…points out corruption and nepotism as main obstacles
A university lecturer, Professor Ronald Olufemi Badru, highlighted that Nigeria cannot achieve effective and efficient governance without a strong ethical foundation in public service, calling for comprehensive reforms at all levels of government.
Badru, who teaches at the Department of Politics and International Relations, Lead City University, Ibadan, made the call at the weekend while delivering a lecture at the Chartered Institute of Public Administration of Nigeria (CIPAN), Oyo State Assembly and Chapter Conference, held at the House of Chiefs Secretariat, Ibadan. The conference had as its theme “Ethical public administration and maximum service delivery in the 21st century.”
He described public administration as the art and science of coordinating the human, material and financial resources of the State to ensure the smooth functioning of a modern government system.
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According to him, public administration remains fundamental to governance because public administrators are involved in virtually all aspects of public life, including national defense and security, social welfare, environmental protection, education, infrastructure development and income generation.
“Within any modern political system, public administrators are relevant at all levels of government, managing resources and policies intended to serve the interests of citizens,” he said.
The professor noted that despite its strategic importance, public administration in Nigeria has continued to face serious challenges that have hampered national development.
He explained that his lecture examined the nature of public administration, its ethical and regulatory foundations and the main obstacles it faces in Nigeria, with the aim of proposing ethical solutions capable of ensuring maximum service delivery.
Badru explained that public administration could be understood in three main ways: as a course of study designed to equip future public servants with administrative knowledge and skills; as a system of meta-institutions comprising the executive, legislative and judicial, which provide the legal framework for governance; and as the official activities of public officials aimed at guaranteeing the effective functioning of the State.
He added that public administration could also be seen in a restrictive sense, limited to the civil service, or in a broader, non-restrictive sense that includes both elected political office holders and career public servants, a conception he described as public governance.
On the question of ethics, Badru said that ethics functions as both a philosophical discipline and a normative framework that guides human conduct.
He explained that ethical public administration “is one that is based on norms, principles, virtues and solid moral values that direct institutional behavior in the interest of the public.”
Badru added that maximum service delivery focused on effectiveness and efficiency in the deployment of public resources to meet the needs of citizens.
The gift identified the normative foundations of public administration to include adherence to constitutional values such as liberty, equality, equity, and due process; the theory of citizenship, which requires public officials to be responsible and responsive to the people; social equity; public virtues such as integrity, moral courage and responsibility; and an unwavering commitment to the public interest.
He also highlighted corruption, nepotism, professional incompetence, unfair distribution of resources, lack of exemplary leadership and poor remuneration of public officials as major challenges undermining ethical public administration in Nigeria.
Professor Badru lamented that “what is often experienced are leaders who lack integrity, show insensitivity to the needs of the people and engage in misappropriation of public funds.”
To address these challenges, Badru proposed a two-tier approach involving both individual public officials and public institutions.
At the individual level, he highlighted the options of exit, voice, and loyalty as ethical responses to irregularities within public institutions.
“A public official can choose to exit an unethical system, speak out against moral infelicities, or demonstrate ethical loyalty by refusing to engage in actions that undermine public trust,” he said.
At an institutional level, it called for regular moral monitoring and auditing of integrity systems, greater emphasis on ethical reasoning in administrative decision-making, regular public audits of service provision and broader social moral regeneration.
He warned that anti-corruption agencies would remain ineffective without credible internal moral oversight, noting that “if integrity systems are themselves morally suspect, they cannot successfully monitor others.”
Furthermore, he highlighted the need for public institutions to periodically seek feedback from citizens on their performance, adding that public administrators have a moral duty to strengthen areas of competence and address identified weaknesses in service delivery.
Badru, however, stressed that ethical public administration remains fundamental to Nigeria’s development, stressing that only a renewed commitment to moral values, principles and virtues can restore public confidence in governance and ensure maximum service delivery in the contemporary era.