Long time ago as a youth corp member in Benue State, North Central Nigeria, I came in contact with the workings of government.
I was posted to Markudi Local Government Area Council for my primary assignmen. We corp members observed that Local Government workers come to work only on ‘Pay day’.
After receiving their pay at month end, off they went till the next month .
All through the month only the Chairman and the LGA Secretary’s offices are functional. And the circle continues month after month .
This brings to mind the essence of Local Government autonomy as already canvassed and approved by the pressent administration in Nigeria.
Analyists therefore, suggest that this autonomy when fully implemented should be assisted with Special Marshals who will monitor the activities at the local government area councils to ensure that the deliverables at the grassroits are delivered.
The idle and non functional system at the local government is also replicated at the State Government level.
Once upon a time, we had a trip to Kaduna state, north west Nigeria. On getting to a particular Ministry, there we saw a woman busy peeling egusi, known as melon right there in the office. .
In order words, she brought her domestic chores to the office as a result of lack of work to do.
It beats one’s imagination that someone could bring melon to work to peel. She obviously did not have an official work schedule.
So rather than sit idle, she decided to peel egusi she brought from home.
Poor woman, we don’t blame her, afterall, she must use her time to do something tangible for herself at least.
Be that as it may and surely a major scenario across the country, there are however some exceptions.
Without holding brief for any state or any form of prejudice, Lagos State in south west Nigeria is an example of where civil service has been reformed and vibrant and perhaps one or two more states across Nigeria. These are the exceptions. This is not to say that there are no pockets of idleness too though.
I have been through the Alausa secretariat Lagos, so my opinion is an objective one. Gladly and happily, some state Governments had since copied the system for the good of their people.
The focus of this write up is on the Federal Government where reports show that the idle trends are obvious and deeply embedded .
In summary, one can say idleness has become a major trait in all the three tiers of government. Sad! One would say.
At the Federal civil service, findings revealed that only the Ministers and the Permanent Secretaries’ offices as well as some other few key departments have work to do. A large portion of the civil servants do not.
The time to reform the civil service therefore is now. Many young people go to work with the agony of not having much to do at work.
The systemic problem is citizens- driven.
The people themselves resist reforms.
Reforms that could bring about positive change
A section of the civil service prefer the old order of bureaucracy and redtepism.
Perhaps they are benefiting from it .
Just as the young population of civil servants are agonising the lack of work to do, a number of government agencies also fall under this category while a few of the agencies are vibrant though.
Like Professor Wole Soyinka mentioned in ‘The trials of Brother Jero’, …” there are eggs and there are eggs”.
Same goes with government agencies too. And this also reminds us of the Orosanye report which recommended scrapping of agencies which are outrightly not relevant or merger of Government agencies which are overlapping in functions.
If the issue of idle civil service in Nigeria is as we say it, being the giant of Africa what then do one expect in other African countries?
Therefore as a student of social science, I can confidently say that this idle norm is “African” in any hypothesis..
For instance, the labour force in developed countries work per hour Imagine, If the African Labour force are to begin to work per hour. No African will be poor. But sadly the story is not so. Only in African man hour is wasted day in day out.
Average civil servant resumes work by 9am and as soon as it is 4pm, the staff bus is filled up and off they go back home. And the circle continues the next day.
For how long shall the African race continue to wallow in “white colour job mentality”?
Societal influence is also a major factor that needs to ne addressed.
People tend to give respect to the man who goes on 9- 5 job doing nothing at work than give respect to the Enterpreneur who went to work and has been busy with his or her production or a business Man or Woman who has made huge sales within few hours of opening for the day.
To retain such a ‘respect’ in quote, many prefer to continue to wallow in idleness in white colour job and its attendant consequences.
It’s time for the African reorientation, a change in perception and perspective is highly needed at this point.
Adequate regard and respect should be given to the Entrepreneurs and the Farmers.
To curb this menace of systems decay in the civil service, I guess, perhaps that is why the Nigerian Government is focusing on the idea of Entrepreneurship and Mechanized farming with special focus on the women and youth.
Emphasis in Nigeria is now being placed on Nano, Mini, Micro and Medium Enterprises.
It is only hoped that this works out and the desired result is achieved.
Rashidat Yusuf Writes from Abuja. Yusufrashidat12@gmail.com
