EFFECT OF INTERNAL REVENUE GENERATION ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN NIGERIA

Democracy and Sustainable Development Goals in Nigeria

CHAPTER ONE/INTRODUCTION

Sustainable national development in the context of this study is intrinsically related to economic development. It is also important at this junture to highlight that economic development in this study also highly relates with economic security, which in the final analysis should be human- centered. It is quite distinct from economic development as represented by growth-figures from the officialdom. Hence, by the problem of economic development may be meant the problem of accounting for the observed pattern, across countries and across time, in levels and rates of growth of per capita income (Lucas, Jr, 1988:3). In this study, per capita income still means a measure of the amount of money that is being earned per person in a certain area (http://www.investopedia.com). However, the twin concepts of poverty and inequality, which in their extreme cases translate to destitution, are more in tune with our methodology. Amaefule (2013:1) quotes the World Bank as announcing that over 100 million Nigerians live in destitution. The World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Marie-Francoise Marie-Nelly, said this at the bank’s Country Programme Portfolio Review in Enugu, Nigeria, on Tuesday, November 12, 2013. According to the World Bank boss, the number of Nigerians living in destitution makes up 8.33 per cent of the total number of people living in destitution all over the world. Marie- Nelly also said that although the World Bank was the largest overseas development agency that provided assistance to Nigeria, the contribution of the organization to the country was very small compared to the budgets of the states and the Federal Government. She said if the World Bank’s small assistance could produce so much result because of effective implementation and monitoring, the revenues accruable to the country could do much more if they were similarly utilized (Amaefule, 2013:1). Incidentally, Nigeria’s politico-economic class is not enamored by such distracting suggestions as effective implementation and monitoring of the revenues accruable to the country. They are more in love with letter writing, as tool of governance. Hence, the national concept of business is weird.

In its Doing Business 2014 Economy Profile, the World Bank (2013), ranked Nigeria at the 147^th position, out of 189 countries. As a matter of fact, Nigeria dropped by -9 points from her 2013 position of 138 out of 185 countries. Thus, both in it’s literal and metaphoric interpretations, doing business in Nigeria has become traumatic and negates the positive assumptions that might have informed all the extant policy plans in the current democratic dispensations, from NEEDS to every other emotive design. Thus, sustainable national development remains realizable only in the emotive imaginations of policy planners, while destitution increases. Indeed, it is not yet clear and acceptable to the politico-economic class in Nigeria that sustainable national development is more of a product of attitude than blue prints. Truly, sustainable national development is a function of the attitudes of a contented citizenry. It is not a function of some imported artefacts that malfunction perpetually, in the midst of poverty and inequality, leading to endless alibi of insufficient megawatts that lead to unending darkness, in place of electricity.

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ETHICS AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE NIGERIAN CIVIL SERVICE (A CASE OF FEDERAL INLAND )

CHAPTER ONE/INTRODUCTION

Background to the Study

A group of people, an association, organization or even a settlement stays together due to norms they accept as a binding guide. Every society forges ahead in its daily activities because it has some laid down rules (the dos and the don’ts) that guide the people. These rules may gradually become the way or pattern of lives of the people in such society. According to Feluni (1997), the rules are yardstick upon which members conduct or behaviors are adjudged as good (ethical) or bad (unethical). Hence, if the works we perform determine our entire survival, then we must have the right attitude to work (Ekhator, 2002). Civil servants, who are successfully practicing ethics, will be able to defend their actions and inactions.

Thompson (1985) defined administrative ethics as involving the application of moral principles to the conduct of official responsibilities and duties. Chapman (1988) on the other hand has defined civil service ethics as the application of moral standards in the course of official work. So it is expected of civil servants to apply and exercise certain ethical considerations when carrying out orders of political bosses and when they are faced with a situation where they have to make value judgment that have implications for their professional standing. Ethics in the public service are therefore the broad norms that stipulate how public servants should behave and exercise judgment and discretion in carrying out their official duties. Central to administrative ethics are attitudes, standards, and systems of values which have been internalized in the civil servant. Its foundation is the belief that what public officials and employees do has a central and inescapable normative component involving values, morality and ethics (York, 1984).

