLICATIONS .................................

POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

TECHNOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...

REFERNCES ....................................................................

CHAPTER FIVE: THE EN'D ...........................................................

SUMMARY .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . THE WAY FORWARD

................................. MILITARY TO QUIT POLITICAL SCENE

INTRODUCTION OF PRESIDENTIALISM /AT THE LOCAL

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GOVERNMENT LEVEL

........................ ADOPTION OF THE WEBERIAN IDEAL TYPE

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PROMOTION OF ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP

.................. $ASS RETRENCHMENT OF WORKERS TO STOP

GRASSROOT DEVELOPMENT ...............................................

MOTIVATION .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

REVENUE RIGHTS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENTS ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

5.1.9 FISCAL ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

5 . I . 10 INSTALLATION OF COMPUTER UNITS .................................. r

5.2 CONCLUSION ...............................................................

BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

BOOKS ....................................................................

EDITED WORKS ............. ., ... .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS .................................

NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

LIST OF TABLES

Page ?

SKETCH MAP OF GWEH AMONG THE 23 LOCAL GOVERNMENT

AREAS OF BENUE STATE ................................................... xii

TABLE 1 ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTUR OF GWER LOCAL

GOVERNMENT COUNCIL, ALIADE, BENUE STATE ................ 20

TABLE 2 HIERARCHY.OF AUTHORITY IN THE

GWER LOCAL GOVERNMENT PERSONNEL DEPARTMENT ......... 22

.................. . TABLE 3 PROFILE OF BENUE STATE GOVERNORS 23

.... 4 TABLE 4 PROFILE OF GWER LOCAL GOVERNMENT CHAIRMEN 24

TABLE 5 rHOFILE OF NIGERIAN LFADERS SINCE 1960 .................. 35

TABLE 6 ELITE THEORY ILLUSTRATED .................. .... ... ... ...... 42

TABLE 7 NUMBER OF STAFF AFFECTED IN THE

RATIONALIZATION EXERCISE ........................................... 63

SKETCH MAP OF GWER AMONG .THE ?2 L 3 C A L

, GOVERNMENT AREAS OF BENVE SPATE

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION Of

Federalism requires the di~tribution~power among the various I

units that make up the federal system in such a way that each of the

federating units or a tier of the system is 'coordinate and independent

(Wheare, 1947:Il). The issue of power sharing among the governmental

units has often generated cantroversy in many countries of the world ,

developed or developing. Thus, federalism does not just follow the

connotation of a political arrangement with a supreme centre, but more

: importantly , a system where certain powers are delegated to national .a. -

government , and reserving others to the states . Now then that states are

enjoying ownership of some constitutional pbwers , we can talk of "hame

rule" and "control at the grassroots". Roseoe Martin (1 957:3) saw that the

grassroots character of a given phenomenon (or place, event,

programme) increases directly with the square of its distance from

Washington. Harold Laski (1948:27), British critic on American Institution,

directly challenges the philosophy of federalism, though such effrontery

is rare. He said effective and vigorous government was made difficult by

federalism , and the institutional apparatus of American federalism b

maximizes the difficulty of achieving creative leadership in the positive

'state.

In Nigeria, it is assumed that the closer government comes to the

people, the greater the possibility of enhancing their lots. We may then

ask this question: Are the rural people poor because governrn9nt has

never come close to them ? Or is it that the grassroots governments are

not fulfilli~iy their constitutional obligation o i pooling down development

nearer to the people? Perhaps the answer is yes. And if so, why? .

Social science believes that to every thing that happens, there is a cause .

This ca~lsative factor is the motivating force behind all that hsppens witi~in

and around us. 1

What then is local government?

Local governments are the tiers of administrative u n i , . ~ of gov6mrneilt

with direct responsibility to the people, throughout the world. There is no

single, straightf0,ward definition of local government ar;\iol.;l Itis' nla, ,y

definitions.

A.H. Marshall (1965) attributes thr'ee main characteristics to local

government, that:

(i) Its operation is restricted within a geographlzal area of a state .

(ii) Functionaries are either elected or selected , and

(iii) It has the constitutional power to tax, among o;i!er m e a s w s of b

autonomy.

F.C. Okoli (2000:lO) sums up by defining local government as a "mini"

government within state .

In spite of these definitions however, a local government is simply the 1

authority which determines and executes measures within a small area inside a

state or region.

EVOLUTION OF THE NIGERIAN LOCAL GOVERNMENT S~YSTEM

Before the advent of colonialism , there was no name like Nigeria.

However, forms of government existed in those places that later turned to be

East, West, Mid-West and Northern Nigeria. There was the Hausa-Fulani

Emirate in the North with Emir as heads; the Yoruba Kingdom in the West had . - either the Oba or the Alafin as the case might be, while the stateless societies of

Ibo, Eastern Coast and the Tiv people of the Middle-Belt operated on village

democracy (Okoli, 1998:33) with some aspects of checks and balances. Indeed,

before 1976, the structure, functions and operations of local government were

neither uniform nor streamlined, but these regions which later became states,

operated different systems that reflected the orientations of regions acquired

from the colonial era.

In 1976, there was the Local Government Reforms, whose provisions

include the recognition of the local government as the third tier of government b 1 .

after the federal (first tier) and state (second tier) governments, a uniform

< \ i l - l L 4

. . structure of local governments throughout the federation, and the granting of

constitutional powers to democratically elected members of the council.

To further democratize the local government system, the Dasuki

Commission was set in 1984. This was to sakitize the mess created in the

second Republic, 1979-1 983, and also to enhance performance.

In 1992, the p esidential system of government was introduced at the local I . . government level with its attributes, including the separation of powers, checks

and balances, maximum accountability and responsibility of government.

Therefore, there was the Executive Council, the Legislative Council and I

Departments. The Posts of Secretary, Director of Personnel Management, and

Treasurer were politicized as each local government was expected to produce

only one of each of the posts, except where prevailing conditions might decide

otherwise.

The political summersault of 1993 cut short the lifespan of presidentialism

at the local government level. Local governments therefore remained under

appointed, nominated or elected caretaker councils until the return of democracy

' on May 29,.l999.

-- BRIEF HISTORY OF GWER LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Gwer Local Government which derives its name from River Gwer was 6 .

carved out of the then Makurdi Local Government in 1976. It has a landmass of

37,920 km2 with a population of 115, 118 (1991 Census). It is situated between

Latitudes 7' and 8' North and Longitude 8' and 9' East. It is bordered by the

following local governments: Makurdi in the North, Tarka in the North-East, v

Gboko in the East, Konshisha in the South-East, Obi and Oju in the South,

Otukpo in the South-West and Gwer-West in the West. The Local government

consists of fourteen council wards, viz. ~kpachai , Gbemacha, Gee, ikwe,

Ikyogbajir, Ikyonov, Mbabur, Mbakyaan, Mbalavflownship, Mbalom, Mbasombo,

Mbayom, Shough, and Ugee. Aliade is the Head-quarters, situated at a strategic

position with Trunk "A" road passing through it, connecting North and South of

the country, and thereby making it easily accessible.

Internal revenue is generated mostly from taxes, rates and fees collected .I -

from major markets of the local government. These markets are Aliade, Taraku,

Ikpayonge, Igbor, Ullam, Akpagher, Moi-lgbo, lkyon and Mase.

Tourism centres include lkwe Wildlife Park and Holiday Resort, Igbor.

There is a spiritual centre at Anyaka, Mbasombo.

THE CONCEPT OF HUMAN RESORUCES MANAGEMENT \ '\ .

Nwachukwu (1988:128) wrote that of all the factors that unlock the forces

. of economic growth and development, a country's human resources is the most

vital, for without it , all the other factors have to wait. Human resources

management therefore refers to the process of developing and facilitating people b

in an organization in order to help subordinates achieve performance aims. In A

the Nigerian public or private service, the hired human resources are referred to

as employees.

An evaluation of employee performance at the local government system in

Nigeria is necessary for orientation, what Anstey (1961:58) described as a

systematic attempt by the management to help each individual member of staff to

develop his potentialities to the full, in the belief that what is best for the staff

must in the long run be best for the organization and vice versa.

It has been often argued that the Nigerian bureaucracy 'is unduly

politicized which has gone a long way in reducing efficiency. This is ~ o t

unconnected to the background of the Nigerian political system that had always

been under military dictatnrship. Perhaps, that explains why 'the local

government employee has not been able to perform efficiently towards turning

out the fortunes of the majority rural dwellers. To decipher into pe'rformance

appraisal of the local government worker-in Nigeria, this work has focused on the

Babangida - Abacha military dictatorship of 1985-1998, with Gwer Local

Government Council as a case study, embroidered with the elite theory.

1 .I BACKG-ROUND TO THE PROBLEM

The traditional role of the military is to safeguard the territorial boundaries of a

state. That is not to assert that the soldier, being a born political animal, should b

be completely a-political. Experience has shown that officers in any military

establishment harbour the political motives of their country. The authoritative

t.

I 7 ,

!

I position of any military officer. is based on his link to the prevailing political power.

For instance, each new president of the United States appoints a new chairman t

of the Joint chief of Staff, and bj, this, the soldier is reduced to political identity. t

In the developing countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America however, the i

I military has added another role apart from the traditional one, and this is usurping

\ \ and controlling political power, usually on the claim that the civil class is

incapable of salvaging the suffering masses. But the military has proved neither

I to save the situation but rather tend to be worse than the civilians. They cause

great impact and damages on human resources management, especially in the

public sector. Being that the public sector employee is a mere government 4 . -

agent,. government actions and inactions that are antithetical to human.resources

management will have direct effect on employee performance.

Local government employees in Nigeria have not performed satisfactorily

over the years because of the military dictatorships. For instance, the imposition

of sole Administrators as caretaker chairmen was an impediment to employee

performance because these workers had to comply with directives of any kind

handed to them by the sole administrators. The worker has to comply

unquestionably since he is a subordinate to the political leader.

The focus here is on the Babangida - Abacha regime of 1985 - 1998 b

when administrative weaknesses like flagrant disregard to bureaucratic norms, b

human rights violations, bribery and corruption, etc soared indefinitely.

stance, the Weberian ideal model of meritocracy wa s give; the boot in

preference to red tapism which raised upper hand in the recruitment, rewarding 0

and apportioning appropriate sanctions to those who so deserved. ,

'The necessity to perform efficiently cannot be overruled because the

essence of government existence is for the greatest good of the greatest number

of people. This ~"yood" in political science is referred to as "value" and is

authoritatively allocated to societies. Those that really implement the allocation

in Nigeria for instance, is the worker. If therefore ttle worker is lacking in

performance, it means the governed will suffer. This is what was obtained in

Nigeria under the military. .,.

+ From the above therefore, it can be seen that the background to the poor

performance of the Nigerian local government employee is rooted in the body

polity of the country. If the head of a fish gets rotten, the whole body wiil get

rotten, is a popular Chinese adage. This problem should not be atthbuted to the

local government management system because it (the system) is just but a

microcosm of the Nigerian macro political system. In other words, inefficiency in

the performance of the local government employee has remote cahse - military

regimes that had engulfed twenty-eight of our forty-one years of political

independence.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The Nigerian military regime from 1985 to 1998 was steered respectively by

Gen. lbrahim Babangida and Gen. Sani Abacha. It is often referred here as

the Babangida - Abacha regime. This is because though they happened to

be two different regimes at last, yet they had certain things in common and

were mutually , inclusive. Gen. Abacha supplied significant input in the

Babangida administration and had been kingmaker since the second coming

of the military on December 31, 1983, until he became king himself, eighty-

three days after his colleague, Gen. Babangida "stepped aside" in August,

1993. I). -

+ The regime appointed military governors who in turn imposed sole

administrators as caretaker chairmen of local government councils.

~ouncilors were then selected from among the people. ,These sole

administratois were stooges to facilitate primitive accumulation of the military

governors. Most of them were inexperienced administratively but became

"competent" if only they possessed the initiatives to accrue local government

funds to. the governors, sometimes through the office of the First Lady

instead of depending on the professional advice of the career civil servants.

The sole administrators usually unleashed policy decisions that were

antithetical to bureaucratic norms. Sometimes those directives emanated b

from the office of the Military Governor.- One issue of note is that of

performance appraisal. At the local government level, evaluating employee

performance is usually done through Performance Review.

Humble(1975) notes that Performance Review "ensures that every $

manager (or officer) is systerr~atically thought about as an individual in his

own right". The review demonstrates gaps in knowledge and skills which can

be filled by planned guidance and training. It is the occasion when the key ,

result analyses are brought up to date and a new improvement plan is

settled. This is done through the Annual Performance Evaluation Report

(APER) system. APER forms emphasize the open reporting process in order

to clear doubts in the minds of staff to the constant negative procesg-formerly

used in the secret reporting system (Adzer, 1999:lO). It is d method of

improving the performance of the workers judging from their previous

performar c . : ~ qver the years.

Howevei, due to the corrupt nature of the Nigerian bureaucracy, staff

whose attention needed to be drawn to their shortcomings at the end of the

year were never intimidated. A number of factors are responsible for this.

One ig the issue of family ties. Reporting officers were fretful in telling their

subordinates of their poor performance, even when it was very clear. The

reporting officer, under the psyche of extended family tie, wculd nurse the

fear of facing hard intimidation should he apportion appropriate sanction on A

an officer that is wanting in performance but is related to him by family tie,

contrary to the provisions of Civil Service Rule (CSR) 273. This is a serious

administrative problem in Nigeria especially at the local government level.

