Public Sector Corruption and Local Government Administration in Rivers State Local Government Service Commission, 2009 – 2019

Abstract

Corruption in the public sector has become the key factor eroding good governance and developmental aspirations of many countries of Africa in general and Nigeria in particular. This paper examined the effect of public sector corruption on local government administration in the Rivers State Local Government Service Commission (RSLGSC), between 2009 – 2019. The paper adopted the structural-functionalist theory as its analytical framework and relied on data generated via a four (4) Point Likert Scale Structured Questionnaire. 170 respondents representing the sample size of the paper was derived from a population of 295 staff of the RSLGSC using the Taro Yamane formula. The paper employed a survey research approach. Generated quantitative data was analyzed using tables and simple percentage and statistical method, while the proposition was tested using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 21.0 data output). The paper reveals that there is a nexus between public sector corruption and poor local government administration and that these have hampered greatly the performance of most local government in Rivers State. Also, the paper revealed that the prevalent executive and administrative rascality, looting of public funds and other corrupt practices that pervade the RSLGSC is responsible for irregular staff promotion and unmerited staff recruitment going in the commission. As such, the paper recommends amongst others that; the commission as a governmental structure should be proactive and exercise the needed political will that is required to formulate and implement internal administrative policies and procedures that will reduce fraud and illegal practices.