CAPACITY BUILDING AND PROFESSIONALISM IN THE NIGERIAN CIVIL SERVICE: AN EMPERICAL ANALYSIS By

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1 CAPACITY BUILDING AND PROFESSIONALISM IN THE NIGERIAN CIVIL SERVICE: AN EMPERICAL ANALYSIS By Mahmoud Umar Ph.D Department of Public Administration, Gombe State University, P M B 127, Gombe State, Nigeria. And Kasim Umar Ph.D Department of Public Administration, University of Abuja Abstract Capacity Building in the Nigerian Civil Service today is mainly for effective and efficient service delivery by the civil servants which in turn enhances professionalism. Capacity to train and promote skilful civil service is to enable civil servants to implement policies of government efficiently. Training and promotion is an essential ingredient of capacity building that has an impact on efficiency and productivity in civil service. Professionalism helps to build skilled workforce. Ministries, agencies and parastatals, must build high-level of professionalism to actually transform the addenda of government policy to reality. The paper examines capacity building as a factor in achieving professionalism in civil service in Nigeria. The paper adopted primary data and content analysis for its judgment and interpretation. The findings reveal that various reforms were not directed towards training program or ability to train for human resource utilization, training program is only geared towards financial benefit and not skill acquisition. The study recommends among others that to enhance capacity building, government needs to create an enabling environment that is conducive for training civil servants to observe high standards of good conduct and professionalism. Key words: Capacity Building, Professionalism, Civil Service, Ethics, Specialization Introduction During the last two decades, the world has experienced a major transformation in thinking on the role of government in provision of services and socio-economic development. This change in thinking has come about as a result of the inability of two major philosophies of production capitalism and socialism to redistribute resources for the improvement in the living condition of the masses. Developing countries have followed, by and large, a mix of these philosophies but the result has not been encouraging in most of the cases. Economic distortions and inefficiencies have been the common outcome. In addition, human development indicators and the quality of life in these countries have fallen far below the minimum acceptable standard. Inequitable distribution of resources is attributed to the absence of a participative and democratic political structure on the one hand, and mismanagement of resources and the absence of a facilitative administrative structure on the other. The latter attribute is now commonly termed as poor 174

2 'governance" of resources. The effectiveness of any organization is established when the right goals are selected and achieved. For achieving defined goals, it is essential that organizations design an organizational structure that facilitates achievement of goals. Capacity building and professionalism are vital instruments for achieving and strengthening civil service. The maladministration and functioning of civil service in Nigeria has been associated with inadequate capacity building in strengthening professionalism in civil service in Nigeria. However, an effective capacity building is a major factor in creating an effective and efficient service delivery by the civil servants. In the past, various governments in Nigeria made efforts as much as possible to address these ills in Nigeria civil service, thereby embarking on various reform programmes in public service such as: rightsizing the service, restructuring of ministries and parastatals, etc. A skilled workforce is a critical element in civil service's ability to successfully perform its responsibility. The skills of civil servants must be sufficient enough to meet the development of staff to perform the work assigned judiciously, effectively and efficiently. Capacity building can be taken as best practices to promote and strengthen professionalism in the civil service. The Nigerian state needs to draw from the experiences of other countries. For example, American and Western European experiences indicate that adhering to merit principles lead to success to establish legitimate and respected civil service. It is on the basis of the above that this study examines capacity building in the Nigerian Civil Service with a view to identifying the challenges towards attaining professionalism in the Nigerian civil service. Objectives of the Study 1. To establish the relationship between capacity building and professionalism in Civil Service 2. To assess the impact of capacity building in achieving quality service delivery in the civil service. 3. To examine the various challenges to professionalism in the Nigerian civil service. Hypothesis Ho There is no inherent relationship between capacity building and professionalism in the Nigerian civil service. Methodology Descriptive data analysis is employed in analyzing the data collected. The study adopted both primary and secondary data to gather information. A questionnaire was designed to elicit information from federal ministries/parastatals selected for the purpose of informed judgment. For consistency and comprehensiveness, the study has combined both qualitative and quantitative data analysis using simple statistical process of tabular presentation and calculation of simple percentages, while chi-square method was used in the test of the research hypothesis. Capacity Building and Professionalism Literature on governance invariably discusses capacity building. Capacity building has a broader scope than institution building, because in addition to concern for human resources and organization, it covers the overall environment within which organizations operate and interact. It includes, for example, working of the labour market, which determines how efficiently the human resources are allocated among alternative uses; concern for the ability 175