Sometimes if an officer attempted to follow and execute the CSR to the I

latent, he would be branded a wicked officer instead of getting applause.

Cases abound in Gwer Local Government, for instance, of officers suffering

threats of physical assault, or strategic intrigues for his transfer to another

local government. Thus in 1996, the Head of Works Department fell victim to

this problem when he attempted to adopt punitive measures on his

subordinate for truancy. The later, a crony to the then military-ensconced

sole administrator, on hearing this, warned the H.0.D to withdraw his action. d -

His delay in doing this earned him transfer to another local government.

Another problem worthy of note is the complete absence of organizational

citizenship. Citizenship here implies the behaviour of the organization. The

workers feeis he is part of the organizational family. It calls for selfless

service, going beyond the boundaries of economic motive for service. It is

hoped that where staff participate in decision-making, they have the feeling of

belonging and so, dedicate much of themselves to the cause of the

organization.

Sadly enough however, citizenship is hard to come by at the local

government system like the other tiers of government. Public property are

'taken to be no body's. At the local government secretariat, automobile

vehicles as well as other kinds of machine that had devei~ped minor

technical faults are abandoned under the sun like orphans. This goes a tong 9

way in affecting employee performance especially in areas where such

machines would have been used.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The objectives of this study are legion. First, the Nigerian bureaucracy has

not performed up to expected standard because of the abysmal ~ocio-political

problems haunting the whole system. This study howewr limits iise!f to the

local government with special focus on Gwer Local Governm.:r,t as case

s t~~dy . Specifically, the siudy aims at scanning the performance-of local

government employees during the Babangida - Abacha regimr: of 1985 -

1998 with the view to finding out possible answers to the following questions: , .

(i) . WI. is it necessary to evaluate employee performance under the

Niger ian praetorian regime?

(ii) How did civil servants in general and particularly local govet'nifierlt

workers feel and performed under such dictatorship atn-roqphere?

(iii) ..Was there any reaction by the workers? And if any, what was

government response especially as regards the general issues that

affect workers welfare?

(iv) What were the results of the findings?

Furthermore, the study aims at deciphering into the relationship between the

career civil servarlts and the clientele workers at the local gcwernment to find .*

out whether it was, cordial or not due to the fact that both workers lived and

operated under praetorianism.

Another important objective apart frcrn the evaluation of employee

performance is to identify the conditions necessary for affective and efficierlt

performance that can accrue better and higher productivity. Describing the

situation only is not enough. Solutions also must be proffered.

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

' In the past, many societies relied upon separate and unrelated ad h ~ c 4 -

+ measures in the place of systematic planning to attain coherence and soci3-

economic growth. Problems relating to human resources development in

those times have received the attention of employers, adrninisr;Aors, local,

, . state or nai..~I . - \ I policy makers. There has been growing realization arnongst

policy makers everywhere that the concern with planning must Fever ignore

scholarly works. This project will therefore hzlp in policy formulation on

humao resources management given the fact that most of the problems

i affecting employees, employers as well as policy maltcrs have been

I

documented. b

Second, the study will elaborate an understanding of the role of the >

appointed political leaders in a praetorian regime, especially this one of 1985

- 1998 that has often been described as being Maradonic, Machiavellic and

most brutal in the history of Nigerian leadership.

When solutions are proffered at the end of the research, they will be of

immense benefit to both private and public organizations.

Also, the study can be used for academic purpose at the local, national

and international levels. Though on specific as against the general issues of ,

public administration, it is my conviction that the study will be significant not

just in building thought, but to make thought work. There is no practice that I I 1 does not imply a philosophy of knowledge, however little it may be. This I

therefore is my mite towards enhancing academic development. . .

I .c 1.5 SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

This project is primarily a case study. It is not very limited to the local

government perse. It touches the general issues of public administration and

reduces to personnel management and specifically in the Nigerian local

! government system, Gwer local Government as focal point.

1 '\< The study covers the period 1985 tc 1998, a milestone in the Nigerian

I

I political history when bribery and corruption were legalized by the existing

I powers that were. But since no historical period is completely independent

froq other historical developments of humanity, the study makes special

reference on other historical periods, drawing some salient lessons that \

rhyme with the main subject of discussion. For instance, references are

made to those societies that have suffered under the dictates of

practorianism in other developing countries of Africa, Asia and Latin 9

America. Apart from these too, a comparison is made on the system of local

government administration especially as it pertains to human resources

management. How and why this scenario has evoked is not the main target

of the study, but beyond this is how it should be discontinued towards

ensuring a better employee performance.

The project is not very exploratory, in the sense that there are some . .

existing writings on employee performance in different organizations and

places of the world. To the people of Gwer Local Government however, the . - a project can be said to be exploratory because it is coming for the first time on

the issues that impact direct bearing on the staff.

On the other side however, the study is limited by a number of factors.

First is the insurmountability of gaining access to some vital information

sources at the local government particularly, and the country at large. For !

\1

'\ instance, what is the per capita income (PCI) of Nigeria today? What is the

d~sposable income of the Nigerian worker and particularly those at the local

I government?

It would also enhance and expedite successful study to make a

comparisons of the local government worker in Nigeria viz-a-viz his state and

federal counterparts respectively. But this is not easy to come by especially if

it involves interviewing as people are sceptical at revealing their mo~th ly

incomes.

The problem of revenue accruing to the local government is also a limiting

factor to the study. Due to the inefficient management system, there is

complete absence of such documents on the local governments revenue

generation. For instance, how much does the local government generate

internally per month? What is the monthly federal allocation?

Information on these issues is scanty, and this dearth mitigates the

necessity of widening the scope of the study.

There is also the problem of having the statistical data of staff strength. .I.

In 1998, Gwer local government had the staff strength of 902 workers made

up of 729 males and 273 females. Based on the recommendations of a

military stooge in the local government acting under the canopy of a sole

administrator, over one hundred staff were laid off in the early part of the

year, 1999. Others have ceased to function as local government staff by

transfer, retirement or by death. Since the local government does not have

documentation and recording officer it is not easy to know the staff strength

for a concise research and analysis.

In addition to the above is the problem of gaining access to some official L

documents, especially files. There is the Secret Registry section of the b,

Personnel Management Department which keeps secret files and confidential

documents. This office is strictly out of bound to both staff ar;d non-staif of

the local government, except those ass~gned to work there. Where offices ?

are opened to vis~tors, it is not easy to peruse any official file as IS usual with

bureaucracy. On-the-spot assessment and evaluation of employee

performance based on the advantage of having direct access to these

information bits is, therefore, prejudiced.

The other problem pertains to the arrangement of the present course of

study by the university authority. Th~s is essentially the crash nature of the

programme whrch has reduced the possibility of making a research

comprehensively elaborative. . . t The programme. Master's degree in Public Administration (MPA) was initially

\ designed to cover twelve calendar months. But due, perhaps to

circur!~stances beyond the jurisdict~on of the authorities concerned, the

twelve-month academic programme was compressed to less than six

months. One therefore finds it extremely difficult to embark on a tedious

research that would consume a greater portion of the limited time.

In ~p i t e ' of these limitations however, the relevance of this study remhins

unsevered.

i( !

REFERENCES

Adzer, B.P. (1999), A Handbook of Civil Service Rules: A Practical Guide, Makurdi: Onaivi Printing and Publk!.i , . . > . t d .

Anstey, E. (1 96 l ) , S d f report in^ and Staff Development, London: Allen alld Unwin.

Finer, S.E. (1970)' Comparative Govermnent, London: Watson and Vinney.

tiumble, J, (1975), Management BV Objectivesl-Essex: Gover Press Ltd.

Laski, 1-i. (1948), The American Democracy, London: Watson and Vinney

Marshall, A.H. (1965), Local Government in the ~ o d e r n World, London. Althoxe Press

I

Martin, R. (1 957), Grassr~, , Alabama: University Press. . \

* - Nwachukwcl, C. (19.88), Management theorv and Praclice, Enc!gu:

Afr icxa FEP.Publishing Company

Okoli, F.C. (I 998), ' "~rofessionalization of the Niserian Civil Servic-", in F.O. Onah (ed), Nigerian Journal of Public Administration and Local Govern:neri:, Vol. 9. ~ 0 . 1 , Nsuklta: Univrsity Press.

Okoli, F.C. (2000), Theow and Practice-ofL.ocal Government: A Nigerian Perspective, Enugu: John Jacob's classic publishers Itd.

The Presidency (1988), Local Government Year Book, Abuja: Tonem Publicity

- - I ornasek, R.D. (1970), Latin American Politics, New York: Anchor Books.

Wheare, K.C. (1947), Federal Government, New York: Oxford University Press. .

2.0 OROrrNlZATIONAL STRUC'TUIW OF CWER LOCAL

GOVERNMENT COUNCIL

Organizalional struct~lre is, among others, a feature of Management Ry

Ol~jjectives (MBO). MBO is a process by which decisions are made, g ~ a l s are set

and the organizational structure designed for specific purposes of rlre institution

(Abah, 1997: 180). MBO enables the administration 10 think of the orgmization:d

slnwure which bears the collsequenccs of ilny policy iiccisicu, ohjcctiws,

priorities i ~ n d struict;ics. .I

v In Gwrr Lociil G~verl~nlent , at the apex of h i s structure is Lhq Chairmall

who is the ChicE c;xccutive. For this, he is known as the I'xecutive Chainnnn. The

secuncl in conlrnand is the Deputy Chairman, tl~ough psacticnlly, tlic Secretary to

the Local Gover~unent (SLG) wosks close^ to the chairman than any other person.

The SLAG is the 1--1cad of Scrvice, the Accounting, as ~ , ~ c l l as Protocol Officer.

There arr: seven departments on the council. These arc Agriculture,

Education, l'inaixe (Treasury Departmenl), Ileallh, Personnel (Ari~lilnistrative

Department), Revenue, and Works Department. lhAl of thesc departments has a

heid, but the head ,or Personnel Department is also the Director of I'ersonnel b

Maiigement (DPM). Me is the first i11110i1t; equals, and the deputy IK.,.~! o l ' ~ ~ r v i c c .

The standing cornmiltees of the cuuncil are as follows.

(i) Junior staff rrianugement council (JSMC)

(ii) Senior staff ~ a n a & m e n t Council (SSMC)

(iii) Land Allocation and advisory cominittee (LAAC)

(iv) Task Force on Enviror.n~ental Sanitation (TFES)

(v) PhrkeVRevenue committee, and

(vi) Corninittee on Loading and Oftlqading

These colnrnittees play the dual role of implementing co~incil p l ic izs on issues

pertaining to their functions, and advising i t on some major issuc-s. 4

In the Pe r son i~ l Management Depurrment, the ::iercirchy of' authoriry is: as

below.

. Post -

Secretary to the Local GovemmGt (SLG)

Director of Personnel Management (DPM) --

c h i c ~ ~dnliniskalive Oficer (CAO)

I'rincipal Administrative Officcr (PAO)

---- Senior Acl~ui~iislrative Officer (SAO)

Adminislralivz Ofticer I (AOI) -- - -

Administrative Officer I1 ( A 0 1)

Assistant Executive; Officer (AEO)

-- -- Pelmlincl Assistirnt 111 (PA 111)

TABLE 2 IIierurchy of Authority ill the Gwer Local government Personnel

Dzpartm~nt.

Below is the Benue State leadership profile since 1976.

- 1 Col. Abdullahi Shelleng Military i Feb., 1976-JuIy,1978

3 Mr. Aper Aki~(now deceased)

Atom Kpera - ~ ~ i l i t i l r y - 1 4 Jan., 1984-27Aug., 1985

Group Capt.David Jonah 15- 6

1-1 Col Yohanna Medaki 6 6 I a e p t . , 1986

I

~ - ~ o l . l r h a y ; i Bakut I

6

Col.ldris Garba PI-

Group Capt.Josh~ia Obademi I - 7 1 ~ N o v . , 1 9 9 ~ 2 i A L I ~ . ,

9

171 Lt,Col.Aminn lsu Kon~agora I

6 i

Mr.George Akume , i t - 1 29May, 1999-Date

P P

Lr.Col.Fidelis Makka

'TABLE 3: I-'roi.de of 13enu.e State Governors

'I'llc. period betwecn 27 August, 19S5 and 10 Augi~st 1998 witnessed a

L L

short civilian rule from 2 fanumy, 1992 to 17 November, 1993 when the lute

27July, 1988;2Jan.,1992 ----I

milirxy dictator, Cien. Sani Abacha's "child of necessity" struck. Below is a

profile of Gwer Local Goverr~ment Chief execiitives since 1976, and especially

those that fell in the military diclatorship of 1985 to 1998.

