Nigeria’s public service and new public management reform / Ahmad Sanusi and Abubakar Abdullahi

Sanusi, Ahmad and Abdullahi, Abubakar (2011) Nigeria’s public service and new public management reform / Ahmad Sanusi and Abubakar Abdullahi. Journal of Administrative Science, 8 (1). pp. 75-86. ISSN 1675-1302

Abstract

The seeming failure of public service in Nigeria is demonstrated by a series of reforms introduced by successive governments to redefine and reinvigorate it. While some of these reforms are internal, some were externally induced. The climax of such reform initiatives in
contemporary democratic Nigeria was the introduction of New Public Management commonly known as NPM. New Public Management reforms offer many alternatives towards efficient service delivery. However, because of its market-cum-democratic characteristics, it seems very difficult to operate in an unstable democratic system. Premised on the apparent desire to achieve efficient service delivery, Nigeria implemented New Public Management reform as a catalyst to redefining and retransforming
its public service. This paper investigates the implementation of NPM in Nigeria and argues that minimal if any results are likely to be achieved. This is largely because of the inherent contradictions between the main requirement of NPM and the structure and the context of Nigeria’s public service and its political system. Putting it
in another way, the features of NPM are at variance with the main structure and the character of Nigeria’s political environment. From the period of active colonialism up to today, the government has set up different public service review commissions to restructure, invigorate and reorganize the battered public service but her dream
is yet to become a reality.

Metadata

Item Type: Article
Creators:
Creators
Email / ID Num.
Sanusi, Ahmad
sanusicomputer@yahoo.com
Abdullahi, Abubakar
abuabdu484@yahoo.co.uk
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform
H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform > By region or country
Divisions: Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam > Faculty of Administrative Science and Policy Studies
Journal or Publication Title: Journal of Administrative Science
UiTM Journal Collections: UiTM Journal > Journal of Administrative Science (JAS)
ISSN: 1675-1302
Volume: 8
Number: 1
Page Range: pp. 75-86
Keywords: New Public Management; public service; public sector reform; service delivery; Nigeria
Date: June 2011
URI: https://ir.uitm.edu.my/id/eprint/43686
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