First in a series I intend to post from the FT Survey of Nigeria. I hope you find it informative. From the Financial Times Survey of Nigeria, Thursday March 30, 2000 NIGERIA: CIVIL SERVICE BY ANTHONY GOLDMAN PUBLIC SECTOR IS IN NEED OF A DRASTIC OVERHAUL After a generation of decay, the Nigerian civil service will recover only it government shows resolve and a commitment to reform Looming large on the Abuja skyline, the sleek, modern exterior of the Federal Secretariat creates an impression of busy efficiency. Within, however, offices packed to overflowing, complaints about low pay and staffing levels and shortages of basic equipment speak of an altogether different reality. That gap between image and substance may prove to be one of the most serious obstacles to be overcome if Nigeria's latest experiment with civilian rule is to prove a success. A functioning civil service is a prerequisite for sound advice to government and the effective implementation of policy. But after a generation of decay, the Nigerian public sector is now widely acknowledged to be in a dismal condition. Foreign business and local interests alike have long complained of a sclerotic system in which little is possible without either contacts or bribery. Increasingly, however, but for the most well-connected and established operators, even devices such as these cannot bypass the capacity problems that the civil service can no longer hide. Nigeria may today have as many as 2m people in the public sector, including state and local government employees. The 2000 budget allocates more than 50 percent of the state's available income to the payroll. But what Nigeria receives in return is harder to quantify. "We still have some very good people, but at least85 percent of civil servants are wasting their time or worse," said a middle-ranking official. "Expertise has been lost, corruption is rife, morale is low, training has collapsed and the culture of public service has effectively disappeared. "Autonomy has been eroded and self-confidence has disappeared. Senior officials change at the whim of ministers and are reluctant or incapable of offering frank advice. Appointments and promotions are frequently made on grounds other than merit, qualification or experience. Government service is an excuse to skim contracts. The police, internal revenue, customs and immigration are no better." The absence of reform has created some serious anomalies. Salaries last year were increased more than tenfold, massively staining the budgetary process, but remain substantially below that available in the private sector. A director-general of a ministry now receives around N350, 000 ($3,500) a year. To compensate, a package of incentives is available, including free cars and accommodation, furnishing allowance, travel, expenses and other emoluments that can push up the total package to around N10m for the most creative mandarins. "The system is totally opaque and in some cases just absurd," one senior official explained. "The government will pay more than $200 a night for me to stay at the Hilton because my official residence is not ready. But if I want to make my own arrangements, which would be much cheaper, the allowance is only N6, 000. So, obviously, I stay at the hotel and it costs Nigeria an absolute fortune." Six years ago Bola Ige, now power and steel minister, complained that "in Nigeria today there is no civil service worth talking about. The corruption that has covered the military administration has spread to the civil service and overwhelmed it. In addition, the military has made a career in the civil and public service unenviable for those with character or learning". Some trace the source of decline to reforms instituted by General Babangida (1985-93)-when the Civil Service commission lost power over senior appointments to ministers-which institutionalised the politicisation of the service and its loss of independence. Others point to the 1975 campaign to cleanse the administration of "dead wood" by General Murtala Muhammad-when many able officials were retired-for a fatal loss of morale and the sharpening of ethnic sensitivities. But that process was itself a reflection of popular discontent with an increasingly impenetrable and corrupt bureaucracy that had seen its influence and power rise considerably in the wake of the 1966 coup. President Olusegun Obasanjo has pledged to revive and rebuild the service, arguing that it is a critical tool for the process of national renewal. Even before his inauguration last May, he had organised seminars for incoming ministers and officials. After assuming office, he ordered a review of financial regulations and civil service rules-the first such review since the 1970s-in which he declared that the service had "degenerated and fallen apart". Translating good intentions into actions, however, has proved to be more problematic. The reports have been completed and printed, but have not been distributed. Some hold the civil service's own inertia and political maneuvering at least partly to blame "Jokers, incompetents and illiterates have been promoted to the most strategic posts," says Olu Falae, a former secretary to the government of the federation who ran unsuccessfully for the presidency last year. "The people who constitute the problem are being asked to find the solution." The prospect for a successful reform process seems, at best, mixed. Far from rationalising the bureaucracy, President Obasanjo has ordered a substantial recruitment drive as part of his poverty alleviation initiative. New government agencies are being established, which overlap with existing departments and may succeed only in fuelling turf wars and further complicating the implementation of policy. "Recovery is possible but will be difficult," says one of Nigeria's most respected former civil servants. "It has taken ten years to sink so low and there will be no easy or quick fix. We must reduce numbers, increase salaries, improve training and seek help abroad. But the critical issue remains the resolve and commitment of the government. It must recognise the need for change, specifically in attitude." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------