Abstract
The Civil Service as the machinery of Government performs
the unique role of governance and National development as
such government everywhere in the world have come to
terms with the need to train and re-train it’s human
resource for them to be better equipped to maximize
productivity levels and meet the challenges of governance
and management.
This work makes use of the system theory as the
theoretical framework and data gathered from secondary
sources. My chapter one began with the general
introduction where we have the background of study,
statement of problem, objective of study, significance of
study, literature review, significance of the study, theoretical
framework, hypotheses, method of data collection and
analysis, scope and limitation of study, operationalization of
concept. In chapter two, we looked at human resource and
productivity in the Nigerian civil service: a historical
perspective. In chapter three, we looked at how
impediments such as co
1.1 Background of the Study
The problem of human resource development and
productivity in Nigeria civil service has become very severe
such that the civil service is at the point of collapse due to
challenges of civil service delivery, over centralization
amongst others.
To Collins and Chan (2009) in addition to fixing many
such other key problems of development, Nigeria state has
an urgent problem of disposing her workforce to cope with
the demands of the society.
The origin, structure and performance of the civil
service dates back to the 20th century, with the introduction
of the British colonial rule in Nigeria. By 1990, a
decentralized colonial service with headquarters in each of
the protectorate was established. By 1904, the colony of
Lagos state was amalgamated with the protectorate of
Southern Nigeria. This was followed by the amalgamation of
the Northern and Southern protectorate in 1914 bringing
into existence a country called Nigeria.
11
By 1914, there were two civil services in the two
Nigeria’s (Northern and Southern) headed by a Governorgeneral in the person of Lord Lugard and two lieutenant
Governors each for the North and South respectively, while
an administrator was in charge of Lagos. The British
imposed a unified civil service in Nigeria, which was mainly
concerned with the maintenance of law and order and the
mobilization of enough local resources in order to ensure
their administration was self sufficient. According to Ciroma
(1988:5):
The Nigerian civil service began as a force of
occupation designed to facilitate colonial rule
and the exploitation of land and its people for
the benefit of the colonial masters.
The 2nd World War and the attendant world wide
depression left the civil service hopelessly depleted as the
civil service played major role of being an essential tool and
veritable source of men and material of the allied war
efforts.
In 1936, the Walayns committee recommended a new
policy of staffing the public service by indigenes and for the
12
first time the administrative service which was the cream of
colonial services was thrown open to Nigerians.
The Nigerianization scheme went a stage further with
the appointment of the foot commission of 1948, the
commission observed that the training and recruitment of
Nigerians for senior post in the government services was not
only necessary to enable Nigerians to take part in the
management of their own affairs but also required to enable
them keep pace with the constitutional development and
programs in the country.
Richard constitution of 1946 marked a significant
milestone in the history of the civil service in Nigeria, first, it
marked the beginning of the regionalization of the hitherto
unitary civil service as some attempts were made to
regionalize the central department. Regionalization of the
civil service took the form of transforming some of the
central departments operating in the three regions into noncentral departments headed by deputy directors responsible
to the director in Lagos.
The Macpherson constitution of 1951 further extended
the regionalization policy as more Central Departments were
13
regionalized. The 1954 constitution provided for a full
fledged regional civil services as well as the central (federal)
civil service. It brought in the wake many structural
changes which were of great significance in the public
service commission in the regions as well as at the center.
These commissions were granted full powers by the same
constitution to appoint, promote, dismiss and discipline
junior civil servants.
The nationalist agitation for independence brought
about the introduction of the Nigerianization policy. The
essence of this policy was to make Nigerian civil service
entirely staffed, managed and controlled by Nigerians
themselves (Omotosho, 2001). To Okunade(1990: 26):
The civil servants that occupied positions
were unprepared. They lacked the
necessary training initiative and
administrative acumen.
Consequently, the level of productivity in the civil
service waned dangerously. Also, Nicolson (1969) noted that
Nigerians administrative legacy was one of chaos rather
than order and tidiness. There was excessive centralization
and absence of delegation. Above all, civil servants for the
14
first two decades after independence were corrupt,
inefficient and unproductive.
In the face of this alarming decrease in productivity in
the civil service, several steps have been taken by successive
Nigerian government to strategically position and reposition
human resource administration in the country. Such steps
include but are not limited to the setting up of the various
commissions for reforming the civil service including the
Morgan constitution of 1963, Adebo commission of 1971,
Udoji commission of 1974 amongst others.
Following the 1974 Udoji report, the civil service was
reformed comprehensively, strategically readjusted and
strengthened to respond effectively to the demands of
developed. Abubakar (1992: 42) opined that:
Human resource development is the sinquo-non for the attainment of efficiency
and effectiveness which are the two major
goals/objectives of a good civil service.
