Civil Service Culture and the Nigerian Spirit of Enterprise
Photo by Kelly Sikkema, Unsplash
With a multiplicity of ethnic groups and autonomous peoples, Africa is called the land of kings and queens. Our ancestry is royalty, and we are proud people who know who we are. Of all the nations in Africa, perhaps Nigeria has the most ethnic groups: 371 ethnicities means probably one in every million people is a monarch or descended from one. This might explain why the average Nigerian wants VIP treatment, does not like to wait on queues, and believes they deserve preferential consideration.
Something else that stands out about Nigerians is that we are enterprising people. We work hard, and we want our labour to be acknowledged and rewarded. Not for us the reward that is stored up in heaven or in the by and by. Instant gratification is our preference.
When we put together these qualities, we realize that we are a unique people requiring a unique way of life. Not for us the conveyor-belt existence of industrialized societies with mass produced norms and expectations. We thrive on differentiation.. Everyone wants to be unique.
The foregoing might explain Nigeria’s struggle with the civil service infrastructure. Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention. In a nation where people want to be treated differently, not have to wait on queues and demand VIP treatment, the civil service infrastructure is incongruously at odds. The civil servant in Nigeria is an entrepreneur at heart. With the level of pressing service demand for VIP treatment consistently knocking at the door, the entrepreneur is going to repeatedly rise to meet that demand. When we label it corruption and put up infrastructure to stamp it out, we simply drive it underground, much like the prohibition of alcohol in the USA between 1920 and 1933. Rather than succeed in stamping out the production, sale and consumption of spirits, the market went underground and thrived.
In spite of decades of failed civil service reforms and overhaul to stamp out corruption, the pay-for-deferential- treatment model persists. The harder we try, the more endemic it becomes in it’s underground forms at customs, Immigration, in the educational, and legal professions etc. It’s like working against nature.
A few years ago, I resolved to stop being a critic of the system, but to become a catalyst for solutions. So, here’s a thought for our consideration: how about we amend the civil service to make way for free enterprise? Hear me out.
Once we acknowledge and provide for the Nigerian’s penchant for VIP treatment, as well as our indefatigable spirit of enterprise in every sphere of life, we can officially tax those we want preferential service/treatment with a fee that supplements the cost of providing the same public service to those who cannot afford to pay a higher fee. We will correspondingly create a free enterprise model that offers civil servants a performance fee for outstanding service (number of clients seen, client rating of performance, speed of delivery, etc).
Let’s explore a form of reform that acknowledges our preferences and our strengths. We need a socio-economic model that challenges us and brings out the best in us, instead of working against the grain.
I don talk my own.
