As we approach the first six months of President Goodluck Jonathans governments first year in office, the enthusiasm that greeted the ticket has begun to wane into some quiet resignation. Some are advising patience and urging that the President be given more time to effect his transformation agenda. The word transformation, as experts in change management would tell you, is quite a radical term and depicts a root and branch change from the status quo; a marked departure from business as usual. Whilst this type of change has begun in a few states like Lagos State, unfortunately at the federal level, the much heralded transformation is still moored at the docks, anchored by corruption, as if in stubborn defiance.For some government officials, the so-called sharing of the national cake continues unabated, as people await their turn to loot the treasury. Na turn-by-turn, the cry goes out to civil servants quietly waiting in line to have their share of the bounty. Sad as it may be, we cannot pack up and go. We have no other home and so must hold on to the hope that the few progressives in the cabinet may yet spring a surprise on the fortunes of Nigerians; we hold on to the hope that the day will yet come when well have uninterrupted electricity for a full day or even a week; and with the Minister for Agriculture, we hold on to the hope that well yet see in our generation those pyramids of groundnut and cocoa that were common place in our country just a few decades ago. However, for well-meaning ministers who want to effect real change to the wellbeing of Nigerians, they would by now have discovered that their first and biggest challenge is the Nigerian civil service; a deeply corrupt and inefficient machinery of government, characterised in the main by low productivity. The challenge posed by this juggernaut cannot be underestimated, as an effective and efficient civil service is critical to the delivery of the transformation agenda and the implementation of government plans and policies. The challenge is daunting by any stretch of the imagination and would require strong ministerial leadership and the visible backing of the President to reform the civil service. The key role of civil servants is to advise government ministers, provide public services for which they have statutory responsibility, or enable such services to be provided by third parties. In this regard, even civil servants themselves would agree that they have fallen far short. Whilst much blame has been directed at politicians and the military for the slow progress of the nations development, some quite rightly place an equal if not greater burden of shame on the leadership of the civil service. This band of elite individuals, past and present, has partnered with politicians and the military over the years to rob the Nigerian public of any meaningful progress. Unlike politicians who come and go, these individuals have a real permanence in government, led by the appropriately named permanent secretary. Ministers would by now have had several sessions with their permanent secretaries and directors; the same individuals that sat at meetings with the previous ministers and the ones before them. We have what would seem on the face of it a civil service bereft of vision and the will to drive the required radical change that Nigeria needs. They are forever going on seminars and conferences but still stuck in the practices of the colonial era; practices that have since been abandoned by our colonial masters, the British. With corruption lurking at the doors of our ministries, we have a civil service that poses the biggest challenge to policy implementation in Nigeria. With 42 ministries and hundreds of parastatals, each with its army of political appointees, you dont need any Albert Einstein to tell you that we have indeed a real problem in this country. There is no doubt that there are honest civil servants with integrity who are appalled at the corruption and poor productivity of the civil service, but they are a minority and are at a loss what to do or how to address this challenge, given the depth of the corruption, patronage and godfatherism in the service. Ministers can come up with the best plans and policies and the best intentions, but all that will come to nought if there is no commitment on the part of the permanent secretaries to effect the required change. The scorecard of this elite band of individuals in implementing government policies over the years has been abysmal. What is now needed if the President is serious about his transformation agenda is a radical root and branch review of the civil service to reduce corruption and improve efficiency and productivity. The reviewers will need to come from outside, not from the same tainted service. They must be people of the highest integrity, with no political leanings. They will need to report directly to the President himself and publish their findings and recommendations in the press. The review will need to consider the current civil service culture of poor/ mediocre performance and the integrity and competence of the people working in the service, and more importantly the people leading the service. It goes without saying that any change in the civil service has to be driven by the permanent secretaries themselves with the backing of their respective ministers. All prospective permanent secretaries should be required to come up with a plan of how they propose to improve the efficiency and performance of their ministries, and some element of their pay should be linked to the delivery of these objectives. Although there are existing policies on performance management, they are not effective in measuring and monitoring performance and in most cases have become a useless exercise in form filling. The current system of performance appraisals will need to be reviewed to make them more effective. As a nation, we tend to accept non-performance or mediocre performance in the public service as the norm. This culture will need to change if we are to transform our civil service to a better working machine. This change must start from the top, and would involve the way we appoint to positions; the way promotions and career projections are done; and the way we deal with non-performance. The current system of promotion that is based on length of service is broke and is not delivering the right results. The British have since abandoned this system they bequeathed to us in the 1950s in favour of other criteria based on performance. Ministers will need to foster a culture of accountability, underpinned by effective performance management. The permanent secretaries and their directors set the tone and culture of the civil service and so any meaningful reform of this service must start with the re-orientation of this elite band of individuals. These officers set the direction of their ministries and without their buy-in, any reform will be an exercise in futility. There will need to be effective and draconian sanctions for corruption and gross misconduct in the public service. It is not sufficient to just ask people to pay back some of their loot when they are caught with their fingers in the till. This only makes a mockery of the justice system as we have seen in recent cases. Sentences should be stiffer to serve as a deterrent to others. To this end, the Minister for Justice has a key role to play in the review of our entire justice system to bring confidence back to the judiciary. Our public institutions are custodians of public funds and it is time for the leadership of these institutions to run them efficiently as a business for the benefit of all Nigerians.Nwachukwu, a UK-based business consultant, is Director, PS Solutions Management Consultants, London. He can be reached at emmanuel@pssolutions-ltd.com
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