CIVIL SERVICE AND POLICY IMPLEMENTATION IN NIGERIA A STUDY OF THE ROLE OF SERVICOM

ABSTRACT 

The problem of inefficiency has been a growing problem within the Nigerian Civil Service. This inefficiency manifests itself in almost if not all the area of government administrative work and has been perpetuated by the lack of will of the government to sanitize the Civil service. 

This study evaluated the efficiency of the Nigerian Civil Service in reference to one of its primary functions of policy implementation and also the extent to which SERVICOM, an agency created to fight inefficiency in the Civil Service and ensure effective service delivery during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, has been able to fulfil its objectives. 

The study revealed that there is high level of inefficiency within the Nigerian Civil Service due to problems of motivation, corruption and so on. It was also discovered that the introduction of the SERVICOM initiative has had positive effects on the civil service and the quality of service delivery within the agencies of government, however, it was also revealed that the SERVICOM initiative itself has its own shortcomings and could use some needed modification and reforms. 

Based on the findings of this research work, recommendations were made in areas of ensuring efficiency within the Nigerian civil service. Problems of lack of motivation should be looked into to ensure Civil Servants are well motivated to do their jobs, other factors causing slow policy implementation and ineffective service delivery should also be checkmated and finally, SERVICOM itself should be empowered to be able to function more intensely and autonomously so as to curb inefficiency and engender effective service delivery within all Civil Service Agencies in Nigeria.