Civil Servants Appraise NEEDS, Public Sector Reforms
While appraising government's reform programme, civil servants concluded that the approaches adopted are not only defective but may also not end the current socio-economic crisis, as Chris Nwachuku reports
The new economic policy of President Olusegun Obasanjo, the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) and the ongoing public sector reforms appear not to go down well with civil servants under the aiges Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreationary Services Employees.
At the 2nd quadrennial national delegates conference of the union, the workers subjected the two main issues to critical analysis and concluded that the approach adopted may not succeed in pulling the nation out of its present status of under-development.
The workers acknowledge the importance of reforming the way government and its institutions work; growing the private sector and; implement a social charter for the people with an enduring African value systems. They, however, pointed out that some of the conclusions derived from the strategies of NEEDS are self-defeating, over-ambitious and dictated by adherence to doctrinaire neo-liberal economic models.
Human Resources
The workers expressed concern that the entire NEEDS package did not give recognition to the place of human resources in economic development, especially in the public sector. "The conference in session observed with surprise and regret that NEEDS, as economic developmental strategy and its component public service reform, did not recognise the important roles of human resource management and labour relations in the public sector," said the workers in a communique issued and signed by the General Secretary, Sylvester Ejiofoh.
The union believed that NEEDS would require an articulate and positive human resource management and labour relation policies that would deal with the human factor aspect of its objectives.
Private Sector:
Does the civil servant subscribe to the growing phenomenon, especially in developed countries, of private sector being the engine growth of the economy? Perhaps, no. While they accept the growth of the private sector as complementary, the workers find the idea of building the economy based on that sector very defective.
Said Ejiofoh: "Conference-in-session, while subscribing to growing the private sector, believe that it is not proper and strategic, in the short and medium term, for the country's developmental strategy to be anchored on the private sector as the engine of growth, for wealth creation, employment generation and poverty reduction."
National Development and Re-orientation
Nigerian civil servants are of the opinion that what the country need is to create a new Nigerian state that would act as a catalyst for national development and orientation. They noted that the failure of the past, which was the resultant effect of prolong military regime, should not deter the country from refocusing and rebuilding a new policy framework that emphasises values.
Particularly, the workers canvassed a conscious and painstaking enactment of a new Nigerian state that would be well-focused, committed to efficiency and is not corrupt. This is the public sector workers said is a pre-requisite for sustained and expanding economic and social infrastructure, poverty eradication, wealth creation, employment generation, and growing the private sector which must be driven by positive human resources management and labour relations in both private and public sector.
Is this achievable with the character of the political class, which many ascribe lack the moral and political courage to embark on creating a new Nigerian developmental state? This is debatable. But the civil servants noted that it is, possible if the politicians would commit class suicide, that is voluntary denial of self-interests, privileges, wealth not associated with genuine entrepreneurship and politics anchored on sustained and visible improvement in the quality of life of the people.
To ensure this, the union urged the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to facilitate a forum of critical stakeholders in the economy and civil society organisations to independently evaluate NEEDS and offer credible pragmatic and rational alternatives.
Public Sector Reforms
Ejiofoh applauded the need for public sector reforms, aimed at changing the way government institutions work as basic for efficient management of resources and quality service delivery.
The workers, however, expressed disappointment that the reform in NEEDS did not identify other factors outside abuses and wastages that are deep-rooted constraints on the performance of the public service.
Besides corruption, wastages and malfunctioning of most government institutions, the members of Union identified absence of sound management techniques and practices, modern industrial relations practices as well as other major problems in the service. These problems affected the workers, as no motivational policy intended to harness their potentials optimally was in place, just as appropriate training and retraining were defective and inadequate.
The union said that the rise in "right sizing" as a jargon in the NEEDS package is only a refined terminology for retrenchment and wonder why such exercise should be an objective of a development focused reform programme.
"The conference-in-session noted that for the first time in a public service reform, retrenchment is accorded the status of policy objective rather than being possible unintended consequence. Consequently, the conference believed that optimal utilisation of the public service workforce and not "right seizing" should be the national objective of the reform."
Besides, the workers condemned the much repeated assertion by government, IMF and World Bank that Nigeria public service, particularly the core civil service, is over-bloated saying it is a product of hasty generalisation this is because nothing much has been done to identify cadres and professional groups that are over-supplied or under-supplied.
Amalgamated Union affirmed that a public sector workforce of about two million, excluding the armed forces and police is economically tolerable, especially when public services in critical areas are grossly in short supply.
Worried by these development, the workers urged the union leadership to urgently initiate meetings and joint actions with all unions in the public service to evaluate the public service reform and act in concert in engaging government. This the workers said had become necessary to ensure that the reform leads to quality public service, protection of jobs, and motivation of the workforce.
Corruption in Public Service
The union acknowledged the damaging impact which corruption and its twin phenomenon of wastefulness and extortion have meted on the public sector. It noted that widespread corruption in the public service has negative consequences on work satisfaction, competitive remuneration, security of tenure and the image of the service and its workforce.
But the civil servants viewed the focus of the anti-corruption crusade in the public sector alone as defective, noting that corruption is equally institutionalised and endemic in the private sector and other spheres of national life.
To "shock the nation out of a high corruption equilibrium" the union urged government to recognise that the battle must be extended to how corruptly-obtained wealth are expended on:
Social habits of wastages, flamboyance and extravagance in both public and private life;
Obsession of undue social recognition, which leads to wasteful expenditures on title acquisition, birthdays, marriages and other events, all of which are purely private and personal;
Outrageous tastes for goods and services, not for their utility values, but for social recognition.
The union noted that these vices have led to the abandonment of the virtues of simplicity, honesty and modesty on the part of leadership in all spheres and levels. It asserts "that a conscious austere pattern of life at all levels is an indispensable pre-requisite for poverty eradication and meaningful economic development, in particular, in an under-developed nation like ours that is in regression.
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