The implication is that, the government of the Nigeria
civil service before 1994 had been very low. Therefore,
utmost need was for qualified and motivated staff at the
right place and at the right time to achieve the objectives to
15
transfer paper plan into actual achievement of all aspect of
personal management.
Accordingly, the Udoji reform of 1977 saw human
resource development as the main vehicle for enhancing
efficiency in the civil service.
While the 1978 civil service reform favoured
professionalism through human resource training and
development as a way of getting into the top cadre of the
civil service.
To Ayeni (1991: 123):
These reforms saw human resource training
and development for the professionalization
initiative of government.
This according to him is because,
It is through experience and training and
familiarity that an administration can build
any measure of expertise that will set him
apart from his colleagues in or outside
administration.
Furthermore, to him, the 1988 civil service made it
imperative for every incumbent or office holder to possess
requisite knowledge and skill and attitudinal tendencies in
job activity was instructed and recommended in government
16
services. Accordingly it is agreed that in order to enhance
socio-economic development and facilitate efficiency and
effectiveness in government business, the performance
standard of employees must be uplifted to the minimum
level of proficiency.
To this therefore ministries are to establish, operate
and maintain programmes or plans for the training of
employees in or under the ministry.
In the wake of democracy, after decades of military
rule, the Obasanjo regime in 1999 set up a body to reform
the public sector/services especially in the employment of
qualified graduates.
The Bureau of pubic service chaired by Mallam ElRufai was empowered to review the public service to ensure
effectiveness.
The reform led to the retrenchment of about thirty
thousand workers (unqualified, incompetent and dead
wood) and the employment of about one thousand, five
hundred graduates with first class and second class
university degrees. Unlike in the past, it became dynamic
and effective, as civil servants were allowed to perform their
17
traditional duty which is to advice and to implement policies
of government (The Punch, May 2, 2000).
The current administration has not done much to
improve on what Obasanjo did during his time, except the
eighteen thousand naira minimum wage for civil servants
which has not yet been adopted by most states in Nigeria.
Moreover, the civil service is still considered stagnant and
inefficient as the attempts made in the past have had little
effect on the promotion of sustainable human resource
development and productivity in the civil service.
This study therefore attempts to assess the impact of
human resource development on productivity in the civil
service in Nigeria using the Kogi state civil service
commission as a point of appraisal.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
At independence in 1960, so many British officials
were replaced with Nigerians but in spite of this, the
colonial method of doing things was still predominant in the
civil service.
18
In order words, the whites were replaced by Nigerians,
yet the West-Minister-patterned general orders and financial
institutions remained the operational codes in the Nigerian
civil service.
The emergent civil servants were inexperienced
consequent upon the indigenization policy as most of them
occupied positions that their abilities and capabilities in
terms of experience, training and qualification can not cope
with.
Thus, the quest to enhance the efficiency and
effectiveness of the civil service has always occupied the
attention of successive governments. This is because the
civil service is the brain box of the modern governments yet
the civil service in Nigeria has been characterized by poor
performance and inability to translate government policies
and programs to reality. Beginning from the period of
indigenization of the civil service in 1960’s many things
went wrong. For instance, Njoku (1984) believed that the
indigenization exercise was done without regard to the
interest of the services as the beneficiaries of the policy
failed to adhere to the weberian principle that a bureaucrat
19
should neither appropriate his office nor the resources that
go with it. On the contrary, the Nigerian civil servants under
Gowon’s regime, according to Elaigwu (1986) used their
positions to acquire wealth by irregular methods. They
became corrupt and in the view of Balogun (1983), they
could no longer hide under the cloak of anonymity,
impartiality and economic neutrality.
Even in situations where the need for employee
training and development is needed and a lot of time and
money is committed to staff training and development, the
exercise were often inappropriate, haphazard or premised
on a faulty diagnosis of organizational training needs.
In other situations were training happened to occur,
civil servants are deployed without regard to the skill
acquired leading to frustration of personnel so trained and
also general inefficiency in the system.
In Nigerian civil service, the workers are generally
under-trapped, underutilized, poorly motivated and
consequently perform low below their standard to ensure
effective productivity.
20
It is against this background that this work seeks to
provide answers to the following pertinent questions.
1. Is there any link between human resource
development and productivity in the civil service?
2. Is corruption an impediment to human resource
development in the Nigerian civil service?
3. Can merit-based recruitment, selection and regular
staff training engender productivity in the Kogi State
civil service?
1.3 Objectives of the Study
The broad objective of this study is to examine the
basic challenges facing human resource development and
productivity in Kogi State civil service commission from its
establishment to date.
Specifically however, the study aims at the following:-
1. To establish the link between human resource
development and productivity.
2. To ascertain if corruption is an impediment to
human resource development in the Nigerian civil
service.
