Chapter 1

Changing The Structure of Government

Background

Although the structure of government, and how ministries and agencies are organised, have remained largely the same since the return of democratic governance in 1999, there have been changes in nomenclature and even attempts to merge and demerge certain ministries. The unwieldiness of such key central bodies like the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, the Federal Civil Service Commission informed the following policies aimed at making all government ministries, agencies and parastatals efficient and effective.

Past Reform and Achievements

The Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) and the Pension Function were divested from the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, to reduce problems with pension administration for the old defined benefits pension scheme and make BPSR more effective. The President began appointing a Special Adviser on Performance Monitoring and Evaluation. The National Steering Committee on Public Service Reforms, the committee responsible for providing strategic leadership for public service reform, was resuscitated after being moribund since 2009.

Federal Government Agencies, Parastatals and Commissions were restructured and rationalized to reduce the cost of governance and reposition agencies for greater efficiency and effectiveness. The government incorporated communication technology into its workings, and worked at making same available to citizens such that government job applications are now made online, between 1999 and 2012, telephone subscription grew by 16,000% and Internet access by 5% annually. The National Planning Commission was instituted with driving national-level monitoring and evaluation, and it in turn created scorecards for government performance.

Challenges and Next Steps

These reforms have reduced bureaucracy and red tapes to some extent but challenges include their possible attachment to the individuals that drove them, and which makes them subject to new government’s policy reversals. It should be ensured that policies in Nigeria become institutional and not attached to specific individuals; that the ongoing reforms are not reversed but built upon; and that performance management is introduced into all levels of public and civil services.

WANGONeT