Even the members of the society expect the civil servant to act with unwavering integrity, absolute impartiality and devotion to the public interest and the state (Rohr, 1976). This becomes important because the public service is often seen as an extension of the government and the logic of modern government depends increasingly on the acceptability of those who govern to those they govern, acceptability which is further enhanced if those who are governed have confidence in the moral uprightness of those who govern (Baker, 1971). The failure or the jettison of every ethical standard will inevitably lead to corruption and corrupt practices in the public service as well as the lowering of efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery. Concerning corruption, the distinction must be made from the onset between political and bureaucratic corrupttion. This distinction is more than a mere academic exercise as the failure to delineate between both has led to mystification and the inability to find solution or to systematically address the issue. Hope (1985) has attempted to trace the genesis of bureaucratic corruption by stating that; With the politicization of the bureaucracy in the third world has come bureaucratic corruption. Political corruption has laid down the ground rules for bureaucratic corruption in the third world.

The fact that the prevalence of ethical standards and accountability of civil servants in Nigeria is the veritable means of ensuring the commitment of Nigerian government to the norms of good governance and responsible leadership is very clear.  Ethics and accountabilities are the criteria for good governance which brings about legitimacy and popular support from the people. The economy of any nation cannot develop when its members lack sense of duty and accountability. In creating an administration that will be responsive to the yearnings and aspirations of the people by the government, the role of ethics and accountability cannot be overemphasized. Ethics serves as amoral parameters within which the civil servant operates. It involves defending and recommending concept of right and wrong conduct.

Civil servants as officials employed rather than elected in the civil service capacity to carry out the statutory responsibility of service delivery in government can only be achieved if they are conscious of the rules of conduct established to ensure accountability and effective service delivery (Rasheed, 1995). This simply mean that accountability in the civil service can only be ensured if the regulatory mechanisms like the constitution and public service rules are put in place. Those who are expected to render services must account to the people for their successes and failures; and those who are entrusted with the custody and disbursement of public fund must appropriately account to the people for their use (Okigbo, quoted in Ozor, 2000).

Accountability in the above assertion can be informed if regulatory mechanisms are put in place. In our contemporary society, civil servants pay negligence to ethical conduct thereby engendering unaccountability, bribery and corruption, impartiality and poor service delivery in the civil service. The unresponsiveness of the civil servants to their constitutional assignment has received numerous adverse comments from the right thinking nationals of Nigeria. Ethical deficit and the problem of accountability feature noticeably in the action of the civil servants. Their dominant principle of action is selfish and mercenary interest.

Statement of the Problem

The permeating and pervasive influence of unethical behavior in the civil service like, embezzlements of public funds, bribery and corruption, tribalism, and other fraudulent acts portrayed by the civil servants have culminated in their poor image and service delivery. The aforementioned ethical deficit actions in the civil service have been worsened by weak institutional arrangement for enforcing ethical and accountability standard. They have not been effective in monitoring standards of professional ethics and accountability in the civil service (Thompson, 1985).

As a matter of fact, the poor working conditions and miserable pay of civil servants should not be shelved out. It has contributed to the loss of integrity and deplorable service record of Nigerian civil servants (Adamolekun, 1983).

Lacks of trained and competent workers have also accrued into the existence of unethical behavior in Nigeria civil service (Agarah, 1989). As a result of lack of training which exposes them to rule of conduct, civil servants, therefore pay negligence to ethical conduct in carrying out their duties. The activities of the Nigerian civil servants is believed to be affected by corruption and other forms of unethical behavior like embezzlements of public funds, bribery and other fraudulent acts, this is assumed to result to lack of accountability the Nigerian civil service.

Aims and Objectives

The general objective is to examine ethics and accountability in Nigeria civil service. The specific objectives are to:

1. To examine the awareness of employees ethical conducts on the performance of FIRS.
2. To examine employees adherence towards accountability and ethical conducts as a parameter of FIRS performance.
3. To examine dissemination of skills and knowledge on ethical conducts by the organization.