21
3. To determine if merit-based recruitment, selection
and regular staff training can engender productivity
in the Kogi state civil service.
1.4 Literature Review
Human Resource development can be defined as a
method of equipping the employees particularly the nonmanagerial employees with specific skills that will enable
them to improve on their performance and overall efficiency.
Prof. Sanker observed that Human resource
development is a development oriented planning effort in the
personal area which is basically concerned with the
development of human resources in the organization for
improving the existing capabilities and acquiring new
capabilities for the achievement of the cooperate and
individual goals.
Dr. Nader defines Human Resource Development as an
organized learning experience within a period of time with
an objective of producing the possibility of performing the
change.
Accordingly Human resource development from a
business prospective is not entirely focused on the
22
individual’s growth and development, “development occurs
to enhance the organizations value, not solely for individual
improvement. Individual education and development is a
tool and a means to an end, not the end goal itself”. (Elwood
F. Holton II, James W. Trout Jnr).
They further argued that the broader concept of
national and more strategic attention to the development of
human resources is beginning to emerge as newly
independent countries face strong competition for their
skilled professionals and the accompanying brain-drain they
experience.
At the organizational level, a successful Human
resource development program will prepare the individual to
undertake a higher level of work, organized learning over a
given period of time to provide the possibility of performance
change (Nadler 1984).
In these settings, human resource development is the
framework that focuses on the organizations competencies
of the first stage, training and then developing the employee
through education, to satisfy the organizations long-term
23
needs and the individual’s career goals and employees value
to their present and future employers.
Human resource development can be defined simply as
developing the most important section of any business, its
human resources by “attaining or upgrading the skills and
attitudes of employees at all levels in order to maximize the
effectiveness of the enterprise’ (Kelly, 2001). He concludes
that the people within an organization are its human
resource.
The Human resource development framework views
employees as an asset to the enterprise whose value will be
enhanced by development; its primary focus is on growth
and employee development. It emphasizes developing
individual potential and skills (Elwood, Olton and Troot
1996). Human resource development in this treatment can
be in room group training, tertiary or vocational courses or
mentioning and coaching by senior employees with the aim
for a desired outcome that will develop the individuals
performance. At the level of a national strategy, it can be a
broad intersectional approach to fostering effective
contributions to national productivity.
24
Staff training and development fall within the purview
of personal management in most organization, especially
public organizations. The importance of staff training and
development in any organization is clear, if we recognize the
fact that the structure that sustains it depends on the
individual that operate the structure.
Staff training and development can occur
simultaneously. According to Onah (2003) any organization
that has no plan for the training and development of its staff
is less than dynamic, for learning is a continuous process.
He further acquired that skills become redundant when the
environment changes.
Accordingly, Lisa M. Lynch and Sandra Black
(1995:47) observed that:
There is growing economic evidence that
investment in training and development
are associated with long-run profitability,
and firms that recognize work using
programs such as teams and quantity
circles report greater productivity if those
programs are associated with worker
education.George T Mikovish and John W. Boudreau (1997: 15)
posit that:
25
While the effort to spend on training is
astonishing, even more astonishing is how
little we know about effectively managing
training investment and its productivity.
Training may be defined as an organized and coordinate development of knowledge, skill and attitudes
needed by an individual to master a given situation or
perform a certain task within an organizational setting.
Craig (1967) defines training as the development
process made possible through the device of words and
signs.
However, a definition which seems to meet the
theoretical requirement of this work is that used by Magalee
and Thayer (1961). Their definition is based on the theory
that training is a sub-system within the total system of the
enterprises management. They therefore see training as the
formal procedure which an organization uses to facilitate
employees learning so that their resultant behavior
contributes to the attainment of the organizational as well
as the individual goals and objective.
Staff development on the other hand according to
Akpan (1982) is a process whereby an employee is enabled
26
to grow in job through the acquisition of wide experience
breadth and responsibility, the aim been to enable him to
reach the top or achieve his best in his profession of
employment. Such a position will be attained through
action, observation, study, reflection, experiment and
initiative.
As Cole (2002) puts it, staff development can be seen
as any learning activity which is directed towards further
needs rather than present needs and which is concerned
more with career growth than immediate performance.
They have been different opinions on whether staff
training and development differ at all, some conceive
training as primarily dealing with operative personnel and
development as relating to managers and executives. Others
like Austey (1961:50) Hebison and Mayer (1964) and Novit
(1979:111) sees a considerable overlap between the two
concepts in operational terms. In his book, Novit (1979)
applied the term behavior change to illuminate the essence
of both training and development in an organization. In his
view, the central to the occurrence of behavior change is the
27
learning process aimed at behavior change to the extent
that there is an overlap between them.
But Strayton (1977:2) draws a somewhat suitable
distinction between training and development in this way.
