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Pragmatic public service reform
CHUMA IFEDI
PRESIDENT
Olusegun Obasanjo’s programme of public service reform has arrived at a time
when from all indications the presidency itself is indeed in a state of nature
saturated and over-bloated. The question everybody is asking is- Why not start
from the presidency the veritable seat of power and authority? With all sorts of
characters, most of them turncoats, charlatans, opportunists and sycophants, the
presidency deserves priority in the charter of reforms. In a culture of
political rascality in which political patronage has gone haywire, why pick out
the public service as scape-goat obviously because those within that institution
cannot defend themselves publicly even when viciously maligned. In any case,
since our political independence in October 1960, the public service had been
reformed a number of times. The lacuna is the critical political factor which
bedevils the public service and which both the Public Service Commission,
otherwise known as the Udoji Report of 1974 and the Presidential Commission on
Parastatals also regarded as the Onosode Report of 1981, provided effective and
pragmatic recommendations. All we have to do today to revitalize the public
sector is to implement faithfully the strategic proposals made by the Udoji and
Onosode commissions.
The Udoji Report recommended a
result-oriented public service which he called a "new style public service"
which should be staffed and led by professionals, men and women who possess the
requisite skills and knowledge and can function effectively in applying their
skills and knowledge to establish goals and achieve results. Most importantly,
the commission proposed a code of ethics with emphasis on loyalty, integrity,
competence, dedication and commitment. The Udoji Report devoted ample attention
to optimizing productivity in the public service through dynamic project
management, management by objectives as well as programme and performance
budgeting.
The system of project management proposed
by the Udoji report recommend a scheme whereby various skills can be brought
together from ministries and departments in task forces to design and carry out
projects. This design provides more flexibility in solving problems than is
typically afforded by the traditional, functional bureaucratic structure. It
allows various specialised skills and resources to be drawn from throughout the
service to form a problem-solving team and apply their special abilities to the
project. Also, it trains senior staff who are attuned to the priorities of
development, aware of the integrated effort the entire service must make if
results are to be achieved.
Management by objectives identifies goals
and objectives and sets performance criteria for acceptable work. Action plans
are made and time targets agreed upon. It is based on measurable results.
Evaluation, feedback and redirection of efforts are established to meet
predetermined work assignments. Programme and performance budgeting is a
departure from the current monetary provisions. The emphasis is on outputs and
results, what items the money is spent, what outputs are to be achieved, how
many miles of rail and road will be laid, the number of acres of land to go
under irrigation, the tons of produce exported or the number of classrooms to be
built. The aims are to ratioinalise budgetary allocations, improve
accountability in relation to productivity and to serve as a reminder and basis
for reviewing the rationale of previous expenditure.
The Udoji report castigated past national
development plans on its lack of adequate and appropriate data on manpower
availability and disposition, analysis and projections. Unfortuately, the
current National Economic and Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) on
which we are basing the present reform programmes is deficient in this area.
Thus, effective manpower planning in the public service is rendered very
difficult. One jis disappointed that the president deliberately ignores the
tragic and counterproductive impact of the federal character syndrome, euphemism
for the quota system or geographical representation, on the quality of the
public service. This negative constitutional provision has created terrible
havoc in the public service and has dragged standards to the mud in our
desperate endeavour to accommodate and compromise mediocrity. On this sensitive
issue, the Udoji report recommended that the quota system should only be applied
at the intake level in the civil service. The Indian government adopts this wise
approach in recruitment to the public service. Nigeria should take a cue from
that.
We should go back to the Udoji report with
its excellent proposals in respect of balancing professionalsim with the
inculsion of gneralists, red-tapism and bureaucracy, training as well as
decentralisation in the public service. Practically, everything in the Udoji
Report points to a pragmatic reform of present-day public service which has been
unduly politicised under the cover of democratic dispensation. The Udoji Report
gives prime attention to retirement benefits of gratuity and pensions. It is
indeed amazing that President Olusegun Obasanjo expects optimal performance from
the public service when he obstinately refuses to pay the statutory and
mandatory pensions to retirees. The pensions arrears in the public service now
amounts to about two trillion naira. Retirees of the Nigerian Railway
Corporation have not received pensions for 25 months. This deplorable treatment
of pensioners diminishes morale in the public service and aggravates corruption
in the desperation of public servants to prepare for the rainy day.
Like the Public Service Review Commission
1974 (Udoji Report), the Presidential Commission on Parastatals 1981 (Onosode
Report) provides strategic recommendations for reforming the public corporations
or parastatals as well as the public enterprises. Parastatals board membership
should be determined more on merit, knowledge and relevant experience than on
political patronage. Our president should apply that productive criteria in
appointing board members and stop looking for scape goats when the corporations
are not living up to expectations. The Onosode or Presidential Report recommends
that the boards of directors of all parastatals should be made up of executive
and non-Executive directors in a ratio of 40-60. Also, in order to ensure
continuity, efectiveness, and stability in the board of directors of a
parastatal, the tenure of the office of directors should be staggered so that
they do not all leave the board at the same time.
The concept of "Due Process" introduced as
one of the reform measures is good on paper but how honest are the proponents in
the context of our corruption-prone society? Why are political loyalists given
undue prominence in public contract awards? We are not convinced that "Due
Process" will change anything unless the presidency sheds itself of obvious
preferences for party partisanship and ethnic favouritism. Nigerians want
suitable reforms in the public service but they must be based on transparency
and egalitarianism.
Nigerians want reformation in the public
service, but such reforms must have a human face. Down-sizing of the public
sector will do more harm than good. Throwing thousands of government employees
into the bloated labour market is definitely counterproductive. We agreed with
the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress that retrenchment for
whatever reasons will generate hardship, aggravate unemployment and destitution
in the country. The strategic and pragmatic recommendations of the Udoji and
Onosode reports provide the stepping stones on which appropriate and productive
reforms should be directed.
•Mr. Ifedi, a retired director, personal, Nigerian Railway
Corporation, lives in Satellite Town, Lagos.
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