- Mr. Mohammed Gwa

Mr. Peter Toryila Kpagh

Mr. S.L.U. Dewua

Mr. Athanasius ~ o i g ~ o

- Mr. Timothy Terkpe

klr. Samuel Alaaga

Mr. Nyamky i ~ n ~ e Ano

Mr. Samuel 'l'ingir ,

Mr. Vincent Aondoakaa

--. - Mr. Viliccnt Aondoakaa

Mr. Nicholas Gyegwe

Mr. hdohan~nlcd ~ a u c l a '

Mr. Joel Udegha

Mr. Jerome Tor Shirnbe

Mr. Gum Ayangeor b

Mr. Godwin Agba Injo

'Typc 01 Regime Period

Elected Chairman 1/1/77-3 1/12/79

Carzlaker ~ha i r lnan 1/1/80-31/12/80

L b 111 18 r:17% 1 i Solc Administrator

Caretaker Chairman ~ b - l i i l U 1 8 7

-- - .. - - Sole ~dnl i&ator PI 0187-3 1/12/87

----.- .-

Elected Chairman 1/1/88-8/5/88

- --a- --- Sole Administrator 1 118189-3 111 2/89

I

Carctakcr Chairman 1/1/90-6/1/91

Elected Chairman 711 /9 1 -201919 1

- Sole Administrator 30/9/91-1/12/91

--- Elected Chairman

- MI-. Imocent Daagema Elected Chairman

21

~ ~ ~ i r n o n ~ i l a Agbo --I

'Sable 4: Prolile of Gwer Local Government Chairmen

2.1 LITERATURE REVIEW

. As c 't,.:r stated somewhere, the focus of this project is on the

performance of he Nigerian civil scrvice, talci~lg the local go3, :l.Lmr;nt syslem as LI

special reference case. I t thcrefore behoves that a diversiliec! lcnowledge of public

employee the world over is sine qusi non for the synthesis and thesis for a

sagacious -evaluation of the Nigerian public employee performance u~ldcr

prnctorianism.

Byt before adopting the conlparative approach, we shall first of all trace

the history of the Nigerian civil service.

Mrs. Janet Adzenga Chairn~an 912195-%3/96 1

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE NICRIAN CIVIL SERVICE

Prior to the era of colonialisn~, most societies in what is now Nigeria

operated on village democracy. The British Colonial administration introduced

the civil service in Nigeria with its bureaucratic characteristics. Their primary

aim was for the easier implementation of the colonial policies for routine

maintenance of law and order, simple tax collection and operation o r socio-

economic service that was rather for their interest only,

Since independence in 1960, the Nigerian Civil Service has maintained the

British bureaucratic set-up, though the focus now has been shifted from the I

* .

nlaintenance of law and order to solving many and varied development-problems

experienced in the country with law and order being handled by the Armed

Forces.

The evolution of the Nigerian Local governnlcnt system is not dil'ferent

from the evolution of the civil service. It is a development of the pre-colonial,

colonial and post-or neo-colonial develop~nents in Nigeria. 'That is to say

developmental issues of the Nigerian Local Government were tied, willy-nilly, to

h e apron-strings of the pre-colonial, Colonial, and post-or neo-colonial successes

or hilures (Okoli, 2000:33).

- The heterogeneous nature of the Nigerian society was responsible for the

operation of dil'ferent systems of' government in the various ethnicities. Tho

adoptiuil ul' I'cderulism tit indep~i~ilence further ossifie,! h e regional cllfferw~c

unlil the Loci11 Ciovernmellt relurrn of 1976, irrld enshrined in the 1979

!

'1'1~ 1999 Constitution proviclcs the Sollowing as hnctions of the Local

Government.

FUNCTIONS OF LOCAL GOVEltNMENTS

'I'liese tirrlctions fd l in the exclusive list and concurrent list. The exclusive

functions are those perfomled by the local government without m y involveinent

Ij.o~ll the state government. And they inc1udc:-

(i) Economic plunuing of the local government. *.

(i i) Collection of rates and television licenses *

(vii)

(viii)

Establisl~~nent and minrenance of cenxleries burial grounds a d house

Tor clesliiul; ar inlirm.

Licensing of bicydzs, trucks (Other than n~cchanic;:!ly psope~!ccl), b:ln.q.,\,ls

and ciWs

Markets, motor parks and public convel~;z~~ces.

Roads, streets, drainages, public highways, parks open spaces.

NLunlng of roads ird streets

Provision and mnintenunce of public convenie~~ccs nncl rehse ciiqmsal

Registration ol'bir~hs, deaths and marriages

Tenenlellt ratc or property tax.

(xi) Control and regulation o t

a. Out-door advertising and hoarding

b. Movement and keeping of pets of all descriptions

c. Shops and Kiosks

cl . Restaurants and other places for sale of food to the public

e. boundaries

On the other hand, the concurrent functions are those that the local

government pert'olm with the participation of a state. They include:

(i) Provision and maintenance of primary, adult rlnd vocational

education. 4 . -

(ii) The development of agriculture and natural resources other than

the exploitation of minerals.

(iii) Provision and maintenance of herillh services

(iv) Such other lunctions as may be conkrred on a local governmen1

by the state I-Iouse of Assembly. . .

The social scientist believes in the causative factor underlying every factor underlying

every happening. Since this research believes that the Nigerian local governmel-rt . employee performed below expectation, it must no1 be unconnected with the political

at~nosphere under which he fbuncl himself, that is, military regimes. This regime impacts b

great damages on human resources management as we can see from the few exanlples

below.

When the military strikes, they attempt to propagate their actions to shelve away

the mounting discontent. In Brazil for instance, many public corporations came to halt

1 when thc political system almost collapsed in 1964 at the nlilitary overthrow of President

Joao Cioulart. At the end, many workers were eiiher retrenched or allowed to remain

I underemployed, especially those found to be loyal to the ousted rcgime. Employees in

regional governments were forced to be under the dictates of the political leaders

ensconced by the military. Yet, according to Tomasek (1 Yi"i':490) the soldiers claimed to

I have saved Brazil from "leftism and sheer demagoguery".

In Cuba, when Fidel Castro assumed power on January 1, 1959 after deposing

Gen. Batista, he was expected to establish liberal democracy which would enhance 4 '

workers' welfare, generate motivation and expedite efijcieni productivity. But instead,

he continued on a four-century-old tradition of military authoritarianism, and the

confidence reposed in him was relegated (Ruiz, 1970: 17). Human resources management

was greatly severed as appointments and psomotions in the public bureaucracy were

based on his personal interest, negating the Webesian model of n~erilocracy. A soldier,

Captain Jesus Sosa Wlanco was unjustifiably killed having been identilied as a loyalist to

ousted Gen. Batista

In Uganda, self-promoted Field Marshal Idi Anlin (then Major-General) assumed

power on January 25, 1971 at the dethronenlent of I'resident Milton Obote. The flrst . .

victims of Idiaminism were two Catholic pi-iests who were Killed by gun shot in a car. 4

Ont: of them was Fr. Gerard Guests, a Canadian. There was high turnover in ~ g a n h a n

public instilutiorrs like hospitals, public corporations, schools and universilies. Hospitals

and schools were kept open by skeleton staffs. Ghana sent 82 tcachers to Uganda, I-Ie 4

nrassacred seven of his 'cabinet Ministers. Edward Rugiimayo, the Education Minister

who escaped death said in the first two years of Idi Amin's rule, 80,000 to 90,000 people

were massacred, most of them government employees (Kamu and Cameron, 1979:37)

Indeed, Idiaminism was the second I-Iitler. There was massive brain drain and

those who remained lost the spirit of organizational citizenship which dealt a serious

blow on human rsources management. This persisted until his fall on April 11,1979.

THE NIGERIAN EXPERIENCE

J The second coning of the military was on December 3 1 , 1983 when the civilian *. .

government of President Shehu Shagari was overthrown in a bloodless coup: Major Gen. * Mohan~madu Buhari Carrie into power on January 1, 1984 but was overthrown. In his

coup speech of 27 August, 1985, Gen. Sani Abacha (then Brig Gen) accused the B L I ~ ~ - i

leadership of lacking "the capacity and capability of leading this nation aher the

economic and social predicament . . . The state of [he nanion's cconomy getting more and

more deplorable . . .'The life of the ordinary citizen of this country beconing increasingly

unbearable . . . ." - Thus began the Babangicla - Abacha regime on August 27, 1985. Gen. Abacha

was the Kingmaker between 1983 and 1903, supplying very signific~int input in the 6

praetorian regime in his position as he ChieC of Defence Staff. 'The major socio- I

economic and political policy programmes which this regime was well noted for in Jude

thc acceptance of the International Monetary 1:und (IMF) loan in1986 in a skulkish

manner, that is the introduction of the structural Adjustment Progrmmt: (SAP) in July, 1)

1986 which was a direct replica of the IMF loan which the regime claimed to have

rejected; the introduction of the 1:amily Support I'rogramme in July, 19137 which served

thc interest of the elite class; the cancellation of the June 12, 1993 presidential election

which was adjudged to be free and fiiir; thc "stepping aside" 01' Gen. Babangida for his

friend, Chief Ernest Shonkkan on August 26, 1993; the conling of Gen. Abacha - "a child

of necessity". On November 17, 1993, which was basically a continuation of the

Rabangidu regime; and the sudden exit ol'Gen. Abacha to the antipodes on June 8, 1998.

'Thus, Bnbangida's tenure was 8 years while Abucha's was 4 years, 6 months. In between .( -

these, the Ernest Shonekun - led Interim National Cioverrunent (ING) interludded for 83

days.

Babangida employed the Machiavellian lynch of leadership. Niccolo

Milchinvelli, the Italian political confisionist (1469-1527), wrote that for the leader to

maintain his ruleship, " some of the things that appear to be virtues will, if he practices

them, ruin him, and some ol'the things that appear to be vices will bsing him security and

I property" (Machiavelli, 1999150).

I I Babangida had no regard on the Nigerian public employee. He was more of an

authoritarian - personal clictatos. 'I'his is a form ol'civil - military relation based on the

b

leadcrspersonul charisma. l'he president rclies on military men Lo rule while still 1 -

co-opting a few civilians to assist. The personal wishes of the military leader always

overrides any other interest in the country, to dovetail Machiavellianism. .t

'1'0 decipher into the damages his regime had unleashed on the Nigerian civil

service, we shall make a quiclc reference to the governnlent press in the much celebrated

annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.

Ideally, the press has a varied Sunctions to the public. It acts as the voice of

pressure groups, watchdog 01 government activities and sometimes, as opposition. The

Lagos - lbadan press had been a hard critic ol'the Nigerian military of 1085 to 1998. Let

us now introduce the concept of Management By Objective (MRO). According to Peter

Drucker (Cited in Kazmier, 1980:267), "what the business enterprise needs is a principle * -

of management that will give full scope to individual strength and responsibility and at 4

the same time give a common direction oS vision and effort, established teamwork and

harinonise the goals of the individual with the common weal. 'I'he only principle that can

do this is management by objectives and selScontro1".

MBO therefore seeks to integrate and reconcile the objectives of the individual

with hose of his organization. The subordinate should be given the opportunity to

perforrn and know where he is heading on the job.

.When the June 12 presidential election was cancelled, the military regime

manipulated on the press to conceal their intention and justib the act. The "New

~ ige r i an" editorial of June 15 sanctiiiecl it, calling it free and fair. Uut the June 16 4

editorial discredited it, saying that it was incredible. It was believed to have emanated

from the presidency at Abiua, as evidenced by the quick resignation of its editor, Yakubu

Abdulazeez on the ground that there was "intense pressure" which "had eroded my 9

authority as the editor and my proSessional judgement". I-Ie went on that the Julie 16

editorial was "faxed" from A b ~ ~ j a by one Tuki~r .=)thman, Chairman and C ~ e f executive

of the New Nigerian Newspupcr to fix his "imprillt to a newspaper whi~h,has suddenly

begun to pursue policies th'at can lcad to Nigeria's disintegration". , .

In essence, the journalist was seeking to cultivate and maintain the spirit of MBO

by way of integrating and reconciling the objectives of journalism.

When the military desire to remain in power became intensified, lhey adopted

k

several strategies which eroded the efficiency of the public employqe under their very .I

dictatorship. For instance while the Lagos - Ibadan media became very ixitical of the

regime, the Northern mass media, specifically the Kaduna-based, government owned.

New Nigerian newspaper, and Radio Nigeria Kadunit, were made lo be agencies of

governnlent propaganda, Thus, they were biased to their own sections in analyzing

iiational issues, and this had conlpletcly stained the potentiality of their p~.oSession.

The period witnessed series oS strikes in protest against injustice in the country.

The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), went on a nation-wide strike which lasted for

months. At the end, nlany workers lost their jobs while others were detained, exanlple

Chief Frank Kokori, Secretary of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural tias b

(NUPGNG) iYorkers. 4

I The following is a diary of bombasts in Nigeria between 1995 and 1997.

1. May 3 1, 1992 - FSP launch, Kwara State Stadium, Ilorin. -*

2. January 18, 1996 - Di~rbar Hotel, IGiduna

3. January 20, 1996 - Arninu Kano International Airport, Kano

I 4. April 1 1, 1996- Ikeja Cantonment, lkeja

1 5. November 14, 1996- Murtala Mohammed Airport Lagos ! I

6. December 16, 1996 - An explosion hit Lagos State Military Administrator,

Cql. Mohammed Buba Marwa's convoy along Mobolaji Johnson Bank,

Anthoney Way, Lagos.

7. December 18, 1996. A bus conveying members of the Lagos State Task 4 . -

Force on Environmental Sanitation was hit at Alausa, Lagos

8. January 17, 1997. A bomblast hit an Army bus at qjulegba, Lagos.

9. February 12, 19997 - Anothcr blast near Iclikoro, Malyland, Lagos, hit a

Mercedes Benz bus belonging to the Nigerian Army School of Finance and

Administration, Apapa. Eight soldiers and a civilian were wounded.

