Civil Service and the Challenge of Productivity in Nigeria

A key challenge facing the country in general is how to ensure the socio-economic and political development of the citizenry. Development, in all its facets, has remained a mirage in spite of the favourable human and material resources endowment of the country. This paper focuses on the role of the civil service against the growing expectations of the public. It looks at the 'political' context within, which the civil service operates and argues that positive cooperation or ‘organic solidarity’, to quote Durkheim, is necessary if the general and specific development objectives of Nigeria are to be achieved. A number of interrelated issues are addressed. What is the nature and impact of the civil service vis-à -vis the drive toward development? What kind of cooperation must be forged between political office holders and career civil servants, on the one hand, and between them and the public, whose increasing expectations stare us at the face, on the other? What are the obstacles in the chosen task of harmonious working relationships between the two and what strategies could be developed to enhance such relations? What is emphasized here is the positive partnership of administrations and politicians in the quest for development.