As we progress from the shop floor to the boardroom
(management) the importance in intellectual capacity, the
object of teaching becomes essentially the development of
sound judgment.
Straytons definition implies that training in the sense
of training and learning of skills pertain more to operative
personal while development is associated with those at the
management/executive level.
Akpan (1982) says that staff training and development
can occur simultaneously or complementarily to each other.
To him they should in fact be separately treated in concept.
However, in this work, the two concepts will be used
simultaneously because of their relatedness and their result
in the efficiency and effectiveness of the human resources.
It is on this background that Onah (2003) posits than
an untrained member of an organization is a liability to a
dynamic organization as he not only applies the wrong
28
knowledge to others coming after him and those he happens
to be supervising. As Akpan (1979:13) puts it:
An untrained man in the modern world
may be a menace to the society, he is a
quack; he knows only the laws of
things, he has no idea of (their) why.
Hence if they are any trouble
anywhere, a breakdown in a machine
or a mistake in a ledger. All he can do
is to fumble and punch up trouble any
how; leading to a more serious
breakdown or greater confusion, really
there is no place for untrained and
undeveloped workers and or even the
intelligent armature in these days of
specialized works.
Ubeku, (1975:114) regrettably notes that:
They are many organizations in this
country that regard training and
development as expensive ventures and
avoid them like a plague. What such
organization are interested in are the
immediate returns. But in a changing
world, of which Nigeria is a part, thus
attitude can no longer hold good.
Akpomouvire (2007) argues that Human resource
training and development is a tool employed by
organizations to equip their workforce for the
accomplishment of set goals and objectives. Furthermore,
he argued that in any organization, there are a great many
29
things that the people employed need to learn in order to
become competent in their jobs. It is within the framework
of this cluster of notes and learning process that
management delimits responsibilities, provides the
participating members of the organization with resources
and boundaries within which efficiency may be a reasonable
expectation. In the attempt to accomplish this goal, the
importance of human resource training and development
becomes inevitable.
Human resource training and development improves
employees abilities to perform the task required by an
organization. It according to Graham (1981) has the
important dual function of utilization and motivation. By
improving employees ability to perform the task required by
the company training:
Allows better use to be made of human
resources, by giving employees a
feeling of mastery over their work and
of recognition by management, which
increases job satisfaction in workers.
Furthermore, organizations have a stake in developing
the careers of their employees so that the employees can be
retained while their performance becomes more effective
30
and efficient. Walker (1992) for example opined that in the
1990’s and beyond, organizations will invest more, not less
in efforts to retain, train and develop talents.
According to Simon (1937) administrative efficiency is
increased by a specialization of the task among the group in
the direction that will lead to greater efficiency.
The position adopted by Du-Santoy (1957) is
instructive on the significance.
Akpomouvire (2002) contends that for human
resource training and development to achieve its goals of
being the planed process of modifying attitudes, knowledge
and skills through learning and experience, to achieve
effective performance in an activity or range of activities so
as to satisfy the current and future needs of an
organization or government, three broad perspective are to
be considered. They are:
a. Human resource training and development
b. Training, development and professionalization
in the civil service and
c. Administrative reforms.
31
Human resource training and development in its myriad
forms is provided to help employees learn job-related skills
and obtain knowledge that will help them improve their
performance and further the organizations goals. From a
more concise source, human resource development can be
termed to be a:
Planned process to modify attitudes,
skills or behavior through learning
experience to achieve effective
performance in an activity or range of
activities. Its purpose in a work
situation is to develop the abilities of
the individuals and to satisfy the
current and future needs of the
organization (Foot and Hook, 1999).
To Griffin (1984:17), in order to postulate the
disposition and capacity building of the various employees
of government, a good human resource management and
development must be in place. He went further to say that
human resource development involves taking various
resources an organization has at its disposal and combining
them in such a way that the organizations goals are
attained. He explained that by efficient, he meant that doing
things in a systematic fashion without waste.
32
To Noe et al (2003:68) a number of skills are instilled
in employees through training and development.
Development involves acquisition knowledge, skills and
behavior that improve employees ability to meet the
challenges of a variety of existing jobs or job that do not yet
exist.
To Barney (1995) quoted in Onah (2008:3) Human
resource development include all the experience, skills,
judgment, abilities, knowledge, risk-taking, and wisdom of
individuals and associates in an organization.
Omale (1992) observed that in almost all senior
positions, if one is recruited with required educational
qualification, no training and development was carried out
on him. Experience on the job becomes the only criteria for
the worker to reach the top of his career ladder. Yet, the job
an officer does from one grade level to the other according to
Omale are:
Sufficiently different to warrant not
only vocational knowledge which he
gets via experience, but also theoretical
knowledge and attitude re-orientation
in order to successfully cope with the
demands of such higher jobs. Such
theoretical knowledge and attitudinal
re-orientation can only best be
33
acquired through formal training off
the job in appropriate training
institution.
