A HOLISTIC ENDOGENOUS EXPLANATION FOR THE EXOGENOUS PLAGUING FACTORS IN NIGERIA’S PUBLIC SERVICE DELIVERY

Abstract

This study examines the exogenous factor that holistically explains the exogenous factors plaguing Nigeria’s public service. The study adopts a qualitative research design based on secondary data supported by relevant empirical studies. The study employed the Integrated Endogenous Governance Failure Theory that provided composite lens for analytically explaining foundational role of the singular endogenous factor self that has persistently propelled and engineered the sundry factors: leadership failure, management malady, corruption and followership conspiracy or complicity that have plagued public service delivery in Nigeria. The findings of this study revealed that leadership failure and management malady in the public service in Nigeria is institutional, structural, administrative, and behavioural with multiple effects on governance, institutional growth, development and renewal. The findings of the study also unveiled that corruption has removed funds and diverted same from priority service delivery in sectors like health, education, agriculture, infrastructure, defence and pushed same into private pockets or inefficient projects thereby worsening outcomes and increasing unit costs of service delivery. Essentially too, the findings of the study showed that followership conspiracy or complicity manifest in Nigeria’s public service through patronage networks and compliance with patron-client demands in areas like employment, promotions, training, performance appraisal and contract awards that reward loyalty over merit, moral disengagement in which government officials justify and rationalise funds diversion, nepotism, budget padding and other survival tactics as normal. The findings of this study equally revealed that it is the singular endogenous factor called self that provides propelling force to the endogenous factors such as management malady, leadership failure, corruption and followership conspiracy. The study recommended among others that the Nigerian society should undergo resetting, remoulding and rebuilding because Nigeria’s public service does not only reside, operate and function within it; it is also a product and reflection of the macro or larger society, Nigeria’s public service should imbibe and integrate principles of efficiency and cost-effectiveness that focuses on minimizing waste, optimizing resource use, and achieving value for money; performance measurement and results-based management that emphasizes the adoption and deployment of lucid measurable performance indicators, targets, acceptable turn-around time for service delivery