4 All thesc bombasts wcre orchestraled by the then prevailing political condition.

! The political instability had seriously affected almost all sectors of the economy I * which greally crippled down the el'ficient perfbrmance of the Nigerian worker,

and particularly the locd government employee. I1 is alleged thal the bomb last l

o? May 3 1, 1995 at the launching of the Family Sopport Progralnlne (FSP) launch I . 1 . in Ilorin, aflkcted mostly local government staff who were in attendance.

i Out of the 40 years of our political independence, the military's r i k d for

28 years. below is a profile of Nigerian leaders since indepcndcnce in 1460. 4 -- ---.

Nanx of' Head of slate or Type of Government Government Position Weld From -- -So

' Tenure FIRST AFRICAN

DR. NNAMDI AZIKIWE GOVERNOR- 1 / 10160 1110163 3YEAKS

ALI-I. A.'T. I3ALBWA I " 1 MNISTER MAJ.GEN J.T.U.AGUIY1- 1 MILITARY 1 HEAD OF STATE k ~ l / 6 6 2 9 / 7 / 6 6 1 13 DAYS 1 GEN.YAKUBU GOWON

1 b b L b

- .-- 29/7/66 1 29/7/75 GENXUIITALA MOI-IAMMED 'I: GEN.OL,USEXJN - L C G b

6L b L

29/7/75 13;2;76 MONTHS 3YIIS

ORASANJO -- - -- 14/2/76 1/10/79 MONTHS ALI-I.SI-IEI IU SI-IAGARI PRGSID- F I I C F EXECUTIVE -1/10r79 31/12/83 4YKS

I'ItESIDENT

MAJ.GEN.M: BUHARI MILITARY 1 JEAD OF STATE GEN. 1.13. B A B ~ G I D A MILITARY 8 YRS

6 L PRESIDENT 27/8/85 1 26/8/93 1 1 ERNEST INTERIM

Sl-IONEIUN NATIONA- HEAD OF STATE 26/8/93 I !ill1193 83 DAYS I., GOVT

GEN.SAN1 ABACHA MILITARY 1711 1/93 8/6/98 4YRS

TABLE 5 PROFILE OF NIGEIUAN LEADERS SINCE 1960.

i

GEN. ABDULSALAMJ ABUBAKAII K7'D.tiEN.OLUSEGUN OIIASANJO --

a

g / 6 / 9 r ~ m ~ E - -- MONTHS 1 29/5/99 DATE - --

6 L - PRESIDEN TIAL

"X~ESIDENT

2,2 HYPOTHESES FORMULATION

Based on the proceeding developments, the following hypotheses are

adduced: '

There is no signilicant relationship between the stated objectives of

performance and the actual performance in the Nigerian Local

Government system under the military.

Employee development in the Nigerian Local Government system has

been poor as a result o l praetorian regimes.

Evaluating employee performance in the Nigerian Local Government

system has neither enhanced eiTicient productivity. 4

Generally,, public bureaiicracics in the devcloping countsi,es h a w

performed below expectation due to the ecological factors impinging on

them.

OPEIUTIONALIZATION OF KEY CONCEPTS 1N TILE

HYI'O'I'IIESES

UUIIEAUCIUCY: N.C. Abah (1997:40) defines bureilucracy as a

fonnal, consciously organized, predictable tncl controllable machine model"

oreilnizitibn in which activities are of a routine nature, authority being bared on

Lhc office and on sek o r rules of procedure. It is a group of sub-leaders standing

in an intermediate position bc~ween the leader and the hllowers or members of

the group. l'liis in-between group of administrators we can label the bureaucracy

of an organization (Dubin, 1974: 187).

(ii) DEVELOI'ING COUNTIUES: Called variously as Third World, Less $

Developed, Transitional Societies, etc, developing countries is a term that

implies that large group ol' states around the world, growing as

decolonization gathered pace, with a shared history of colonization or

informal imperial control (Canmack, et.al., 1993:5). They are

characterized by varying degrees of poverty, high level of illiteracy,

political instability, administrative weaknesses, etc.

(iii) ECOLOGICAL FACTOKS: Ecology simply refers to environn~ent. In * -

the Biological sciences, ecology is the mutual relationship between

organisms and their environment. The ecology of bureaucracy includes

the society, the economic system, the political system and the

aclministrative sub system. These are the ecological factors of public

biireaucracy.

(iv) EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT: This may convey a bi-polar view.

First, on the managenlent plane, employee development is a systematic

attempt by the management lo help each individual member of the staff to

develop his potentialities lo the full, in the belief that what is best for the b

staff must in the long run be best for the orgmizatin, and vice versa

(Anstey, 196 1 :58) .

3 8

Vicwed on the employcc plane, McGregor (1960:192) defines it as the

ability of an individual to grow into what he is capable of becoming given

proper conditions for that growth.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT: The authority which cletermines and executes

measures within a small arca inside a state or region. It is a "mini"

government within a state (Okoli, 2000: 10).

PEKIWIIMANCE EVALUA'I'ION: William Glueck (1978:284) defines

i t as "the personnel activity by means of which the enterprise determines

the extent 16 which the employee is performing the job effectively".

Performance evduation (or appraisal) is an essential element in the whole . - system of' managing and in the subsystem ol'n~anugcrial staffing.

PIIAETOKIAN REGIME: Pruetorianism is simply military regime. The

term "military" rel'ers to the three briinches of the armed forces. These are

the Army, the Navy, and the Air force. 'I'here are also some Para-military

organizations like the Police. 'Traffic wardens, Ci~stoms, etc. Government

by the military is praetorian regime.

(viii) PRODIJCTIVI'I'Y: Robert Dubin (1 974:5 10) defined productivity as the

eliicie~lcy with which goods and services are producecl - that is the ratio

of the output 01' goods and services to the input of sources. It is usually

spoken ol' in terms of output per man-hour. Hut whole productivity is

commonly ri~easi~recl in terms of the number of man hours of input, it is

the other iactors of input which are the dynamic determinant of

productivity growth. These include the inputs of capital, inliovation,

tecl,~lical proficiency, materials, managerial know how, etc.

2.4 METHODOLOGY

In the methodology, randoin sampling was adopted. Random sampling is

- a probability sampling procedure where snlnpling units are selected

according to some laws of chance which guarantee every element oC the

population an equal chance of being selected. Persolla1 bias is therefore

eliminated. Example, a blindfolded person dipping a spade into a cocoa

bag to make a random selection of any rotten bean. Or, the football . practice of tossing a coin to ensure that each team has an equal chance of

taking one side or the other of the field.

In the Personnel Management Department of Gwer Local Government council,

two sections were selected to interview the staff. These were the Open Registry and the

Office of the Secretary. In addition to the direct observiition 1 had enjoyed, unstructured

interviews were made. Questionnaire is always full of bias and lies, so it was .avoided.

. . Questions asked perhined to their performance and job satisfaction, and also their

feeling, especially when Sole Administrators or caretaker Chairmen were imposed on the b

council by the then existing military regime. Other departments where staff opinions

were sampled include Education, I-lealth, Revenue, Agriculture, Works and Finance.

Isaac Obasi (1999:138) enuinera~cs some merits of random sampling, which

include its wide applicability; i t indispensable usc: !~y other probability sa~ilpling methods

at various levels; its non- assumption of prior knowledge of the populalion; freedom from !

possible classification errors; and, its simplicity to understand.

2.41 THEORETICAL FRAMI~WORI<

'She Elite Theory is employed in the research. Mite rel'ers lo the upper socio-

economic strata of the society. Three outstnnding Italian polilical scientists of the late

19'" and early 20"' Centuries considered rule by a natural elile an inevitable state of

affairs. These are Vilfredo Pareto ( I 884-1923), Gaetano Mosca (1885-1941), and Robert

Michels (1 876-1936). 4 -

Parelo i d Mosca arrived at their theory of the ruling classes from 'the study of

history. Michels studied conlemporary political part!es and labour unions and concluded

that there exists "an iron law of oligarchy" (Merkl, 1967:112). I-It: concluded that in

every sociely, there exists a ruling clique, and the rank-and-file nlen~bers will maintain . .

these cliques in power by sheer apathy and lack of anlbilion even in extreme cases of

fraud or abuse of authority.

FEATURES OF THE THEORY

(i) There are two groups in the society - the few who have power and the many who

do not. Only a small number of persons allocate values in n society. The majority b

lnasscs do no1 decide public policy.

9

(iii)

(vii)

Elites are drawn proportionately from the upper socio-economic strata of the

society.

Movement of non-elites to elite position n1~1st be slow, though continuous, to

maintain stability and avoid revolution.

Elites share consensus in behalf of the basic values of the social system and

the preservation of the system. Such values include sanctity of private

property, democracy, limited governnienl and individual property.

Public policy does not reflect the demands oS the masses but rather the

prevailing values of the elites. Change in public policy must be incremental

rather than revolutionary * .

Elites influence masses more than masses inlluence elites .

The figure below illustrates elitism

Policy Execution

OFFICIALS AND ' ADMINISTRA'TORS

I'assjve, Ap9thetic and 11! -informed

TABLE 6 The upper socio-economic strata ofthe society.

The iuilitary is essentially an elite group because of its professional ole

and position in the society as thc custociiiln g~~ardians of thc country's territorial

boundaries and s~~bseqiiently, as politicians in the developing countries o f Afi-ica,

Asia and Latin America.

b

2.4.2 METHOD OF DAT.4 COLLECTION

Tlle use of primary and secondary sources was adopted in investigation.

In thc prirnasy source, first-hand informalion was sought. It was a three-pronged ,

(i) Participant observation: During my internship training with the

Personnel Department of Gwer Local Government, I was th,e Acting

Administrative officer 11 in charge of training. This enabled me to have

access to many offices and ol'ficial documents, including liles and

gazettes. Most aspects of illformation were derived hzavily f o m this

(ii) Unsauctured oral interviews: Oral interviews during m), internship

were usually informal, and occurred diiring leisure hours, either in the

Local G~vernrnent Secretariat during working hours, or in some other

places oulside the secretariat.

(iii) Authoritative b r i ehgs and NULGE Congresses: From time to time,

the Secretary to the Local government and/or the Local Goverimcnt

Chairman would brief the staff on some salient administrative issues in

the Conference Mall. Congresses could also be convened by the Local

a Government brunch of the National Union of Local Ciovern~nent

Employees (NULGE) to enable thc workers discuss on some rualteis

aflecting h n . All these wese proper methods of data collection.

In the secondary sousce, written n?atesials were used. These ~incluclt:

Lextbooks, journals, magazines iincl newspapers.

All 11-~ese measures were aimed at gathering facts that would establish the

basis of an unbiased thesis.

2.4.3METHOD OR DA'l'A ANALYSIS

The data analysis is based on the hypotheses formulated.

In most of my discussions with h e staff, they expressed disgust at the

administrations of almost all the unselected chairmen, which include caretaker chairmen

and sole administrators. 'These were in~posed on the people by the military governors in

o r d p to enhance and extend primitive accun~ulation to the Local Governn~ent level. 'I'he 4 -

administrative wealaess here resulted from the ecology, tailored by t h ~ military * dictatorship. One of such nlilitary stooges was Mr. 'I'ertsegha lkyaabo (23 July, 1998-29

May, 1999), who was ensconced there by Lt. Col, Aminu Isa Kontngora, (21 August, I .

1996-10 kugust, 19%). Most staff interviewed accuscd him of insensitivity and

highhandedness of staff, which led to clenomination and subsequently, low prod~~ctivity.

. . Questions in the unstructured oral interviews include the following:-

(i) Which one do yo11 prefer: an elected chairman or that sent from Milkurdi?

(ii) How do you rate employee perSormi.~nce under the dictatorship of a sole

administraior and an elected chairman?

(iii) Compare elected chaiimen with the unselected ones. .4

( iv) Do you still call for military rule'?

(v) Do you slill find it necessaly to fill APER Sorins?

(vi) Can productivity be whancecl under democracy?

(vii) Do you advocale for the extension of presidentialism to the local govern~nent

level?

(viii) Should public eniployees be allowed to engage in active partisan politics?

In those meas that I participated' in the process of data collection, I observed that

some of the official misconducts exhibited by the staff were viewed to be part of the

normal administrative procedures, example, spending a great deal of time for break

more than usual somelilnes two hours, or more. The junior staff were indilicrent at

the nlanagemenl of local government affairs by the clienlele aclminislrators, pc~bably

due to their low level i f education and socio-political awareness.

The Annual Performance Evaluation Report (APER) lorm is a system of

evaluating employee performance periodically, normidly yearly. For one reason or

the other, Senior staff are always f re t f~~l of giving the true information itbout the

subordinate slaff, even when [he later does not deserve such rewards like promolion

or normalization. Some staK of the I'ersonnel Department therefore argued [hat the

whole system should be abolished because it does not depict any true evaluation of

employee performance.

On engagement in active politics, no st of flmu were of the opinion that b

bureaucrats shocild resign fully before going into yolitics. .4

On performance of the bureaucrats and the political leaders undcr the nlilittlry,

the answcr were that this depends on the personal attitudes of the administrators. For ~9

instance, some are born to be charismatic in leaderships, while others are harsh, .

uncooperative, undynainic and generally lack the talents to carry staff along. The

ecology, this time the econornic system, also affected administration, especially as it

pertained lo the low allocation of the Sederal revenues.