In his own view, Makinde (1992) is of the opinion that
human resources training is a short-term process of
learning specific skills by both junior and intermediate staff,
while development entails a long term learning process
designed to develop senior officers in order to activate them
with changes in technology and management method.
Human resource training and development equips
workers with the necessary skills to enable them to gain
promotion and have a reasonable expectation of
redeployment. To this end, Adamolekun (1986) made a
strong case for a positive conception of the civil service that
would be able to carry out the contractual obligation
between government and the governed whereby services
would be seen to be provided efficiently and the system
would run on smooth wheels. This position is reflected in
the revised guidelines for training in the federal civil service
(1995) where it is unequivocally stated that government
continues to accept the need and wisdom to use training as
34
a vehicle for enhancing productivity and efficiency in the
service.
The primary purpose of human resource training and
development under scores the driving activities according to
Chrudeen and Sherman (1976) and Ubeku (1973), is to
develop employees who are made to acquire relevant skills,
knowledge and job attitudes are put into more definitive use
so as to bring about effective performance.
Human resource training and development according
to Nadler (1992) prepares the employee so that he can move
with the organization as it develops and grows, resulting in
new jobs for the employees of higher level.
The overall purpose being to produce a viable and
flexible workforce for the organization as it moves towards
its future. However, according to Bienvennu (1980), what is
to be understood is that training and development prepares
a worker to improve on his ability beyond the job in which
he is currently engaged. The worker is prepared for a place
in the organization for the sake of the future and in the case
of eventualities. Bienvennu refers to this as shift of effort
from job training to work training.
35
According to Danisi and Griffin (2005) productivity is
an economic measure of efficiency that summarizes and
reflects the value of the output created by an individual,
organization, industry or economic system relative to the
value of the inputs used to create them. They argued that
organizations around the world have come to recognize the
importance of productivity for its ability not only to compete
but also to survive, furthermore, an organization that is
serious about productivity will need to invest more on
training and development to give workers the necessary
skills and ability to create high quality products and
services. Human resources development has the goal in
most organization of helping to enhance productivity
through different activities and task.
Daniel Hartzell (2011) sees productivity as a measured
relationship between the quality (and quantity) of results
produced and the quantity of resources required for
production. Productivity is in essence a measure of the work
efficiency of an individual, work unit or entire organization.
He further argued that productivity can be measured in two
ways, one way relates the output of an enterprise, industry
36
or economic sector to a single input, such as labour or
capital. The other relates output to a composite of imput
combined so as to account for their relative importance.
The choice of a particular productivity measure
depends on the purpose for which it is to be used.
He further defined productivity as a war against waste.
Even if the technical and economic concept of productivity
is taken into consideration, i.e. productivity is the ratio of
output and input. This could be favourable only when
planned efforts are made to utilize the scarce resources as
economically as possible to achieve the best result. He
concludes that among several factors affecting productivity,
safety in industry, one of the most important factor to be
kept in view for promoting productivity is the rate of output
of a workers or machine.
Productivity is the measure of how well resources are
brought together in organization and utilized for
accomplishing of set result produced in reaching the highest
level of performance with the least expenditure of resources
(Nwachukwu, 2002:56).
37
It can also be seen as the amount of production in
relations to labour put in.
The civil service is one of the great political inventions
of the nineteenth century England. The first generation of
civil servants was called “Court servants” or “court clerks”.
Before the era of court clerks, the work of government was
done by persons of the royal household (Kapul et al
2002:105).
In terms of origin, “civil service” as a term was
borrowed in the mid-eighteenth century (1785) from the
British administration in India to describe a system that
emphasis selection on the basis of merit (Wey, 1971:2).
The term “service” connotes a profession, a group of
civil servants having common recruitment conditions and
prospect, as well as a “career” in an acceptable lifetime
employment under the government.
According to the jurist, professor A. Eniola (2001:1-
10), the Nigerian interpretation act of 1964 “which is made
the interpreter of the Nigerian constitution and the other
statutes is silent on the general meaning and scope of the
phrase “civil servant”.
38
This is not unconnected with the observation by Peter
Kellner and Lord Norman Crowder-Hunt (1980:9), that
“There is a special sense in which the civil service effects the
British constitution. It is not clearly defined in writing, it
evolve and change with mood and circumstances”.
Nonetheless, E.C.S Wade and G.G. Philips (1968:221)
observed with regard to the British civil service that “a
rough definition of the civil service will include all nonpolitical offices and employment held under the crown with
the exception of the Armed forces.
However, Nigerian scholars have been able to give
meaning and understanding to the concept “civil service”.