3 of public sector institutions to finance recurrent budgets and to provide adequate levels of salary to hire and retain qualified and trained staff. Apparently, the capacity building approach is specific; however it needs to consider the overall environment in which the organisation is operating and the need to make rules, regulation and procedures coherent with the achievement of goals. Capacity development is an ongoing process, requiring the unleashing of a continuous supply of the appropriate legal, institutional, human and material resources and a conducive operational environment. The ingredients of capacity and capacity building come from a wide range of sources in society, including the private sector, civil society organizations, schools, universities, think tanks and research institutes. These resources need to be mobilized and efficiently managed to build institutional capacities. In essence capacity building is about people who have to be trained, adequately equipped, sufficiently remunerated and appropriately disciplined in the efficient use and management of resources. Capacity can be defined as capability to perform the specific assigned task effectively and efficiently on a continuous basis (Cohen, 1995). 'Capacity' is like a container having some volume. The container can be filled to the extent of its volume. However, human capacity to perform, assigned specific tasks efficiently and effectively is not fixed. It can be enhanced and improved through training, interaction and exposure to new methods, skills and opportunity to use acquired skills. Cohen (1995), argues that capacity building based on the definition established at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) which encompasses human, scientific, technological, organizational and institutional resources and capabilities. UNCED recognized that a fundamental goal of capacity building is to enhance the abilities of stakeholders to evaluate and address crucial questions related to policy choices and different options for development (Cohen, 1995). Specifically, capacity building encompasses the country's human, scientific, technological, organizational, institutional and resource capabilities. A fundamental goal of capacity building is to enhance the ability to evaluate and address the crucial questions related to policy choices and modes of implementation among development options, based on an understanding of environment potentials and limits and of needs perceived by the people of the country concerned. Capacity Building - Agenda 21's definition (Chapter 37, UNCED, 1992). According to Barnes (2003), capacity building refers to capacity development. It is a conceptual approach to development that focuses on understanding the objectives that inhibit people, government, organizations and non-governmental organizations from realizing their developmental goals while enhancing the abilities that will allow them to achieve measurable and sustainable results. Angels (2006), argued that capacity building uses human, scientific and institutions to continually develop ministries, parastatals, agencies and local authorities. In this view, the goal of capacity building is to tackle problems associated to policy and methods of development considering the potential limits and needs of the country concerned. The Wikipedia Encyclopedia (2011) states that human capacity building refers to strengthening the skills, knowledge, competencies, and abilities in individual to survive, adapt and thrive in the fast changing world. Etuk (2004), views human capacity building as the process of educating and training people for productive employment role. Ushie (2004) describes it as a process which deals with the development of human competence, skills and importance to any nation. In support of this fact, Alozie (2004) reiterates that a country which is unable to develop the skills and knowledge of her people and use them effectively in the national economy will be unable to develop anything else. Capacity building creates a performing culture through integrated performance management system that leads to 176