On presidential democracy at the Local government level, some supported while

olhers opposed. Those in si~pport buttressed their position that i t ensures checks and

balauces, diffuses power, redislsib~ites income, ctc.

'l'hose against it hinged their argument on the fact that i t is a waste of money, it . - 9

delays policy decisions, creates enmily between the executive and the legislalure in

mosl instances, and throws its whole merits into jeopardy.

Judging from the antithesis to the synthesis therefore, i t was easy lo synthesize in

an incluctive syllogis~n that since psesidel~tialism has been introduced in the other

Licrs of government, the local government being the third tier after the feclcral (first

tier) and state governments (second tier), must also prac~ise it.

,. <

WFGRENCES

Abcih, N.C. (1 997), I-'ublic (Personnel) Adnzinistratioq, Enugu : Joen Publislzel-s 7

Anstey, E.(1961), Staff I ieport in~ and staff Development, London : Allen and Unwin ,

13enue Local Government News, September 2000.

Canzmack, P., et nl (1993), Third World Politics : A Conlparative Introduction, Lonon : Macmillan Press Ltd.

Dubin, R. (1974), Iiurnan IZelatioi~s in Administrath? , Englewood Cliffs, N.J. :

I Prcntice I-1d1, lnc

Glueck, W.F. (.I 978), I'ersonnel : A Dia~nostic Apl~roach, New York : B~siness Publication Inc.

Kamu, J. and Cameron, A. (1979), Lust to Kill : 'I'he Rise m c l 1;all of Idi Amin, London : Penguin Books

. . Kazmier, LJ. (1 980), M;uza~ement : A I'ro~rmmecl Approach With Cnscs And

?

I Anplic;~tions, New York : McGlnw-Ilill Company.

Machiavelli, N. (1999). The Prince, 1,ondon : Penguin Books.

Maka, F.1. (1991), " My Mission". Selected speeches, Makurdi : Ministry of lu lhna t ion and culturi

1 McGregor, D.(1960), 'I'11e I-Iiinliy Side 01' Eniwl~rise, New York :McGraw-I-lill

Merkl, P.11. (1967), Political Continuity end Chnn~e , New York : 1-laver and Row, Publishers.

~ e w k i w i a n , June 15, 1993

New Nigerian, June 16, 1993

Obsrsi, 1.N. (1999), Research Methodolo~y in I'olitical Science, Enugi~ : Academic Publishing Company.

Okoli, F.C. (2000), Theoly and Practice: of L ~ a l ~ovcrnlnenl : A Nikesian Perspective, Enugu : John, Jacob's Classic l'ublishers Lld. -

" I'unch", February 14, 19997.

Ruiz, R.E. (1970). Cuba, Toronto : George Maclord Ltd.

Tomasek, IC.D.(1970), Latin A~nerican Politics, New York : Anchor Books.

CHAP'TER 1'1-IREE

RESULTS AND FlNDlNGS

Performance behaviour implies the total set of work-related behaviour, an

organization expects the individual to display. It is the normative behavioural processes

or expectalions - " this is the norm; this is the standard". Sonle performance behaviours

;ire measurable, though others are riot. Most 01' the measurable jobs are directly tied to

Most of the Iiornx and standards are well known to starfat the local governmeut,

and the only ones that may claim to be oblivious of certain administrative norms are the

. illilerale cleaners of the junior cadre. In an ideal situation, any break of law anchored on . . .4

the pretext of ignorance amounts to disobedience. That means those trespassing Ihe civil

service rules on the excuse of ignorance are offenders. Apart from that even, there are

some who are well versed with the normative behavioural processes because it has

become an eslablished culture.

l3efore going into the resulls arid findings 01' the research, the following basic

facts should be noted.

As at 1998, the Gwer Local Goverllment workforce was 902, made up of 273

Semales and 629 ~nalcs. As at Fzbruary, 2001, the total staSf strength was 735.

b

9 BREAKDOWN

. Persomiel

Educalion

I-lealth

Revenue

Agricull\~re

Works

Treasury

To la1 -?

Since tl~is study

186

148

123

85

8 3

64

4 6 . - 735

is concerned with (he perl'osma~~cc of the Nigerian public

enlploycc: with focus on the local government bureaucracy, emphasis was on finding out

why buseaucrats ill the local gover~ment have not performed salisfactorily. The sliic?,~

also attempted to decipher into the relationship between the carcer civil servant and the

. clientele ot'ficer, ad to l i d out whether it was harmonious in view of ihe I'act that both

operuled under praetorian dictatorship.

The following results and lindings were divulged.

~e;elson and Sttkler (1 964 :240) delined the term, " motive" as " an inncr slate 4

that encrgizcs, activates, or moves (hence, 'motivation'), and thnl directs or channels

behaviour toward goals". That is, motivation is a term generally applied to the entire

nl orces. class of drives, desires, needs, wishes, and simil . f

Motivation therefore refers to the drive and effort to satisfy a want or good

(Koontz, et. al., 1980 :634). It is aimed at boosting staff morale for efficiency and higher

productivity.

Motivators are those things that induce a worker to perform. These include higher

pay, regular and prompt pay, payment of claims, training facilities, o v e r t i ~ ~ ~ ~ l s l ~ i f t duty

allowances, glsnt of leave when necessary, a name on the ofiice door or table, and many

other things that give the people reason to perform, including punishment. Motivators

inlluerice an individuals behaviour, making a positive dil'ference in what apersol~,will do.

# The opposite of nmtivation is de;motivution.

To motivate an employee for ef ic t ive and effkient performance, the employer

must establish an environn~ent conducive to certain drives. For example, people in an

organization that has developed a reputation for excellence and high quality of servicc; or

production tend to be motivated. They contribute to [his reputation by performing

towards higher and efficient productivi~y. Staff ol' a Universily, for instance, that has

great reputation may be motivated to maintain this dignity by always trying to ensure that

they render the most eflicient services. Motivational tcchniqiies include :- b

(i) MONEY : It is very essential. We talk of carrot and stick, lhut is, rewards a d

per~alties inorder to induce desired behaviour. It comes from the saying that the best way 9 b

to make a donkey move is to pi11 a cirrrot before him or jab him with a stick behind.

(ii) IJOSITIVE LIEINIWRCEIMEN'I~ OR BFXAVIOUR MODIFICATION :

This theory was propounded by 1-larvarcl psychologist, 13.F. Skinner. It argues that people

are motivated by making their working cnviron~ncnt conducive, and praising their

performance. It argues further that punishme]:: for poor peri'ormance produccs negative

results. Even if perfornlance does not match goals, rcwards must come in form of

recognition and praise.

(iii) PARTICIPATION : It is a cornmon nleans of recognilion, responding to a * . -

number of basic motivators. -v

One aspect of demotivation since 1985 has been the continued fall in he workers'

disposable income as a result of cost-push inflation, predicated on fuel price hikes.

Findings i'ndicatc that the ~nonopolization of decision-makings by the Nigerian clites was

evident in what [he Federal Military Government of Gen. Babangida called " [he

appropriate pricing of petroleum products". With the l i~el price hikes, the economy was

p l ac~d on the vcrge oS collapse, thus leading to high turnover in the bureaucratic sector of

the economy.

Overtime is the payment made to an employee in excess of the norma1 working b

h0ui.s. Where one undertakes normal duties in excess of these hours, he is entitled to 4

overtime allowance.

53

- In lnosl local government arcas of Benue slate, not everybody enjoys this facility.

In Gwer Local Governlnent, it was discovered hat during the period undcr review, only

staff in the oi3ce of thc Chairman and that of h e Secrctury ~cspcc~ively enjoyed i t , I t , .

was only wilh the advent ol'denmcracy in h e ITourlh Rcpublic that stuff in the Finance

b

Department began lo enjoy i t too.

3.2 JOB SATISFACTION

Satisfaction is sometimes the cause of motivation, though not always, because

someone who feels salisfied with his job may not necessarily get motivation. And in

some cases, where satisfi~ction is scarce, performance may still be predicated on some

aspects of molivation.

Satisfaclion refers to the contentmcnt derived when a wish'or need'is fdlilled.

The opposite o r satis~wtion is not "dissalisfi\ction", but "no satisfaction". Man is a

rational creature who uses his reason primarily to calculnte exactly how much d s f i ~ c l i o n

he 4 a y obtain from the srndlest amount of effort, or when necessary how much

discomforl he can avoid (Abah, 1997 :37).

When the C h i d Ernesl Shonekm-lccl Interim National Govel.nment (1NG) was

deposed, Gen Abacha made Grp Captain Joshua Obaclemi as Military Governor of Benue

Statc. 1-Iis lirsl mgur policy on lhc civil sesvice was the ban on employmenl. Promotions

wcrc also cleruilccl and clcniecl in some lnhliunccs. I;xample, il was cliscovered that

leaclw'!s who wcrc overdue for promolion were denied deliberately, as a way of

siphoning the funds meml for their salarics inlo the Icaders' pockets.

But perhaps the case with the Gwer J.,ocal Government employce was more

pathetic, as none had had any promotion since the 1992 embargo on employment. I Though the senior staff who were under he state government had rheir promotions

effected, none of the junior ones was ever promoted, even though most of them were duly

qualified.

This problem has been mitigated with thc promolion exercise carried out by the

dcnwcratic and dynamic council of Mr. David Konndyer at the beginning of this year. 98 11

junior s~a f f were prornoted after the military took exit oS the political scene.

3.3 ADMINISTRATIVE BEHAVIOUR

Rcsulls and iindings were lhal there was a gross ol' n~alad~ninistrative behaviours .. -

common among all staff because they were used to it. One of such behaviours worthy of

menlion is nbsenleeism. Absenleeism is the rale a1 which people hi1 lo present

themselves at their duty posts, not necessarily without permission. When this problenl

persists, there is low productivily. When a slaff ubscnls himself without permission. I-It:

is said to have absconded from duty. I t is supposcd to be accompanied with some

punitive measures from the top hierarchy.

Another problcln is lateness to work, which has also been embedded in ihe

Nigc~ian bureaucratic culture, and most especially nl the local government. It was

discovered that many stuff would come to oi'iice at their convenient lime and also leave at

will. ,

4

Both of these administrative nli~ncscs are coi~nter-productive and s l io~~ld always

secure the desired correction. Such erring staff could be surcharged by culting his salary 7

or wage to the tune of his absenteeism, lateness or any kincl of administrative

incongruency he might have unleashed. But this was iclentilied to be far from'the mere

rhetoric's, due to the "Tonibo connection", ~nadc possible as i t involved" gctting in

touch with the 'right person, or the person who 'knows' who 'knows' the right person

(Oltoli, k999 : 18).

Of course, thc following story would be a delicious bit of the Nigerian

bureaucratic tickle in the overall a~lministrative nlclo-~lrama.

Gcn. Ibruhinl L3ab:ingida was bid to com~nission a starch project in Oyo Siutc,

known as May-dcj Nigcriii Ltcl., wlicn C o l Abdu1k;ircen Adisa was the 'state governor. ?

This was in 1991. This Iiope was never realiscd because the vi~al machine for productiop

was never installed prcparatory for the comn~issioning. The reason being that the

cohtractor, Aseesan Engineering Company, Bariga, was lazy at completing work within

the stipulated period in the contract agreement. Payments were however made non-stop

as completion was ,yet to be macle. In the kirst instance, the chairman of the starch

industry, Dr, Deji Fadina made a payment of N200,000 on June 4, 1990; the scconcl

payment of N 100,000 was made on A~igiist 29 of the same year, and later N20,000. Yet,

the machines were not ready on the llxecl clay of installation.

b

Upon pressure for ;I possiblc i~lslallation of the machines bekore the deadline, they *

. were ins~nlled by .June 26, 1991. I t was howevcr discovered to great s~irprise that "all the

water pimps attached to the nlachincs were all tiscd or old unes" (Al'rican Guardian,

Sepiember, 1991 : 12-13), The pumps were very problematic as suon as ~hcy were fixed. v

It was reported that ihe project was never completed for comnlissioning by

13residcnt Habanyida for no apparent reason. Ilowever, it was clear that the contra'ctor

had close tie with the military governor - a connection which made it impossible fur any

Icgnl action against him to produce any effectively desired result. It is an aspect of

elitism in practice and against the wellhre of the messes. The military elites had abetted

and perpetuated corruption oCevery sorl and at every facct of thc Nigerian economy.

Back lo the problem of absenteeism at the local government level, most staff

found i t to be part and parcel o r ideal administrative behaviour. Because of the "Tonlba *

* Conncclion" tlut has decply settlcd in the Nigeria11 biueaircracy, most stidf yc ,~e Soimd to

be :;way from Lil'fice i l ~ least in one of the five working days of the week, though with the

rcady excuse thut they were granted pcrrnission. In any ctlsc, i t shows I ~ c k of

commitment to work a11J hl ls short ol'the Weberian type of meritocracy. For instance, at

Aliuclc, there are solne kmale slril'l' that operatc pctty commercial businesses, like the sale

of "burukutu" the local liquor. 1 know ol'one who does not go to office on any Aliade

market day. IniBct, before 4.00 p.m. of the eve of the markel, she 1caves"her oHice to

start preparations towards the busi~less for the following day.

A surprise check was carried out twice by the chairman in the year 2000, each on

the ~ l & d t : market, and over half of the staff usually left their offices before the normal *,

closing hour of 4.00 p.m.