Research Questions

Based on the above assertion, the question this research sets out to tackle are:

1. To examine the awareness of employees ethical conducts on the performance of FIRS.
2. To examine employees adherence towards accountability and ethical conducts as a parameter of FIRS performance.
3. To examine dissemination of skills and knowledge on ethical conducts by the organization.

1.5       Research Hypotheses 

The following research Hypotheses was stated for the study:

H_O: Ethical behaviors have no effect on the productivity of FIRS workers.

H₁: Ethical behaviors have effect on the productivity of FIRS workers.

Significance of the Study

The significance of the study can be viewed from two perspectives.
The study of administrative ethics and accountability is indispensable for good governance. And the knowledge of ethics informs accountability. This knowledge will help to proffer veritable course of action that can deter the problems of ethics and accountability in Lagos state civil service such like corruption, impartiality, absenteeism and other forms of unethical behavior.

The greater the quality of accountability the greater the quality of good governance and vice versa. The sound knowledge of this study will help law makers in making an outstanding and achievable law for the nation accountability in the state civil service. It will expose different cases of ethical and accountability problems in Federal Inland Revenue Services, Lagos and ways of shelving them out. It will also unveil the factors that caused these problems.

The research will serve as reference material for future researchers in the field of ethic and accountability in the Nigeria civil service. Academically, it contributes to the existing knowledge by explaining why civil servants exhibit unethical and lack of accountability behaviors in the discharge of their functions and their remedial measures.

Scope and Limitation

This study examines ethics and accountability in Nigeria civil service with specific reference to Federal Inland Revenue Services, Lagos. The major factor for opting for Federal Inland Revenue Services, Lagos a unit of study is because the researcher is familiar with the area. Hence, it would be easier, less expensive and more convenient for the researcher to obtain relevant information from the sector to ensure efficient and effective research.

Initiating and concluding a research work successfully is not always a rosy ride to bliss. As a matter of fact a lot of factors acted as a clog in the wheel in the smooth research on ethics and accountability in Federal Inland Revenue Services, Lagos. These factors include:

1. Inadequate Literature:The inadequate materials on the subject matter really threatened the success of this research.
2. Attitude of the Respondents:Attitudes of the respondents in the various departments chosen for this study were discouraging. They were in many occasions very reluctant in supplying relevant information for security reasons as expression of being afraid to expose their vital official secretes.
3. Financial Cost:The researcher cannot overemphasized how problematic the cost implication of this research was. It was really a big task sourcing for funds as money was limited in supply, bearing also in mind that the researcher is a student.
4.    Time:The fact that effective researcher needs ample time dedication is undoubtful. But to the researcher, dedicating such time must be at the expense of other numerous issues competing attention such as her course work, consequently, minute time was hared between the research and other contending issues. The researcher therefore, did not have the whole supposed time for this work as required. Despite all odds, the researcher made frantic efforts to collect sufficient data for the analyses upon which reliable inference was made.

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ASSESSMENT OF THE PERFORMANCE OF CIVIL SERVICE IN EBONYI STATE FROM 2015 – 2020

 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

 

1.1   Background to the Study

With the coming of globalization era, government organizations around the world will face the challenges in the new century of complex governance from both internal and external environments.  The spillover effect of functions, the linking effect of issues and the involving of pluralistic actors have appeared in a number of new public issues and public affairs.  The effects not only increase the complexity of public governance but also cause public organizations, within the pluralistic governance ability to ensure the delivery of quality services. In this regard, the civil service is an institution saddled with the responsibility of designing, formulating and implementing public policy, and discharging government functions and development programmes in an effective and efficient way.  In many African countries especially Nigeria, development efforts and government policies are threatened by the incompetency and ineffectiveness of the civil service.  As a result of this, successive governments in Nigeria (from post-independence era to the contemporary times), have embarked on articulated patterns of reforms aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness in the civil service (Salisu, 2001:1).

