Sule Katagum, the Civil Service and future of public administration (II)
Success in achieving this function is mediated by both the political environment within which the FCSC operates as well as the internal organizational dynamics of the FCSC itself. We can all imagine under what excruciating and limiting circumstances someone like Alhaji Sule Katagum had to function as the chairman of the FPSC in the immediate post-independence period, and especially when the military commenced its adventure in Nigerian politics. The military did not operate under any democratic compulsion to ensure efficiency in the gatekeeping of public service ethos and values. The diminution of several structures and institutions under the military also affected the gradual undermining of the organizational integrity of the civil service commission in Nigeria. I will highlight just four of the several problems that had bedeviled the FCSC since its attempt to grow into its constitutional role right from its inauguration till date.
The first has to do with the Commission’s struggle with the federal character principle and the necessity to impose merit on the recruitment exercise into the public service. When the Nigerian leadership voted for the principle of representativeness over that of merit in the implementation of the Nigerianization Policy, the choice could only overwhelm the FPSC and its attempt to gatekeep professionalism. Merit and fairness inevitably suffered, and still do. The second challenge concerns the problem of placing recruits according to their professional capacities. Again, this resulted from the administrative inheritance of Nigeria. As a public service grown on the generalist orientation, the HR function of the FCSC had to struggle to undermine its original framework of human resource dynamics that fails to leverage the professional skills and competences of those recruited as the platform for transforming the performance profile of the public service. To further complicate matter, there is even evidence that the examination that brings in new public service intakes lack the critical competitive edge that could serve as the game changer in performance measurement.
The crucial third challenge arises from the unfortunate disconnect between the civil service commission and the MDAs which constitute critical HR clients. Since the MDAs constitute the real engine house of the public service operational efficiency, they become the first institutional parameter for judging the effectiveness of the FCSC and its gatekeeping capacity. Essentially, and arising from the above challenges, it becomes difficult for the civil service commission to meet the competence and skills requirement of the MDAs. This, the disconnection between the FCSC and the MDAs, derives from the latter’s lack of enthusiasm about the capacity of the FCSC to meet its human resource needs. MDAs therefore stopped declaring critical vacancies that can boost performance and productivity. Again, this challenge is complicated by the inadequate attention that even the FCSC itself paid to staff training and development as well as the professionalization of its engine room.
What this analysis of the challenges confronted by the federal civil service commission lacks is the touch of personal testimony that someone with the stature of Sule Katagum, who was in the very eye of the institutional storm, could have brought to bear on the understanding of the evolution and performance of the FCSC. But more than this, mining the memory and professional vitae of Katagum could have reinforced for us the urgent necessity of administrative gatekeeping especially at this time when bureaucratic corruption has become pandemic and the essence of public service seems to have been buried under many decades of negative administrative practices defined by the culture of instant gratification, nepotism and politicization.
The public service is defined by specific value imperatives, some of the fundamental of which are values of integrity, equality, impartiality, professionalism, probity, transparency, accountability, neutrality, responsiveness, and probity/rectitude. And these are the values that the FCSC was established to protect and sustain. To rise from its structural point of weakness and hence make headway in the institutional struggle which people like Katagum and their glorious era tried to achieve, the FCSC must undertake, within the framework of a service-wide change agenda, a strategic rethinking of its reform logic and rationale. In this wise, it is crucial to establish structural alignment, for instance, with the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation (OHCSF) as a strategic partner in the human resources dynamics that will deliver capable and efficient public managers for the task that is the objective of the OHCSF itself.
A strategic reorientation will not only create strategic partnership but also leads to the emergence of a new talent management system foregrounded within a solid framework of wages and incentives. It should be noted in this regard that it is inevitable that within Nigeria’s heterogeneous polity, that the federal character principle must come into play. But the task which the HR function of the FCSC must address is that of achieving a talent management strategy which refuses to compromise merit and professionalism. A robust talent management system and a solid performance management reform combine to achieve an optimal operational framework that transforms the operational capacity of the MDAs. This is what sums up the professional struggle of Alhaji Sule Katagum. This is the reform that will keep his albeit forgotten efforts alive.
Dr. Olaopa is the Executive Vice Chairman of Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy (ISGPP), Ibadan.