Adamolekun (2002) states that civil service is
commonly used as the synonym of the machinery of the
government, this is so in Britain and most common wealth
countries of sub-Saharan African. In British conception, the
civil service is used to refer to the body of permanent official
appointed to assist the decision makers.
The term civil service is normally used when referring
to the body of men and women employed in a civil capacity
and non-political career basis by the federal and state
39
government primarily to render and faithfully give effect to
their decision and implementation (Ipianya, 2001) such
career officers normally derive their appointment from the
civil service commission, which also exercises power of
delegating duties and responsibilities to departments in
accordance with laid down rules.
Today, the civil service has come to been seen as a
complex organization and a modern institution baguetted to
mankind in the process of revolutionizing an efficient way of
organizing any large human organization. It is in this
respect that the civil service is defined as a bureaucracy
(Ipianya, 2001).
Civil service is a body of man and women who are
trained in various field and employed by the government on
a temporary or permanent basis to render services to the
government and the people of the state. Thus it does not
involve the Armed forces personal and judicial officers. Civil
service is a body of people who are directly responsible for
the execution of government policy; it includes everybody
who participates in the execution of public policy from the
messenger to the top administrative officer (Nwizu, 2002).
40
Salassie concurs by defining civil service as a service
comprising all servants of the state, other than those
holding political and judicial appointments who are
employed in a civil capacity and whose remuneration is paid
wholly and directly out of money voted by parliament.
Accordingly, C.B. Nwankwo, and co, defines civil
service as a body of men and women employed in a civil
capacity and on a non-political basis by the federal and
state government primarily to render advice and faithfully
give effect to their decision.
Late chief M.K.O Abiola, in an article titled “Civil
Service and African Economy published in daily champion
on Thursday, August 29th 1991, defined the civil service as
“the body of full time professional officials employed in the
civil offices of a state in a non-political capacity”. This body
which is permanently attached to the executive arm of
government is made up of permanent, skilled, professional
workers who carry out the day-to-day administration of the
state under the chief executive and his cabinet.
The civil service is a term used to cover those public
servants who are direct employees of the federal and state
41
government, other than the police, the Armed forces
personal, the judicial personal and the teachers. Its usage
excludes also employees of statutory corporations and
boards (Nwosu, 1977).
In line with this, Ademolukun (1986) defines the civil
service as the body of permanent officials appointed to
assist the political executive in formulating and
implementing governmental policies. It also sees the second
usage of the term as referring to the ministers and
departments within which specific aspects of government
are carried out.
Traditionally, civil service is the totality of civil
bureaucracy set up by modern governments to administer
and execute their policies and programmes.
Contrary to this, the civil service handbook (1997)
defines the civil service as a growing body or organ that
enjoys continuity of existence. The officials engaged in it are
otherwise known as the “civil servants” unlike members of
the legislative arm or organ of government are not united for
a short period of time in office at the expiration of which
they may not be returned to office; the civil servants
42
remains in office where as elected members or officers in the
government come and go for whatever reason, when the
civil servants leave his office under no compulsory,
voluntarily recruitment or by registration or by termination
of appointment, his office is taken over by another person or
officer that similarly enjoys security of employment. Thus,
the civil services can be regarded as a complex organization
with a body of seemingly permanent officials appointed in a
capacity to assist the political executives in the formulation,
execution and implementation of the government policies in
ministries and extra-ministerial department within which
the specific government works are carried out.
Akpomuovire (2007) argues that the civil service is an
institution which is made up of a body of people employed
and payed by the state government to execute the laws,
plans and policies of government. In carrying out this task,
the Human resources (civil servants) employed in the
service, develop and manage the resources of the
government for the achievement of policies, goals and
objectives.
43
The service is the indispensable arm and the bedrock
of the executive arm of government the government uses the
civil service to fulfill that contractual relationship between
government and the people.
In this regard, workers employed in the civil service
have to be trained and developed so as to increase the
efficiency and effectiveness of the service in meeting the
challenges of National development.
Human resource development in the civil service
therefore focuses on the objectives of equipping the personal
in the service from the point of their recruitment to that of
retirement, so that civil servants be kept constantly ready
not only to provide improved living conditions for Nigeria
but also set the machinery for achieving accelerated growth
and development within the country.
The effectiveness of government is said to depend on
the abilities of the instruments of government to respond to
the policies and programmes of that government as
observed by Philips (1988) when he said “in a strong sense a
country is a close reflection of the efficiency, effectiveness
and sensitivity of its civil service.
44
Human resources training and development is
essential to the existence and survival of organization.
Olowu posits that human resource training and
development enables civil servants acquire the relevant
professional skills and knowledge for effective performance.
Accordingly Drucker (1986) said that a good
organizational structure itself does not guarantee good
performance. It is human resource training and
development that equips civil servants with relevant
professional skills and knowledge about effective and
efficient performance.
