Motivation and Ethics: Critical Factors for Sustainable Public Service Delivery in Nigeria

Abstract

The primary function of any government is to ensure an equitable distribution of public goods and services to its citizens. Despite the material and human resource in Nigeria, Nigerians have been short-changed by the quality of public service delivery in the country. Against this backdrop, this paper: examined the issues affecting public service delivery and demonstrated how motivation can enhance ethical behaviours among public servants. Corruption Perception Index (CPI) from year 2000 to 2016 was used to argue the position of the paper. The study discovered, among other things that certain Human Resource (HR), political and institutional factors have led to the erosion of moral conduct by public servants. While measures such as reforms and campaigns have been taken to curb political and institutional issues, limited remedial actions have been proffered to tackle that of HR. These have negatively affected public service delivery in Nigeria. Therefore, apart from putting some ethical principles in place, there is need to motivate public servants to get at their best. In addition to this, good behaviour is to be rewarded and bad behaviour is to be punished across all public services in the country, by a truly independent and incorruptible statutory body. By doing this, sanity and equitable service delivery will be achieved.
 
 

Appraisal of Teaching and Supervision Load of Academic Staff in Selected Universities in Nigeria

“…They are considered not different from each other and these challenges are commonly categorized in character as internal and external. Adewusi, Ogunyemi & Aluko (2017) explained the internal difficulties as cultism, unionism, shortage of academic staff, as well as disruption of the academic calendar, while Bawalla (2020) described the external problems as being linked inextricably to politics and proprietorial interference. Some of them are discussed below.…”

“…An issue that has equally menaced the realization of excellent quality education for higher learning in Nigeria is the issue of insufficient funding, and this challenge has been a great disruption to the improvement of education in the country. This financial limitation has made circumstances challenging for many academics and students, as the majority of higher learning institutions in Nigeria are unable to build adequate students' hostels and lecture halls, furnish workshops and laboratories, pay staff salaries, provide research allowances, grants and even medical bills (Adewusi, Ogunyemi & Aluko, 2017).…”

“…Most of these universities delay until notified of accreditation exercise by the National Universities Commission (NUC) before they equip their institutions with the appropriate facilities and improve on staff condition/welfare (Iruonagbe, Imhonopi & Egharevba, 2015). Some departments go as far as "borrowing" lecturers from other departments to make up for the appropriate number of staff that is expected (Adewusi, Ogunyemi & Aluko, 2017).…”

Capability Requirements on Fraud Prevention in the Nigerian Public Sector: The perception of Professional Accountant

“…The bane of public sector organization financial mismanagement in Nigeria since the oil boom years has created a variety of loopholes and a near total absence of skills, ethics, and accountability in the conduct of public affairs which tend to facilitate and sustain corrupt practices in the country (Ademola, Ayoib & Popoola, 2017;Adewusi, 2016). To the extent that fraud has had a severe negative impact on Nigeria economic activities and national image.…”

“…Transparency International's (TI) Corrupt Perception Index (CPI) ranked Nigeria as one of the most corrupt countries. Despite the efforts of the government to get rid of fraudulent practices, the country was ranked 136 th out of 176 th corrupt nations (Adewusi, 2016). It was also reported that Nigeria was ranked 143 th out of 182 nations in the world (Akosile, 2011).…”