3.4 BISIBERY AND CORRUPTION

The twin concept oi' bribery and corruplion appeared 10 have bcen imurmally '9

accepted by the Nigerian leadership as frdm 1985, and has since found root in the

political system, spreading its tentacles across all the governn~ental tiers. Infact

during the Babangida regime, i t was alleged that bribery in Nigeria was legaliscd.

Even in cases where ministerial or departmental heads were held ransom for some

corrupt acts, such accusation was ~~sua l ly predicated on either political g ~ ~ u n d , or

the poor relationship between the incumbent head and the f'or~ner, like the travails *

of Prof Tam David-West, former Petroleum Minister who was docltcd [or

allegedly enriching Stinnes Interior Incorporated, an Americanoil company to the ,

tune of about $57million. Nigerians are yet to be told ol'how much was realised , . C

from the oil windfidl during the Gulf crisis of 1991. 'This smacks of lack of

b

openness and transparency by a regime that had vowed to be so, as contained in

the 1985 coup speech that overthrew E3uhai.i. The speech was made by Gen. (then

Brigadier) Abacha.

Neither is the local government free of the social menace. Dr. C.E. En~ezi

(1998:5) while commenting on the problem of corruption noted that n civil

servant abuses his authority for the purpose of obtaining extra incorne from the

public. It is an exploitation of the public which can occur only because the civil b

servant occupies a constitulionally independent position vis-li-vis the public. It is .. ' an extra legal institution used by individuals or groups to gain influences over the

above arc uswally deliberately forgotten uncles thc scorching sun and rainl'alls.

Dilapidated buildings arc never renovated, though money is often sunk for the

purpose of repairing them.

011 internally generated revenue, it was discovered that the amount was

usually significant for any meaningfd ~u ra l project, though as is the common

habit in the Nigerian Local Governnlent system, statistics arc rare.

With the full cooperalion of the senior o f h e r , only a tiny portion of what

has been realised is remitted to the local government treasu~y, while the rest is

embezzled. It is usually shared by the revenue officer and his boss. If the - revenue generation is not flowing from the collector to the boss, such collector is

. . A

branded as bad ol'licer and is subscqucntly removed limn his duty stdiun to be

replaced with a compromising one. This prompted E.E. Anugwom (2000:49) to

assert thal "the local government is obviously a zone of' corruption". Mediocrity b

and foot-dragging dominated in their afhirs. Mediocrity is so clangerous that it

gives room for unqualiiied and countrer-productive,officers to occupy attractive

positions to the detriment of the public. Appointn~ents are being allocated to

ol'licess on the basis of' the personal gains made by the senior olxcer. Loyal and

hardworking revenue collectors arc: those that give to their scnioss from time to

time.

'The principle of Functional Definition states that the more a position or a

clepartrncnt has clear definitions of results expected, activities lo be undertaken,

organiziition authority delegated and authorily and informaliorial relalionships

with other positions understood, the morc ildcquately [he individuals

responsibilily cim contribirle toward accoinpiishing enterprise objectives (Koontz,

et. al., 1980:426). Any deviation from this results into the problenl of risk

confusion as regards personnel fi~nctions. It is a principle of' both delegation and

experinlentation. 11 therefore means that the distribution of fimctions and

activities among departments and their sub-divisions is an accepted admi?igtrative

method in bureuucracy. ,

Unfortunately however, functions were not always carrid out by some

officers due lo lack of facilities: Results show that shortage or abscnce bf

inl'rastructure had impaired performance. These include offices, staff resiclential

houses, etc. Where olfices exist, materials like li~rniture, books and stationery

could not be found. In the I-Ieallh Departmen1 for instance, public hospitals were

discovered to be mere consulhg centres where pi~ticllts were frccluently rekrxd

to private medicine stores to buy drugs, some of which coi~ld oilher be fike or

counterSeit, or both. It was also discovered that some of the medicine stores wcrt: \

\\

owned and run by the staff u f the Health Dcpartmcnt .l

One positive side ol'economic implicalion in the results is the prolr,.,.iojl exercise

curried out by the preseilt C U L I I I C ~ ~ of Gwer Local Gove~wnenl. It is an increase in

workers' purchasing powcr, increase in educational literacy, and socio-political

awxmess on both local and national issues.

4.2 SOCIO-.CUETUIU!d IMPLICATIONS

Socio-cu!lural thzorists of achninistrative weaknesm in the developing counlries

a lhnp t to arlalyse the social and cultural irnpedimei~ls of high pcrl'orn~ancc among

burcaucrals. Accorcli~~g to hem, bureaucrats are victirns of lhe socio-cultural co~~straints

in Africa

Prof. Rober.~ M. Price, for innancc, argues thal bureaucrats in the clevelopil~g ., -

nations not only unclerslancl Sdly their roles in lhe sociely but also thqt 11,; soc i~ ty is

constanlly p r e s > ~ ~ ~ . i ~ i i ~ g on them to yiclcl lo their clcmands thus s,;crijicing orgari;~alion~il

norms in order to satisfy their groups.

Kiilbhip inclinations, l i i ili.;tance, has become so do~nineering in the civil service

~ h a t soruetime rncrilocracy is sacriliccd Sor socio-cultural tie. O m oi' ; ;~ch is the zxtcnded

Glnily system. Scnior staSi" oStcn ihce this problem in the course of disc:hillging [heir

oSficial functions. Ilxi~rnple, employee perbrmance within a pcriocl of time is not L I S U B I ~ ~

z\ccordcd true nppruisd due to one socio-cultural reason or the : i ~ l x r . When i t comes to

giving cither carrot or stick, jirslice does not take ils ideal routc due to the conmunily or b

kinship bond with the aSfcctecl staff, I h l that is not all.

3.6 DISTOlZTlON OF EMPLOYEE PROFESSIONAL EFFICIENCY

The efficieilcy of employee professionalism suffered distortion in the abysmal ?

decay of public administration cluring the period under review. The followirlg

case of the much controversial June 12 saga atlesls lo this hc t .

'l'he election was conduclcd under the stewardship of Proi', Humphrey

Nwosu and was pres~mlably won by C h i d M.K.O. Abiola. Babangicla's zcal to

~~cmnin in ol'flce was thc driving Sorcc that tclcguidcd lhc Nigerian judicixy to

cast lie people's verdict in jeopardy. The Abuja lIigh Court prcsidcd over by the

late Justice Sassey lkpeme then declared the election as unlair and that i t

exhibited the greatest shame in the hislory of Nigerian po'litics. So it would be, .(

wrong of her to sit down and encourage he Nati.ona1 Electoral conm~ission (NEC)

not to investigate allegations of corruption in politics.

This was a farrago of quibbles and an erosion on the eificiency of the , .

judiciary under the military. 11 further shows the absence of loyalty and

b

confidence the public had vested in the j ~ d i c i x y .

A legal battle then ensued a~nong the jurisls as the Benin and Lagos I-ligh

Courls respectively urged Prof. Nwosu to releasc [he rsults. Nwosu, acting on the

prcsidenlial Election Dccreo of I993 which ousls court jurisdiction to enterlain

any matters in respect of any inlra-party and inter party or any matter before it,

dire& thal lhc clec~ion should be held on June 12 1993

His attempt to release the results and declare the winner was distorted as

he was pronlptly arrested, presumably under directives from the presidency, only

lo be released lhree days later. This was a discrimination on the potentialities of

NEC personnel.

Chief Abiola was detained for tseasonable felony. When the case came

out for hearing, the trial judge Mr Justice Miistapha, adjourned il to allow him

"Consult" some of his "Collzagues in Kaduna and Sokoto". 'This statement was

berated nalioilwide and it negated the efiiicacy of the judiciary under

praetorianism, The credibility of the judge's profession was dashed in shreds

because justice was bound to take exit under coercion. Supposing Mu$apha's

friends hated the iccuged, what would bc t

conlradicted the spirit of hum;in sesources

developing and facilitating people's talents in

heir advice on h e matier? This

nunagcment which is aimed at

an organization towards achieving

performance aims And as was expected of him, the judge quickly resigned from

the trial.

In Gwer Local Governnlent, workers were redi~ced to mutable el-rand boys

even when the assignment ran contrary to laid down Civil Service Rules. This

problem heightened under Mr. Tertsegha lkyaabo whose high hancicdness

smacked of an absolute type of Sole Administrator. His absolutism found root in

Mukurdi because of the syinbiotic relutionship with government house. This was

when workers' were slaves, if we should accept the meaning o f the word as the

state of rightlessness. They lived under perpelual fear of intimidation and threats

of punishment even when they thought they were doing the right thing. Yet, some

innocent stall' sull'ered intimiclalion. 'I'hey wcre hlseli~lly uccusccl of financial

embezzlement, ~hough i t was true of some. Over hall' ol' the L,ocal Government's

workforce was reconlmended to the Local Government Sesvice Commission,

Makuldi, for retrenchn~ent by this regime. Aftcr many months of heated debates,

104 staff were laid off. Breakdown of the resi~lts is ns below.

TAlILE 7 NUMBEII OF STAFF AFFECTED 1N THE

IIA'IrlONALIZATION EXERCISE

Personnel 1 l 5 / Finance I Revenue -7

Source: Circular letter froln LC; Servicc Commission, Makuldi, dated

The above iigure represents the total number of Chver Local Government stafl'

retired or disnlissed by the rationalization cxercisc carricd out under the

supervision of the last militmy regime in I h u e State. The exercise al'l'ected 2 \11

the 23 Local governments in the state.

ItEI.'EItENCES

Abali, N.C. (1997), Public (Personnel) i\dministriitio11, E n u g ~ ~ : Jocn

Publishers.

Anugwom, E.E. (2000), "Effective Manpower Utilization In the Local

Government System: I'reclicaments and Hopes". In F.O. Onah (ed), Strategic

Manpower Planning and Developnm, Nsuklta. Fulladu I'ublishing Company

Berclsoli and Steiner (1964), tluman Bellaviour: An I n v e n t o ~ u

Scientific Findings, New York: Harcourt, Bmce and Work! Inc. --

E~nezi, C.E. (I 998), "Conuption as a Constraint on L.ocal Government

Effectiveness. A case S t ~ ~ d y of Jcn~a'a Local Government in Nigeria", in E.O. , .

Onah (ecl), Nigerian Journal of P u b k Aclminis~ration and I m x l Ciovi~rn~nerd,

Vol. 9. No. 1 , Linugu: Ugovin Publishers,

Koontz, et. Al. (1980), Management, Kogakusl~a: McGraw-Hill Ltd.

Newswirtch, June 28, 1993.

Okoli, I:.C. (1 9W), AAn~inistration of National l)eveloplncnt: Re1lcc:ions

on the Relevance of the m e o r y and Practice of' I'i~blic O r h ! , i ~ ~ l j ~ ; ~ ~ i o n ~ to . .

Dcvelopinn Nations, Nsukka: Topmost Press Production.

The ASrican CLI ~rd im, September 9, 1991 -- - - C-L

66 ,

C1IAI"I GR FOUH

IMPI,ICA'TIONS OF RESUL'I'S AND FlNIIlNCS

This restarch into the low performance of'the Nigerian public servics wiih Sficus I

on ~ h t : local governn~ent system unleashed some r-csults and findinlls, which in tu1.n I d

major implications. These arc grouped into Socio-Economic, Sodio-Cultural, Political,

Atlministrutive and 'Technological In~plications.

4.1 SOCIO-KCONOhIIC IMI'LICATIONS

One of ~hese is the issue of clcmo~ivation. In mosl c;Ls<~, nloney is a wotivation

filctor of procluclivily cspzcially whcn othcr ecological fx lors i I ! X fi~voi~rable to the

1

worlter, 11 is arguccl chat money is most in~porlanL to pccjple who arc; youn&c;~ and arc:

ru i s iq a !:,mlily h n n Lo those ,wlm have "arrivccl" in the sense h a t their moriey l~zzcls tire

not as irrgent (Koolllz, I 980:646).

When L V O I - ~ Z I ~ S t;alarics were noi l l i~~g to take home, lnully of t lwn resor!eLl i:!lo a

search for greener pastures to earn living. 'I'his Icd lo, Sor illstui.:e, the brain-dr'uh in i1.e

micl-c~ghties of the ac;i,,cInia m d olher p~ol't.ssion;.ils.

'The niost conspcnous eco!.omic policy i~ircoduccd by the D ~ L . . . - . ~ ! . L

i d~n in i s l~~ l t i o~ i was t l~c Struct~~ral Aclji~stment Progrm~nie (SAP), lL:i~llcl~cw il l July, IOd6 .

This wlls predicutd on lhc down-tun1 of thc cconomy which h:gan in 198 1 wi~li ,:,c

~uncmploymunt problcln escalating. Thus, the bulmcc: of payment wo~.,c:nzd in ]',ti> id *

tl~eic: was acille shortage of inputs to sustaiu il~dusiiial p rodi~c t io~~ to a sC~~is! l r ;~~r .y icvcl.

The impliculions of the failures of SAP were that there was no iinprovenlent in

thc economy, whose recession continued and the people's s~andartl of living *

exacerbating. Nigeria moved from the 17"' richest nation of the world in tho 1970s

I tluough the 1 31h poorest nation in 1990 and to the 1 1 "' poorest nation in 1993.

