Good Governance and Civil Service Accountability in Nigeria - Problems and Prospects

Abstract

The civil service is the engine room of modern government. It comprises an assemblage of career officials, recruited in a civil capacity to serve the citizenry. By their training, they are equipped to champion the course of development by faithful implementation and evaluation of government polices and programmes. They are expected to do this in a transparent and accountable manner. Over the past decades, accountability which is a core feature of good governance has been central in public sector management. Accountability is important for effective performance in the public sector because both elected and non-elected officials need to show the public that they are performing their responsibilities in the best possible way and using the resources provided them effectively and efficiently. This paper is aimed at examining good governance and the impediments to public accountability in Nigeria, and recommends remedial actions for effective public accountability and performance in Nigerian public sector management. The article adopts qualitative method in gathering data from various sources. It traced the absence of accountability in public sector management in Nigeria to the incursion of the military into the Nigerian public administration. It shows with relevant examples how the culture of non accountability and poor performance has eaten deep into the fabric of the society. It therefore proposes some measures to address the malaise of public accountability in Nigeria. The article contends that unless good governance is in place with public accountability carefully observed, effective public sector performance cannot be realized.