This position was further supported by Pye (1988)
when she opined that “when steps are to be taken to
improve the quality of employees and overall organizational
performance, attention naturally turns to the process of
training, education and development of employees”. Even
the architects of the 1988 civil service reforms could be said
to have subscribed to Pye’s submission as in relation to
human resource training and development.
Section (1) of this reform states that:
45
for the purpose of improving economy and efficiency
in the operations of the ministry and raising the standards
of performance by employees of their official duties to the
maximum possible level of proficiency, the minister shall
establish, operate and maintain programmes or plans for
training and development of employees in or under the
ministry by and through government faculties including the
training institution (Implementation guidelines of the 1988
civil service reform).
1.5 Significance of the Study
The study is significant from the point of view that no
available literature or study so far his specifically focused on
human resource development and productivity in Kogi State
civil service, none has examined the extent to which the civil
service as an agent of government has contributed to the
development and training of civil servants in Kogi State.
Thus, it is going to add to existing body of literature
and extend the frontiers of knowledge practically. This
research work will be a guide to scholars, policy makers,
policy implementers and researchers and evidently serve as
a guide to the government on how to promote effective
46
human resource development and productivity in the civil
service particularly Kogi State civil service.
1.6 Theoretical Framework
This work adopts the systems theory as the theoretical
framework of analysis because the systems theory considers
all elements and views the organization as constituting of
many parts, furthermore, system theorist see an
organization and its environment as inter-dependent; each
depending on the other for sustenance.
A system is a set of elements of units which interact in
some way and are supported from their environment by
some land of boundaries (Young 1960, Eminue 2001:98).
Scholars of system see it as the most popular concept that
applies to systems regulation and maintenance, system
equilibrium or homeostasis which is the ability of system to
maintain its internal balance even while undergoing a
process of change.
The development of the systems theory as a method of
political analysis is traced to David Easton and Gabriel
Almond. The mustered seed was sewn when the view
originated that in the study of a given social and political
47
system, at was not so important to try to find out how a
pattern of behavior had originated as to find out the part it
played in maintaining the system as a whole. The system
theory is a derivative of behaviorism, based on the
assumption that everything must be just as it is for the total
society to be just as it is.
Thus a person may be considered a system of
organizations, a molecule may be thought of as a system of
individuals, implicit in this concept as a degree of totality of
wholeness that makes something different from another
(Tilles, 1965).
According to Hicks (1972) the system theory of an
organization has been defined as a structured process in
which individuals interest for objectives.
Idemudia (1990) defined the two terms “system” and
“theory” separately in order to elucidate the implication of
their meaning. To him, a system is an entity made up of a
separate but inter-dependent part with set goals and
functions while a theory on the other hand is an abstract
generalized statement, summarizing or linking together a
number of propositions into a unified logical structure. Put
48
together, system theory means how inter-related social
entity is organized into testable propositions.
The systems theory is an integrative theory that
attempts to present an organization as a unified purposeful
system composed of inter-dependent parts. It also consist of
inter-dependent parts with distinct boundaries which
interacts with the environment by importing inputs, while it
exports output in order to maintain itself in a permanent
state of equilibrium.
A special feature of the system approach is the fact
that arising from the outputs some new imputs are
generated, which are once again fed into the system for
processing and conversion.
The basic concept developed under the broad
framework of the general systems theory can be divided into
three categories;
1. Concepts which are of a descriptive nature
2. Concepts which try to highlight the factors responsible
for regulating and maintaining the system.
3. Concepts which focus on dynamics of, or change in the
system.
49
Under the first category we have open and closed
systems. Systems can also be defined under this category in
terms of hierarchy of subsystems and their order of
interactions. The working of the internal organization of the
system and the interaction of the system with its
environment also come within this category and in this case
we find that some systems follow a pattern of development
as determined by themselves and others have to depend
upon external factors.
The systems interaction with the environment implies
the concept of boundary, imputs and outputs.
Under the second category where we seek to
understand the factors responsible for the maintenance and
regulation of the system we find concepts as stability,
equilibrium and homeostasis connected with the issue of
regulation and maintenance, also are the concept of
feedback, repair, reproduction etc.
Finally, under the 3rd category are concepts connected
with dynamics and change, change which can be descriptive
or non-descriptive. Non-descriptive change can be brought
about through responses to attend environmental
50
conditions. This brings into focus the concept of adaptation,
learning and growth.
Change can also be descriptive involving the
distinction between the notions of description, dissolution
and breakdown as well as the notion of systematic crisis,
stress as strain and overload and decay.
