REFORMING THE NIGERIAN PUBLIC SECTOR: THE EFFICIENCY SERVICE DEBATE

The civil service the world over is an instrument of the executive arm for the implementation of the policies and programmes of government. It is established with the mandate of initiating policies in collaboration with the political class and implementing same through the different ministries, departments and agencies of government. This makes the service to occupy a strategic position in the drive towards the economic and social development of any nation. However, the dysfunctional nature of these institutions in Nigeria has adversely affected service delivery to the citizenry. The objective of this paper was to investigate the impact of reforms on service delivery in Nigeria's public sector. The study adopted the descriptive method whereby the authors described the current situation in the Nigerian civil service to show how it has hampered service delivery. Data for the study was sourced through the secondary means using textbooks, journal articles and conference papers. The findings of the study revealed that the present civil service in Nigeria is not service oriented as a result of the negative attitude of the workers occasioned by institutional failure. The paper concluded that for the civil service to be functional once again, there is need for reforms that will be both institutional and behavioural in nature. It recommended amongst others the improvement of the incentive system that will motivate the workers to do their best in rendering services in the different government institutions.