Performance management has its roots in the early 1900s with special attention on this practice in the United States of America, and United Kingdom military for evaluating officers (Hartog et al., 2004). Performance management can act as a bridge between corporate strategy and concrete interventions in the process of goal achievement (Boselie, 2010). The gap between justification of pay and the development of skills and knowledge became a huge problem in the use of performance management. This approach of managing performance was developed in the United Kingdom and the United States much earlier than it was developed in Australia.

The New Performance Management approach  was adopted by American’s Vice President Al Gore’s National report, from Red Tape to Results: creating a Government that works better and costs less, explicitly sought “a new customer service contract with the American people, a new guarantee of effective, efficient, and responsive government” (Gore, 1993).

The American Vice-President, Al-Gore, called for the following steps, among others: putting customers first, making service organizations compete with one another, creating market dynamics, using market mechanisms to solve problems, empowering employees to get results, decentralizing decision making power, streamlining the budget process, decentralizing personnel policy, and streamlining procurement.  (Gore, 1995).

Armstrong (2008:4), pointed out that the application of performance management is to improve the organization member’s performance by developing the capability of the team and its members through a strategic and integrated system which can encourage organizations to operate successfully. Since 1980s, government reinventing movements around the world have initiated the ‘new public management’ trend. Therefore, various theories, definitions and methods based on performance management have eventually become significant political tools for improving the performance of public organizations and the quality of public services. Meanwhile, the performance-based government operation has become fundamental to implementing the essence of new public services and strengthening national competitiveness.

In order to realize the goals of social service delivery and development, capable workforce is required. These are products of employee recruitment and retention strategies of the civil service to achieve performance. According to Olowu and Adamolekun (2005), it is becoming more essential to secure and manage competent human resource as the most valuable resource of any organization, because of the need for effective and efficient delivery of goods and services by organizations, whether in public or private sector. Therefore, for an organization to realize its goals, appropriate strategies for employee recruitment and retention are sine-qua-non for enhanced performance.

According to Armstrong and Baron (1998), performance management is both a strategic and an integrated approach to delivering successful results in organizations by improving the performance and developing the capabilities of teams and individuals. The term performance management gained its popularity in early 1980’s when total quality management programmes  received utmost importance for achievement of superior standards and quality performance.

Organizations are established in both private and public sectors for some basic objectives, for which reason such organizations were established.  The basis for assessment of such organization’s success is on the achievement of the objectives. It is of note that the important role of the government is carried out by the Civil Service. Ofuebe (2005:1), quoting Abati (2005), states thus:

As a people, we must insist on the need for the state and its custodians to expand the role of the public sphere. This means making the governance process more transparent and accountable with less empty rhetoric that produces moral turpitude. The crisis of democracy does not point ultimately to the failure of democracy but to the failings of its managers. Every society faces its own crisis, how the crisis is resolved is where the difference lies. To retain legitimacy, the Nigerian government must do business differently.

 

Onah (2001: 8), emphasized the need for workers to be highly motivated in order to perform well. This assertion was made vivid when he was discussing the strategies for mass mobilization. He continued that mass mobilization will be a herculean task in a situation of abject poverty.

As Margret (1976: 55) pointed out, whether or not workers live up to expectations of their employers depends on management success in motivating them adequately at work. Adedeji (2001: 6) opined that Nigerian Civil Servants are the most demoralized in West Africa. He stated that a demoralized worker cannot perform optimally because he is faced with emotional and psychological trauma which affects his performance and unless and until he is induced, the organization he represents will continue to record minimal success.

Onah (2008:4), had observed that the efficiency with which an organization can perform will depend to a large extent, on how its human resources can be managed and utilized. Every manager must, therefore, be able to work effectively with people and also be able to solve the various problems the management of people may entail. He noted that most organizations are becoming more complex in nature and, therefore, leaders in these organizations are expected to have greater technical competence and a better understanding of human behaviour.

Kaduna State Government recognizes that in order to establish best practices in providing service to the citizens; the central focus should be the service provider who attends to the citizens at the service windows.  It was clearly identified that if the public servants are repositioned to deliver best service, the  citizen will not be shortchanged but will be assured of his or her rights with regard to receipt of government services.

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