The systems approach to the study of organization
focuses on the system as a whole, the environment of the
system, the interdependent relationship between parts of
the system and the dependency for the system to strive and
survive by negotiating with its environment as Kontaz et al
(1980:23) puts it:
The advantage of approaching any area of energy in
any problem as a system is that at enables us to see the
critical variable and constraint and their interactions with
one another, it forces scholars and practitioners to be
constantly aware that one single element, phenomenon or
problem should no the treated without regard to its
interacting consequences with other elements.
The major concept involved in the system theory can
be summarized as follows:
51
1. A system can be perceived as a whole with it part and
their independent relationship.
2. A system has its boundary and can be viewed in terms
of its relationship with other systems.
3. A system has sub-systems and is also a part of a
super-system.
4. A system can be regarded as either open or closed.
According to Kontz et al, (1980) a system is regarded
as open if it exchanges information, energy and
material with its environment as it happens with
biological or social systems.
It is regarded as closed if it does not have such
interactions within the environment.
5. A system interacts with the environment in terms of
processes that invites imput, conversion and output of
energy, information and material. A system tends to
re-energize or modify itself through the process of
information, feedback from the environment.
6. In order to survive, an open system moves to arm the
entopic process by importing more energy from its
52
environment than expected and by strong energy it
can acquire negative entropy.
As Kartz and Kahn (1966) further explain, the
entrology process is a universal law of nature in which all
form of organization move toward disorganization or death.
Source: Gauba Op (2003) An Introduction to Political Theory.In applying the system theory to the study at hand, the
civil service is seen as an open system which comprises of a
whole entity with sub-systems that interact within itself and
within the outside bodies, the larger society.
Hence the various sub-systems (department) are not
autonomous within the guild structure, rather they are
independent part of the unitary organization.
Environment
(imput)
Demand Output
Political
System
Support decision
Environment
Feedback
53
Accordingly, the civil service as an organization
receives imputs (men, skills) etc in the form of demand and
supply from the people. Demand could be regarded as
positive and negative expression of individuals towards the
activities occurring in the environment of a particular
political system.
The fundamental idea here is that the staffs are the
life-blood and the success of the civil service ultimately
depends on them. The individual staff therefore requires a
planned development and training programme to improve
their skills and knowledge in their various levels and areas
of operation so as to respond effectively to the demand of
the people and also to achieve the objectives of the civil
service.
To make for efficiency in human resource and achieve
increased productivity, workers in the system are trained
and developed in the best method so that productivity can
be achieved at a very minimal time and reduced cost, if they
fail to do this the reverse will be the case which might lead
to the total collapse of the civil service.
54
Since the civil service is a system with various subsystem both the senior and junior executives need
development and training programmes that will prepare
them to occupy a position especially for a position vertically
higher than he/she was.
The demand and supply are critically analyzed in the
conversion process and are passed out as output in the
form of authoritative allocation of values, laws, regulations
and services that will determine if the productive level of the
civil service is enough to achieve their objectives.
Human resources development and productivity in
Kogi State civil service will lead to efficiency among the
workers and effectiveness in reaching their stated goals.
1.7 Hypotheses
1. There tends to be a strong link between human
resource development and productivity in the civil
service.
2. Corruption impedes human resource development in
the Nigerian civil service.
3. Productivity in the Kogi State civil service depends on
merit based recruitment, selection and staff training.
55
1.8 Method of Data Collection and Analysis
In the course of this research work, data would be
gathered from secondary sources such as textbooks,
journals, internet materials, and any useful document
relating to the study.
The method of data analysis used will be quantitative
analysis, data presented will be analyzed in order to make
accurate recommendations.
1.9 Scope and Limitation of the Study
The scope of the study will be limited to the impact
and effect of human resource development and productivity
in the civil service as it posses a threat to Kogi State and
Nigeria as a whole.
Thus, it will focus on all efforts of government to
increase human resources development and productivity in
Kogi State civil service.
1.0 Operationalization of Concept
Civil service: According to the 1999 constitution section
218, subsection 1, the civil service can be defined as:
56
The service of the federation in a civil
capacity as staff of the office of the
president, the vice-president, a ministry or
department of the government of the
federation assigned with the responsibility
for any business of the government of the
federation; while in respect to state civil
service of the state in a civil capacity as
staff of the office of the Governor, Deputy
Governor or a ministry or department of
the government of the state assigned with
the responsibility for any business of the
Government of the staff (FRN, 1999).
Human resource development: Human Resource
Development is a process through which employees in an
organization are assisted to realize their full potential for
their present and future jobs.
Productivity: Productivity is the volume of goods and
services produced for work within some specific unit of the
hour, day, week, month, year etc.
Training: Training means to give teaching and practice in
order to bring a desired stand and behavior efficiency or
physical condition. Thus it is the act of teaching in the
industrial or business concept. It is the act of reaching a
particular level of the expectation of the employer.
57
Nepotism: Implies favoritism shown by somebody in power
to relations and friends, especially in appointing them to
good positions.