Second is that SAP was unable to lay the basis of a non-inflationary ecollonlic

growth. What we have continued to experience since 1986 is hypcr-infla~ion and it was

I brought by SAP. Prices of goods and services skyrocketed to o v a 200% especially

I between 1985 and 1993. There had been an endless rise in the prices of petrol and its

products. For instance, 'the price of petrol rose Sronl N3.25 in the early 1990s to N11 in

I995 and to the present N22.00 per litre. Kerosene in turn has risen concurrently wiih

petrol lo the current price of Nl7.00 per litre (Onah, 2000:6). The disposable income of

families dwindled ceaselessly, resulting into widespread poverly.

Workers were oqen owed many months' salaries. Their reactions were usually in

form of strikes in dclnand for salary arrears, fringe kenelits, or increase in wages. One

example here is the Academic staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUIJ).

AI its meeting of 13"' August, 1994, at the University of Mniduguri, the Natioml

Executive Council or ASIJU attempted to review developments since the declarrltion of

Industrial Dispute with the Federal Government on 23rd July, 1994.

When they discovered that the Federal government rcf~rsed to implement the b

agreement, ASUU therefore cmbarlted on a six-month strike which began on August 22, ..Q

1994. 'When the strilce persisted for months, secondary school teachers and their primary

school counterparts decided to join in a sympat+y strike, thus i\gg~ilv~!illg the crisis-wn

educating system in Nigeria.

Where slal'f were unduly denied of overlime allowance xi was observed a1 the $

local government, we experienced unnecessary delay in issues that requii-;d quick

dispensation, which is also counter productive.

Where undCremploymen~ p~ublern existed, it created a situation of high turnover.

For instance, someone with a Ulliversiry degree placed on salary Grade Level 06 instead

ol' 08 might feel discontented with the development. Tllis ol'len led to occupalionnt

mobility of labowr, like when s tdf of some local govcrnrnents and ~ninistries or

governmental clepurtments renounced their while-collar jobs to engage in com~nercial .( -

businesses h a t appeared more promising economically.

One of l l ~ key points in the coup speech that overtlirew Maj. Gen. l?ui:,,l.i in I',i;5

was that the state of the economy was getting more and more tleplorab!c, and t i i d life of

hc: m l i l w y citiz.cn was becoming illcreasingly unbeiirable.

Before, 1985, N1 was alnlosl $2. But in the Babmgicla - Abacha regime, N45

was buying $1. As at January 1998, whell llle Abnch government was campaigairlg for

self-succession, one dollar was being bought at 1Q2 as oflicial government rate for bona

lide gowrnment b~~sinesscs. At h e black nmlcei (which, in thL Nigei;,l.~ ~ ~ ~ l ~ u r e , is !he

norlnal exchange rate) the rate was h i - molz ihan triplcd, By June, 1998, w l m ~lature's b

own axe Sell on Gcn. Abaclla, a dollar exchanged for ovcr N160.00, or against N75.00 to

the dollar from the Auto~iomous Foleign ~ x c h a n i e Market (AFEM).

By this clevelopmznt thercforz, the reasons for the overlhrow (!I' fluhari wzrz not

justilied. As a.result, infant industries were being crippled to the extent that most of them

wound up. 'Thc only survivi~~g one5 were thosc owned by the ruling and goverrhg elites ,

respeclivcly. l 'he implicatiuri was the soaring prices of goocls and services lo the belidfit

of the coinprado bourgeoisie, while the masses wnllowed in their abject poverty. 'The

worst affccted was the Nigerian civil servant who had no other source of incoiile than his

monthly sal'iry that was very meager. In this situation, one would not expect productivity

to be high and elficicnt.

Allother impliculion liere is that yovernnlent activities were not open and

iranspnreni, resirlting into llle loss of co~ifidence and moral support Lon1 thg. pihlic.

l:irsl, uie introduction of' SAP could be seen as a replica of t l ~ c 1nlernaliol;d hlonetlrry

Fiund (]MI') loan, which the feclesal governmctlil c ~ a i ~ n e d LO have rejected in 1986. The

cond~lionalities 01' nccepling Ih4: loan id the implcmenlation of SAP are all the satlx.

'l'o any sag;~cious mind therel'ore, government's claim to have ~ ~ ; ~ : c t e d the loall w;~s a

pa~ idox , because it was accepted in a shulkish iTimier. I[ the federal govc~lirnent wllich

is the iirsl ~ i e r shoulcl not be honest an3 trawparent, both lhe s e c o d (slate) a id third

(Local Ciovmiriiznt) might l'ollow wile, following the Cliinese adage that if he head rots,

the whole body will rot.

Borrowing a leaf from the Oyo slate experien-e in the non-implementation of b

conlract or to the hllest capacily, we can argue that s i r ~ h action if not discouraged, would

inqkde i~idustrialitntion and deny us of its bznefits.

I11 posting too, this iLiclor l i d s ils ::gly head. A1 the locd govzrn~wnt, attraclivc

offices like those of the Cashier, Personal Assistant to the Chairman or Deputy Chailmarl,

I'iotocol Ol'ilcer, Council Recorder, etc, are given to staff that have some !,ind of

relalionship with the senior. Where the new oflicer falls shorl of co~npetence,

perforrna~cc is bound to be low.

111 the real sense, retrenchment does not solve the problen~ of either overstafling

or 1l1e economizatiou oS hlancial resources. Nor is i t the best way to piwish erling staff.

Ralhcr, the implication ij; lhal it creates social unrcst like prostitution, ~r criminal offence.

But in Bsnue State, retrenchnlent which exaccrbiltes the uncnkployment menace increases

the wilve o f land conflicts. 'I'llis lcacls 13 the loss of lives and valunlilu property,

Also, thew is n1ol.t: dzpendcnce on t11c working stall' !)ccclur;eg retrenchnm~t

reduces the number ol' workers. The end result is thal I I I . ~ I I ~ eyes look 01: thc n~onrhly

salul ies emtx l by worl<ers, thus ~xclucing their purc l~s ing power.

4.3 I'OLILTICAL IMPLICArl'IONS

IIarold 1,asswdl defineJ politics as wh9 gets what, when, how, and why. By

irnpliciliion therefore, politics l i d s v ~ l t in the allocation of all public resources.

The regime 01' Gen. Uabangicla involved a lot of suspicion at every mdvz because

there was no certainty on tli(: direction of governlnent affairs. It was a double-tolqped

regime becairse Uubangida's "yes" today could easily bz chmged ro "no" the I ' o l l ~ ~ i l ~ g b

day. l:or instance, in 1991, the lntbrmalion Minister, Chief Alex Akinyelc ,~anouncd

dli11 military transkr to democracy could only be possible iS the people w a ~ m d ir(:,~e

"The Africa Guardian", September 9, 199 1 : 1 8- 19).

There was the compleie lnilitarization of the people's psyche including workers.

Iior instance, in Gwer Local Government, the period between July, 1998 and May, 1999

was a period of "law and order" because absolutisn~ was forced on the workers by the

military governor from Makurdi. In many instances, stafl were hui~liliated and

demoralised by the sole Administrator, Mr. l'ertsegha Ikyaabo. For instance, i t was

reported that he dastardly debarred the Local Government Treasurer (LGT) from

attending a very crucinl council meeting tlial was expccled of him to attend, addressing

him as a mediocre. . -

At a cerl-:\in instance again, he reportedly charged out of' his oilice the Local

Govern~nent Secretary (SLG), Mrs. Saphira Dem, who hurried out, sobbing.

'The reasons found lo be associated with these military actions were that the

money he wanted was not granted him because of the Secretary's inability to sign the

cheque at the time he expected.

This Solc Administrator ran the Local governn~ent like a conquered province.

Any staff who got any approval of a reclucst Srom the ubsolute chairman must need to be

skilled in playing good and at the right time loo. It was a time of perpeiual fear and

uncertainty, even though his had no positive bearing on employec performance, except

that the? became mose "yesable" to the authority.

The implications of the June 12, 1993 prcsidz~~tial e lec t i~n arc thilt i f was a

sovereignty of' the masses, including workers. It was hoped that were clenlocracy to

succcecl at the time, its values would L ~ v e been reaped by the civil servant at, all

governmental levels. Such values include universal franchise, fseedom of expression,

freedom of association (like NIJLGE), enhancement of their econon~ic rights, ctc. a

June 12 also recleiined Nigeria because the Nigcrian civil servant was rnacle to I I

believe that power did not belol~g to a single people, contrary to the assuniptio~~ that "he

who gcts the North, rules (Ornotoso, l988:216). Workcrs at all tiers of govi.rnmznt

believed that the resources, most of which they processed, would be rationally allocated

to dif'escnt societies forming the I'ederal system, so thd the baboon wou.ld not just work

I'or the idle and lazy monkey to $id. This was a boosr in their pdormancc n ~ o r ~ d e .

1 lowever, this assi~nlption was sadly truncated with the annulment ol' thc election.

Likc other Nigerians, workers also nursed the fear thilt power does not belong to

everybody, but only to those "liwoured" in the elitc cliquc. I t nlcant that d l workers ill

Nigeria labour for the ruling elites while the workers survive only by tlleir continuous

deter~ninecl life struggle.

Inspite of that however, June 12 allowed the Nigerian worker to make a leader of I

his choice, regardless oS kinancia1 capability, geo-polilical and religious nlliliations, etc.

'I'he absence of small scale industries (SSI) at thc Local Government level has

nlade thci'r internal revenuc to be low, tlnis liiril~er pcrpetuating rlicir heavy dependence

on the centrc. I t therefore becomes a nzceswry prescription Sor centrapetalism. Thcre is

. .

no indepe~ldcnce of the federating units in accoldunce with thc iidvocacy of K C . Wlicre

(1 947: 1 1). This leads to the consolidation of the depressed nature of the Nigerian fedcral

structure (Okoli, 1995:32-43).

4.4 AI)MINISTlWTIVE IMPLICATIONS

In 1988, the Military prcsident, Gen lbrahim Rabangida, enacted Decree No. 43

known as the civil service "Rc-orgunisation" Dccree, which backed up the

implementation of the civil service Reforms of 1988. Section IV, Par. I11 gave legal

backing for the establisl~ment of a Personnel Management Board, composeci of two

comn~ittees - the Junior and Senior Staff Management Committees.

The board had the power to approve appointments, promotions and discipline of ( -

v staff upon the reco~nrnendation of the committee concerned. It means the board had the

power to oversee ail staff ~mt t e r s arid apply appropriate measures for the necessary

administering.

It is worthy of note that in Benue Stale, the circular No. SC. 206/S/5 19 of 25th

November, 1996, stipulated that any officcr to be promoted to a new grade level must

spend two years on the grade level he is presently occupying. The circular also directed

that acting appointrnenls were restriclecl to o d y one gradc level above an ol'licer's rank.

For instance, tllc Secretary to the Local governlnent is someone on grade level 15, which

is the highest-gradc: level at the local govemmcnt. It thereLore implies t h a ~ for someone

6

'lo be made acting secretary, he musl be on gmde level 14. 7

one political reason or the other, peopli: who have hcen on grade lcvels far bclow certain

positions have been given il. For inslance, someone on grade level 10 was made Acting

Secretary to the Local Govcr~unenl, even though there were others who met the criteria in

hzr zone.

The flagrant clissegard lo rules, segulntions or clirzctives, amounting to

insuburdin;hn as identilied in the lindings Ilucl u lengthy el'l'ccl because lhis clealt a blow

to socielal sesvices. 'l'he society, not just the council, is denied of' the'liuiclions that local

governments are supposed to discharge to them through the cn~ployees.

When the "Tombo Cannection" plays its role, meritocracy is thrown overboard,

v while ~uediocrity is prqnlote and maintained. It means the ~nisallocacion of human

resource. Competent ancl capable llrlnds west: ignored, leading to a waste of the

resources, especiirlly as regards making appointments based on ~vour i t i sm.

Functional problem like ihe cleaslh in oftices and oftice facilities ~nade

perf'o'olnlance environment harsh, uncl many strtl'f ore forced to be redundant because tllere

arc no matcrirtls to work with. l ' l~is gives rise lo ihe undcruiilizntion of thc: available

humun resources, leading to low produciivity

I t is often argued that the developing staks of Af'rica, Asia ancl Latin Anmica are I

lechr~ologically backward. However due to the rapid technological advuncen~ents '1

especially the computer that has transforined the lvorld into a global ifillage, -

Nigeria seems iiot to be lagging behind in this aspect. Computer education has

been ililroduced in mmy schools, collcgcs and othcr tertiary institwrions.

Similarly, many students are made to be computer literate so that they can meet

up the challenges h e a d , example, computer education has become con~pwlsory to

students of public administration.

In the same vein rnsny administrative processes have been computerized

for the easier documentation of data.

Unforti~nately however, many local governments some government

agencics and parastatals are being operated without any computer units. ?'his is

dan~crous to modern information ~mnagcn~en t syslcm to fiicili!ate ar;lministrative

* matlers. Where data is not computerized, adnhistration in burcaucrxy is forced

lo be cumbersome and in sume cases i~npossiblc-. Where there is 11"

documentation oS data, proper keeping of records is Imd to come by. 'This is ~ 1 :

of Gwer L,ocal Government. 'I'lie 1,ocid Government, like many c~f-iers in the

country, cannot for instance, give proper accoiult of staff rccruitnxnt, promotion,

training, discipline, or even lht: overall workforce.

