By Babatunde Jose
In Nigeria, our civil service system has been overtaken by nepotism, lack of merit, incompetence and complete disregard for critical thinking. The same Nigerian civil service that once produced Super Permanent Secretaries, now produces ethnic champions, looters, “area boys”, and closet politicians. – Ruben Abati
Jesus was crucified between two thieves. According to the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, the penitent thief on his right was named Dismas while the unrepentant thief on his left was Gestas. We could liken the corrupt civil servant to Gestas, ‘Ole apa osi’.
“That Nigeria is not working is a fact that only those who deceive themselves would dispute. Yet, there is nothing that one can accuse the political class of for which the civil service can be exonerated. As the main organ through which the policies and programs of government are implemented, it stands to reason that the civil service is also culpable in the rot that now defines our society. Indeed, according to a research paper published by the United Nations University titled ‘Civil Service Reform: A Review’ credited to Sarah Repucci, “The civil service is the backbone of the state, and can either support or undermine a country’s entire system of governance.”- Segun Adeniyi.
Our civil service is not only excessively bloated (both at federal and state levels), but a cesspool of corruption, nepotism and tribalism. The reasons for the corrupt civil service which in turn has given room to ineffective service delivery are the weak institutional structures, cumbersome administrative procedure, negative attitude of the civil servants to work and individuals’ insatiable appetite for wealth at all cost. – Gabriel Favor Eke: Corruption in the Civil Service: The Dearth of Effective Service Delivery.
The 1975 purge of the service led to its gradual transformation into the Evil Service that it is today. Our erstwhile hardworking and diligent civil servants were transformed into Gestases, ‘Ole Apa osi’. They are now working in tandem with their political compatriots to ruin the commonwealth.
Lack of policy implementation and policy inconsistency are products of political corruption. While religious organizations are neck deep in monetization, the proliferation of civil societies in Nigeria has become an avenue to attract international donors. These are all off-shoots of corruption.
Nigeria’s civil service was declining due to its inability to articulate a vision and develop the required capacity to implement such vision:“Many, who mourn the decline of the civil service today from its days as ‘primus inter pares’ in the Commonwealth to one which has earned a reputation for inefficiency, low productivity, corruption and insensitivity to the needs of the public, fall into the error of thinking that the problem is a poverty of ideas and capacity on the part of the civil service; whereas, it is the inability to clearly articulate a vision, ensure that the service develops the required capacity to articulate and implement the various components of the vision.
Talking of vision presupposes that there are cherished values. The question that begs for an answer is what are our values? It is our values that translate into vision and ultimately goals; where there are no values there can be no vision. This unfortunately is where we find ourselves today.
We had it coming right from the pre independence period when the tripod of leadership was seating on divergent and irreconcilable values. The Northern People’s Congress (Jammaa Mutani Arewa) and its leadership had a Northern people’s agenda. The Action Group (offshoot of Egbe Omo Oduduwa) in the west was equally focused on its insular values.
The NCNC, which was the most national in outlook however revealed it’s true colour as an Ibo irredentist organ; what with its Ibonization of the civil service, a situation that led to the pejorative sobriquet ‘ikeji ‘ani’. Said Zik, in an address to the Ibo State Union in Aba as early as 1949: “It would appear that God has specially created the Ibo people to free the people of Africa from the bondage of ages . . . the Ibo cannot shirk the responsibility conferred on it by its manifest destiny. That was Zik who would later be known as Zik of Africa and a foremost nationalist. Indeed!
The absence of commonality of values would eventually lead to the schism among the leadership and the creation of a fertile soil for widespread corruption that would see the civil service turned into ‘The Evil Service’.
In the Bible, particularly in the parable of the “Faithful and Evil Servant,” the evil servant represents someone who is entrusted with a responsibility but chooses to be unfaithful, neglecting their duties and mistreating others. This figure serves as a cautionary tale against unfaithfulness and the consequences of failing to fulfill one’s obligations.
• Matthew 24:48-51:
This passage depicts an evil servant who, in his master’s absence, mistreats fellow servants and indulges in worldly pleasures.
• Parable of the Talents:
This parable also highlights the importance of using entrusted resources wisely and faithfully.
• The consequences of unfaithfulness: Neglecting our duties and mistreating others will lead to judgment.
“Flowing from these is the imperative that our society must be governed by the rule of law, administered by a trustworthy, fearless, impartial and efficient judiciary”.
In our public service, certain species of corruption have gone mainstream and have become normalized. Nowhere is the evolution of smaller evils into bigger evils more evident than in Nigeria.
The Nigerian public service is irretrievably dysfunctional with the cardinal characteristic as a silo of corruption. The civil servants and the amoral middle class are the foremost destroyers of Nigeria. During the military era, everyone puts the blame of Nigeria’s dysfunction on the military. Under various democratic regimes, we blame the politicians for all ills but there is a constant enabling entity common under the various systems of government we have experimented with – the civil service.
“There are civil servants today who are richer than their ministries. Apart from kickbacks, envelope budgeting allows them to budget for the same things, whether these are needed or not. Unspent funds are shared at the end of the year, instead of returned to the treasury. Despite a ballooning population and dwindling revenues, many agencies exist whose functions have no impact on our daily lives.
“What is the impact of the millions of dollars budgeted for the National Space Research and Development Agency, the Defense Space Administration, and Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited?
“The Biotechnology Development Agency operates twenty-six centers cross country. Have you ever heard of these government bodies? What do they do? What are the benefits of these agencies to Nigerians? What are the economic returns on their significant budgets? . . . We do not have nuclear reactors, yet we have an Atomic Energy Commission and Nuclear Regulatory Authority. One can only say these establishments are conduits for bureaucratic corruption.”- Bámidélé Adémólá-Olátéjú
There are some universal attributes such as self-reliance, trustworthiness, communication skills, compassion, positivity, inspiring, awareness and far sightedness which can be helpful in order to become a successful Leader.
Allah SWT has considered in the Quran:“There has undoubtedly been for you in the Messenger of Allah an exceptional arrangement for any person whose faith is in Allah and the Last Day and [who] evokes Allah frequently.”(Quran 33:21)
If we summarize the qualities of leadership as observed in the life of the Holy Prophet (SAW) and his companions, these are values that if shared among our leaders our lives could be transformed and made better than what we have now.
No doubt a clean and reformed civil service will make it very difficult for any politician to steal public funds or convert our joint patrimony for private use.
The former Vice President Prof Yemi Osinbajo said; a situation where privileged civil servants subvert the system for personal gains at the expense of the poor is the greatest tragedy that a nation could experience.
Recently, EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, made the revelation in an interview that most houses in Asokoro and Maitama, Abuja, are owned by civil servants, suggesting widespread corruption.
A commentator said that: This is no news because, “for years some of us have been describing them as ‘evil servants’. They are at the heart of the corruption enterprise of Nigeria. Simply looking at all wealthy Nigerians, 99% are ex-government officials, retired or otherwise. They typically have no known businesses, no IP attached to their names or not known to have inherited their wealth.”
It is these ‘evil servants’ that have rendered the Nigerian government very useless to the extent citizens do not enjoy any government services in the country called NIgeria. Beaming searchlights on the corrupt ‘evil servants’ will not suffice, life should be made unbearable for them in the country by actively going after them, confiscating the properties identified everywhere including their states of origin. They are the termites that have been eating up Nigeria from the inside and need to be treated as such…
“Ihdinas-Siraat-Al-Mustaqeem” “Guide us upon the straight path”
Barka Juma’at and a happy weekend
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