Enhancing public sector performance in developmental state in Nigeria : between rhetoric and reality

Government bureaucrats and ethical conduct in Nigeria’s fourth republic: Implications for good governance

“…As aptly posited by Turangan et al (2016), ethical code of conduct in the public service is necessitated by the fact that good governance and sound public administration is the pathway to sustainable development. Incidentally, performance and achievements have become difficult to realize by the Nigerian Civil Service, culminating into poor delivery of public service (Ehiane et al 2019). Unethical practice in the Nigerian Civil Service is largely the cause of low productivity of the sector and its inability in actualizing the goals and objectives of raising the living standards of the citizenry (Okafor 2018, Pribadi 2018, Afolabi et al 2021.…”

“…The public service is key to the success of a government to the extent that the disposition of the public servants to the implementation of public policies has a substantial implication for the success or failure of such government (Riany 2021). No matter how well-designed government programs and policies are, they cannot be properly implemented without a well-functioning public administration that has the technical skills, loyalty, and commitment to good governance to make them work (Ehiane et al 2019). It is in this view that governments, particularly in the developing world, are becoming more concerned about making the civil service proficient in the best way, so as to achieve the increasing responsibilities of government in the modern state.…”

“…Ethics in the civil service has, in modern times, has become of great public interest due to the recognition that standards of professional conduct are imperative for the public sector to fulfill its responsibility of promoting the socioeconomic development of a country (Ehiane et al 2019). As observed by Uche et al (2019), human conduct can be classified as either mandatory, banned, or allowed according to the ethical principles that underlie them.…”

“…As observed by Uche et al (2019), human conduct can be classified as either mandatory, banned, or allowed according to the ethical principles that underlie them. According to Ehiane et al (2019), in relation to character and behavior, ethics refers to reasoned research into the criteria of what is right and wrong, good and evil, that should be accepted by a group of people. As a result, ethics is concerned with the distinction between right and evil; good and bad; duty and obligation; and moral and legal obligations.…”

“…Government bureaucracy is guided by an interplay of extant rules and regulations often referred to as ethical code of conduct in the interest of the generality of the public (Olanrewaju et al 2020, Bello & Matthew 2021. According to Ehiane et al (2019), public sector broad principles govern how public officials are expected to conduct themselves and exercise discretion in their official activities. Ara and Islam (2019) also define public service ethics as broad standards that outline how public workers should exercise judgment and discretion in the performance of their official tasks.…”