4 professionalism in civil service, enhances effective performance management system, addresses both developmental and motivational objectives in the ministries and parastatals. The intents of capacity building and professionalism in civil service are instrumental to build good governance, democracy and improved economy at large. Hayes (2010), identified eight practices which can in the long run contribute to the goals of capacity building in any public service. These are: i. Recruitment practices that provide a large pool of qualified applicants; ii. Selection practices that identified those individuals who possess the required competencies; iii. Induction practices that affect the way people are socialized into the organization; iv. Training practices that develop knowledge and skills required by organizational members; v. Other development activities that develop the knowledge, skills and job behaviour required for effective performance; vi. Retention practices that encourage valued employees to stay with the organization; vii. viii. Attendance practices that promote dedication to work; and Information-sharing practices that provide employees with knowledge of immediate job-related issues and wider business matters they require in order to perform effectively (Hayes, 2010: ). According to Ssonko (2008:7), professionalism manifests itself in public service employees behaviour at work and in his/her constant effort to improve, reinforce and update his/her knowledge, refines the skills that is necessary for carrying out his/her tasks and enhancing civil service output and productivity. Simataa (2004:2) examines that professionalism resides in how skilfully and how well a civil servant performs his/her functions and duties. Hammer (1996), maintains that a professional must be a problem solver. Professionals are visionary; they are directed towards stretched goals. Cohen, (1995) developed a framework for analyzing capacity building issues. His framework consists of five dimensions: i. targeted personnel capacity (i.e., personnel who carry out critical or high priority government functions such as public sector managers, professionals and technicians) ii. capacity building stages (beginning with anticipating, planning and advocating manpower needs; and utilising effectively the institution's emerging cadre of skilled personnel; training and upgrading skills through in-service programmes, and ending with promoting an attractive public service through leadership, strategies and rules); iii. iv. training capacity; external institutional, manpower, and support system (e.g. obtaining support from institutions, in charge of training, managing, and retention of manpower, institutions that play a role in supporting capacity building efforts; information, communications and institutional coordination systems, support by political leaders, decision-makers and stakeholders and budgetary and financial resources); and v. public sector task environment factors that affect institutional efforts to recruit, effectively use, and retain skilled personnel. According to Elia (2000), civil service professionalism includes some values that may be specific to individual country that is part of its culture bound. Building on this assertion, Turkai (2008:57), argues that it is not possible to seek to promote professionalism in civil service without taking into consideration the socio-cultural values of Africans. He further 177

5 argued that civil service professionalism are universal, which required global knowledge and skills that conforms with their universal nature. Focusing on capacity building, Cohen, Boeninger and others have not mentioned goal setting or developing mission statement in public sector organization, which is the starting point for building capacity. It is generally observed that public sector organisation do not generally have a written mission statement from which goals and objectives can be derived. For example, public sector training institutions do not have an organisational mission statement; however, they have goals, which are stated as objectives. Applying HR functions and practices to the development of excellence and competence in the public service further requires, according to Kleiman, (2009), a productive synergy between the HR professional and the line manager. He notes that the HR professionals are typically responsible for the establishment of HR policies and procedures, the development of HR methods, monitoring and evaluation of HR practices, and advising managers on HR and HR-related matters. On the other hand, the line managers are saddled with the function of directing the employees' daily tasks. In other words, they provide the HR professionals with the necessary inputs for developing effective practices while they concentrate on implementing these practices. They therefore see to: the interview of applicants; provision of orientation and training; provision and communication of job performance ratings; recommendation of salary increases; implementation of disciplinary procedures; investigations of accidents; and so on (Kleiman, 2006: 358). Thus, Ulrich and Smallwood argue that HR departments, practices, and professionals matter... There is evidence of the value of HR all around us. We know that investment in HR practices will increase employee commitment, and increased employee commitment is a lead indicator of customer commitment, which is a lead indicator of profitability. We know that firms that invest in some HR practices are more likely to have financial returns than firms that do not invest in these HR practices. We know that HR practices shape an organisation's culture, identity, reputation, and brand. We also know that investments in HR deliver more than they cost through break-even analyses (2005: 224). The above assessment therefore creates an obvious but fundamental link between human resource management and the idea and ideals of professionalism forged by the modernizing imperative of the public service. No Civil service can hope to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century globalised world without a strong commitment to HRM and an even stronger commitment to the professionalization of its HR functions. Inventing a high performing Civil service, therefore, involves a constant relationship between the processes of recruiting, professionalization. In this context, professionalism involves the pursuit of both excellence and competence that achieves a practical link between 'knowledge and theory, on the one hand, and public purpose, on the other' (Mosher, 1976: cited in Olaopa, 2009p: 57). Hayes, (2010.p358) sees professional as someone who possesses core knowledge of, and deep familiarity with, the specific expertise that enables him or her to move with ease among the concepts of his or her profession. This implies that the idea of professionalism improving employee knowledge and skill does not only concern the issue of 'advancing those bodies of knowledge and the technique of their application as a corporate concern.' More importantly, it involves a continual process 178