In Gwcr Locd Govcrnnlent for instance, malatlministration ensued as a result of

laxity ill skilled manpower to operate some machines. Thc only photocopying

mi~chint: in the Secrctary7s oflice, l'or instance, was not being opzrilted bccause

there was no cori~pctc~it opcratur. Official doculncnts had lo be hlwn to a h r 4

town for photocopying even in times of'iirgency.

8

The other prob!ern is the inability of gover~ments to adopt mechanization

policies in agriculture, These include ~ractosization, chemicalization, use of

insecticides, Iierbicides, pesticides, etc. 'I'his development tends to make $aff of

the Agriculture Department at the local government redundant, even though some

of them had acquired prol'essional qualitications ill vwious areas. It is just of

recent that thc Poult~y Farm belonging to Gwcr Local Government is bei~ig well

run, in~plying that democracy brings economic prosperity to people.

7 8

\ REFERENCES

Koontz, el. A1. (19801 Management, Kogakrisha: McGraw-liill ~ t d . *

Okoli, F.C. (1995), "Labour Manngment liclsltions in a Depressed

Fecleral Structure" contained in Niaesiun Journal of Public Administration and

Local Govesi~ment, Vol. 6, No. 1, January, 1995. Editor's name not available. -.-

Ornotoso, K. (19881, Just Uefore_Dwn, Ife: University Press

Onah, R. (2000), "Assessing the Manpowcr Planning Environment" in

F.O. Onah (ed), &rategic Manpower Planning 2nd Development, Nsukkii: Pulladu

l'ublishing Company.

The African Guiirdian September 9, 199 I . -- * -

Wheare, K C . (1947), 1:ederal Govesnment, New York: 0xfoi.d University a

Press.

CIIAYTER FIVE

THE END r(

5.0 SUMMARY

According to Prof K.C. Wheare ( I 947: 1 I ) , feiicralism requires. that each

of the federating units should be "coordinate and independent", There must be

division of powers between the federal and state governments. This provicles a

better basis for r ~ ~ r a l developmellt, so that in Nigeria for instance, we talk of

L L g ~ i \ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ t developmept".

Unlortunately however, the issue of clevelopment from the grassroots has

been identified to be mere rhetoric viewing the broad disparity between

empiricism and precepts. Social scientists have been trying to know why this has

been so.

A local government is simply deiined as the authority which detcnnines

and executes measures wirhin a smdl areas inside a state or region. The Nigerian

local government system owes its origin in thc pre-colonial ern. Since then, so

many reforms have been made l'som time to time, up to [he present day that the

local government has been granted autonoiny and recognized as the third tier of

government. Gwer is among the first thirteen local government areas of Bcnue

State, created in 1976.

b

Most oi' h e years of the sovereign statc of Nigeria llavc bcen ruled by the

militusy which is not made to rule, traditionally. That basically accoiunts for the

decay in the performance of the Nigerian civil scrvant, like thc local government

employee. This research was limited to thc Babangida Abacha praetorian regi~qe

of 1985 - 1998, applying elitism as the political lens.

At the local government Icvcl, the problem was rooted in the imposition of

Sole Adn~inistrators as council chairmen on the people, whose policy-decisions

all ways contruvcned bureaucratic norms. The specific objective of the stiidy was

to scan the local government employee performance, which was laken to

represent the perfornxuixe of the Nigerian civil servant, between the period stated

above. 'I'he study is significant for bolh academic and non-academic purposes.

In the organizational structure of Gwer local Government Council, the . -

Executive Chairman is at the apex. 'I'he Secretary to the Locnl Guve~nrnent is [he

Head of service, assisted by the Dircctor 01' I 'c~~sonn~l Mi11lage111cnt.

Departme~ltal Ilcads are responsible for thcir viwious clepartmcnts.

A review ol'lilerature shows thac ~ni l i txy inlcrvention is most prevalent in

Africa, Asia and Latin America. 'I'hc annul men^ of'the June 12, 1993 presidential

election could be interpreted as both elilism and Muchiavellianisn~ at work. The

annulnmt impacted great damages on hi~man resources management, and

specially employee performance in Nigeria. Among the victims were the press

, . and [he judiciary. I his caused some poli~icnl upsi~rgings, like widespread

b&nblasls. Hypothetically therefore, bureuucrals in the tleveluping countries have

, performed poorly due to the ecologicaI factors impinging on then].

Methodologically, random situ:pling was adopted. The use of primmy and

secondary sources was enlployed as a method of data colleclion in thc

investigation.

'The dala analysis, comprising unstluct~~red oral interviews, was based on the

hypolflcses formulated.

Some perlormance behuviours are measurnblc, while o~hers ilre not. As a1

February, 2001, the Gwer Local Goveniment overall staff'sirenglh was 735.

tvlotivotion is the drive and ei'l'ort to satisfy a want or good. A conducive - environment is a necessary pre-requisite for motivation to occur. l'echniyues of

motivation include money, positive reinlorce~nentlbehaviour modification), * -

, . parlicipalion, e,l.c. The decline in the disposable income of Nigerian workers is

the rni~jor cause ol'denlotivation since 1985. 6

Si\lishction on the other hand rei'ers lo r he contentmenl desired when a

wish or need is fidfilled. 98 junior stal'l' 01' Gwcr local Government have been

promoted to various grade levels at the beginning of this year

Administra~ive bchaviour, bribery and corruplion, Si~nctior?al problems,

distorlion of employee professional el'iiciency, among others, were discovesed to

be responsible for the low performance of the Nigerian civil servant, taking the

local govenln~ent employee as an exalnple. \

I b

In Gwer Locill Government, the number of local government stuSS

I . retrenched by the ~nililwry governrnenl then was 104.

The implicutitms of these results and findings are lugion. First is their

socio-econamic aspect, example, demotivation. LiSe had bcconlc unbearable to

the common man, but neither the military had redeemed the situation. lCather,

economic policies inlroduccd by the Babangicla - Abacha were beneficial o d y to

the elites, example, SAP

'I'here were also the socio-cultural implications of the results and findings.

Socio-cultural theorists argue that bure,mxats in thc developing nations are

victims of socio-cultnrd constraints, like die extendecl Ikmily system.

One of the political implications is thc consolidation of the clcprcssed

Nigerian federalism, en~anating from celltripztalism. Administratively, some oS 8 . *

the finclings imply that thc promotion ancl maintenance of mediocrity, somctinles

through '"Tombo conn~ctionism", crtsts meritocracy in jeopardy and misallocates

On the tcchnoldgical iispect, the inability of local governments to

computerize data is thc bane on proper administration and consequently

performance. 'She absence of such other technological devices like photocopying

machines and agricultural mechanization are also clog in the wheel of employee

'I'lllC WAY FORWARD

'fhe diverse issues raised above are so vital in public administration that

thc problcms ider~tilied c;lnrlat be allowed to persist without our efforts at,

sulving lhcm.

MILITARY TO QUIT I'Ol.lT1CAL SCENE

Military disengagcnlcnt in politics and the "second independence" (Ake,

1993:33) thal was hardly earned h l i l the self-ensco~iced mililay diciators is a

developmeit LO hail. Infact, the liberation of the bi~rtai~cratic: institbtion in

Nigeria would have remained intractable without the exit of the military lion1

politics, lpso Picto, our nascent Aernucsrtcy should be jealously guardcd to ;illow

it slay.

5.1.2. INrI'IIODUCTION OJ? PRESlDEN'I'IALISM AT THE LOCAL

Since presidentialism is bei~ig operated at the senior levels of government,

i t should also be introd~lced at the local government level

5.1.3 ADOI'TION OF TlIE WEBEKIAN IDEAL TYPE

The Weberian bureaucratic model shoulcl be properly implerneiltcd in the

Nigerian public service, reg~udlcss ol' the socio-culturill Siictors impinging on t11e

bureaucrats. In this regitrd, hard work and honesty in service should be rewarded while

stal'f miscor~clucls thal ofell l e d to ~tcitninistrative incor~gruenct. shoulcl be strongly a

abhorred lhrough appropriate sanclions

5.1.4 PROMO'UON OF ORGANIZATIONAL CI1'2%ENSIIlF

It is to the interest of all formal organizations to promote organizational F

citizenship among their workers. Organizational citizenship reCcrs to behaviours of

individuals who make a positive overall contribution to the organization. To earn this

citizenship, extra normative services must be rendcrecl, like cxlra energy, extra labous,

which must also be positive. The worker feels to be a ember of the Fdmily of the

organization, example, as obtainable in Japan. The worker renders his service beyond

economic reason.

IS this is promoted, public property will no longer be nobody's, but citizens 01 [hat

organization will feel ownership 01 such propefly and would therefore occurred them the , -

utlnost care, example, at the local govzrnnient.

5.1.5 MASS RETIU~NCI~II\IlKN'l' OF WOHI+XIlS TO STOP

Retrenchment is one 01 the saving devices that governments often adopt,

especially in periods of economic turmoil. But the munuy is not saved for public interest. - liather, it simultaneously inllames the unemployment menace and heightens social

unrest. The only bencliciaries of this obnoxious policy are the governing elites because

the publ~c money saved by retrenching workers is siphoned into their private treasury.

'l'he only alternative policy to this is by keeping the stal'f busy through the creation of 4

duty li~nctions, where an organizalion is said to be overstafid, mutatis mutandis.

'h

5.1.6 CIMSSROOT DkWELOl'MENT

Anotller proposal is that grassroot developr~lcnt s110i1ld be vigorously purs~icd. By 9

~llis, i l means government po1ic:ies s h o ~ ~ l d be direcled towards the development of the

rural areas where the bulk of the peasants live. 'I'his is intrinsically the rationale for local

government existence. With this development, local government staSf might be made

more busy by epgaging in services in the rural areas, exaiuplc, communi~y health

extension workers, clislrict secretaries, agricul~urill extension workers, revenue collectoss,

etc.

5.1.7 MOTlVATION

Molivation is a sine qua non for organizational citizenship. Money as a

# motivational technique goes to the worker as wages. 'I'he worltkrs should be

granted the Sreedom to bargain for b heir wages unconditionally.

There are two types of colleclive bargaining - centralized (regulated) and

decentralized (deregulated).

In centralized collective bargaining, employers under an association

negotiate collectively with workers. In decentralized collective bargaining,

en~ployers and workers' representatives negotiate based on the prevailing

economk conditions of the clay, yet b~?iwing in rrlincl the ability to pay workers

(Okoli, 11.d) . This is

econon~ic conditions. , I b b

'I

preferable because it takes into cognizance the prevailing

'I'he implication is that the einployers should alw~iys try to

adjust workcrs wages in line wilh the economic changes to enable [he workers

maintain a significant disposable income.

5.1.8 IIEVENUE IUGI-ITS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

'The 1999 Conslitution appears Lo have sanctioned the nm-ginalisiltion of local

governments by their senior tiers. The following arnenclmenls sl~oulcl be made

(i) States should be made to stop their infringements on the revenuc lerritories of

local governments.

(ii) Transfers from the lederation account sl-~ould go straight to the local

governrnenls wilhout any stopover at the state. By this thcrelosc, a review of

Section 162(5) of the 1999 Constitution is necessary . .

# 5.1.9 FISCAL ACCOUNTABILITY AN11 TliANSPAHENCY

The twin concept of iinancial accountc?bility and lransparency demands of all

public officers in positions of trust over public asses to be responsible at all times for

heir actions and inaclions, successes and fi~ilures, They should also be honest and

God-fearing in Ihcir public service.

5.1.10 INSTALLATION OF COMPUTER IJNITS

A cornpuler is a data processing milchine. 'Thc computer receives data and

processes i t lo produce information, lnk~ct, [he computer has transiosmed the world

into a global village.

x

There is therefore the need to install computer units in every government

est;~blishment or organization l'or the proper documentation of data, especially at the

local governmellt.

5.2 CONCLUSION

History says where rapid social transformation had taken place in the

desired directions, certain catalysts were responsible. 'I'hcse catalysts are human

qualities, human attributes and attitucles, such as discipline and productive

thinking. 'To bring development, peoplc should try to be good, honest and

transparent i l l tlieir public service Bureaucracy a h a machinery of the executive , .

arm of government is charged with the responsibility of t ransf~rn~ing government

policies into realities, ,inspite of the wcakncssos identified in the r c s c k h . n

But although the problem was attributed to the military rule of 1985- 1998,

the liberation of the entire citizcnly now depcncls on thc prudent u~ilization of the

democratic norn-1s and vi~.Iiies in our post-praetorian era, towards achieving higher

and cflicient productivity in the public omployce pcrlbrniance.

87

'There is therefore the need to install cornpurer units in every government

1 establish~nent or orgmization for the proper documentation of data, especially at the P

local gover~mleut.

CONCLUSION

History says where rapid social transformation had taken place in the

desired directions, certain catalysts were responsible. Thcse catalysts are human

qualities, human attributes and attitudes, such as discipline and productive

thinking, To bring development, people should try to be good, honest and

transparent in their public service Bureaucracy as a machinery of the executive

arm of government is charged with the responsibility of transforming pvernnlent

policies into realities, inspite of the weaknesses identiiied in the research.

But although the problem was attribured Lo the military rulc of 1985-1998,

the liberation .of the enlire citizenry now depends on the prudent utilization of the

democratic norms and values in our post-praetorian era, towards achieving higher

and eftlcicnt procli~ctivity in thc public employee performance.

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1 Times International, March 14, 1998. '.. 44