Public sector reforms are usually
challenging to implement, particularly in countries with limited political will
for reform. This has been highlighted in various literatures. An interesting
paper by Geoffrey Shepherd titled ‘Civil Service Reform in
Developing Countries: Why Is It Going Badly? critically analyses the ‘universal approach’
to civil service reforms (merit based reforms) and acknowledges the
difficulties it faces. It also makes some useful recommendations on how Civil
Service Reforms (CSR) can be made more successful. Though written 10 years ago,
and focused on the ‘core civil service’, many of the issues presented in the
paper are still relevant today and are useful for wider public sector reforms.
What are the key issues?
In many developing countries like
Nigeria, patronage is a dominant feature in both the core civil service and the
wider public service. Public sector jobs are used by politicians to keep
supporters/constituents happy. In some cases, it has become a ‘safety net’ or
‘welfare scheme’ due to the limited amount of jobs available. However,
Shepherd’s paper recognises that patronage is not all bad; it has some
advantages and has worked in certain conditions particularly when the size of
the civil service is small.
What are the entry points for Public
Sector Reforms (PSR) in Nigeria?
In a country like Nigeria where the
governance is weak and the levels of corruption high, public sector reforms
should be creative and dynamic. Geoffrey Shepherds’ paper proposes two key
dimensions that can be followed to effectively reform the civil service. These
dimensions can be applied to reforming the public sector In Nigeria. He
recommended both changing the mind-set and seeking alternative approaches to
reform.
There are situations where reforms
outside the public sector may be needed to ensure successful reforms in the
public sector. Shepherd’s paper makes a good recommendation that may be useful
and can be considered in the Nigerian context. The paper recommends ‘the
transfer of excess employment in the civil service into a social security
regime.’ This involves keeping the productive civil servants in the service and
transferring the non-productive ones into a welfare scheme (like a social
security scheme). This is an interesting approach that should be considered in
countries like Nigeria where jobs are scarce and patronage politics dominates
the public service.
In the spirit of Shepherd’s paper, here
are my recommendations for reforming the public service in Nigeria:
1. Citizen focused PSR- Realising and
emphasizing that the overarching goal of the public service is to serve the
people (either through creating an enabling environment, effectively managing
the public finances or directly providing services). PSR programmes
should support efforts that would enable citizen’s demand for services which
would put pressure on the government to reform. This should be the starting
point before focusing on merit based reforms. As Geoffrey pointed out ‘Notably,
merit-based civil-service reforms were initiated in the Nineteenth Century when
popular or economic demand for better public services overcame the political
class’s preference to use civil-service appointments as the currency of
politics (or the means of personal gain)’. This approach will entail the
following:
- Effective Communications: Using evidence based research to highlight issues both positive
and negative (in an easily understandable format) and clearly linking them
to the impact it has on citizens. For example, showing the cost of having
unqualified personnel in the public sector or the costs of corruption and
the impact it has on citizens welfare. This can be done through policy
briefs, social media, mainstream media etc. This would be useful in
encouraging and enabling citizens to demand for services as well as
influencing the government to reform.
- Strategic engagements: Supporting engagements and mechanisms that would improve the
interface between the public servants and the citizens. E.g. regular town
hall meetings on service delivery issues, complaints mechanisms, service
delivery evaluations etc.
- Transparency: Supporting reforms or efforts on transparency e.g. the
publishing of service standards, budgetary allocations.
2. Being opportunistic: Identifying
windows of opportunities that may exist within and outside government as entry
points. Sometimes supporting small reforms may yield tangible change with
positive impact on the public service and the citizens. E.g. efforts are being
made to institutionalise the Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES) in the Federal
Ministry of Agriculture which started off as a pilot scheme aimed at supporting
farmers with agricultural inputs. The power sector reforms are also another
example showing where pockets of opportunities may exist. In addition, outside
the government there are some individual reformers that exist who are fearless,
passionate for reforms and are making some impact but may need to be supported
e.g. Ordinary Ahmed (see blog post on Ordinary Ahmed)
3. Tackling corruption: In
the case of Nigeria, corruption is one of the major obstacles in the effective
provision of public services. PSR should incorporate efforts to tackle some of
its root causes e.g. focusing on election reforms (see blog post ).
Finally
technocratic fixes or universal best practices on public sector reforms may not
be a good entry point in countries like Nigeria with limited political will for
reform. Context matters (understanding the political economy is vital). Citizen
focused public sector reforms that emphasizes improved public services may be a
good entry point and merit based reforms may come naturally as a pre-requisite
to improve public services.
Some useful literature
