Improving Performance of the Nigerian Civil Service through the New Public Management

Abstract

One issue that has become central in the political economy of any nation in this 21 st century is reduction in cost of governance through improved result-oriented civil service. The general acceptance that if the core management variables are imported in the modus operandi of the civil service will bring improved performance and efficiency in the service delivery is incontrovertible. The paper examines how New Public Management (NPM) becomes a viable option in repositioning and revamping the civil service The paper adopts a content analysis method through the use of secondary data. More so, the theory of efficiency is used as a platform for the arguments put forward in the paper. The paper reveals that the adoption of the NPM in some emerging economies like Malaysia, Ghana, South Africa was a success but the same cannot be said in Nigeria due to parochial and primordial attitude toward change. The paper recommends among others that the political will and commitment of the government and public servants is a recipe for a successful operation of the New Public Management. It concludes that new public management is sine qua non for any civil service that wants to be effective in service delivery.