Federal Civil Service Research Articles

Housing Affordability by Federal Civil Servants in Minna, Nigeria: Emerging Issues

In Nigeria, the 1999 constitution recognises housing as a fundamental human right; hence it is imperative that Nigerians have access to decent and comfortable accommodation at affordable costs. This study examined housing affordability by Federal Civil Servants in Minna by analysing the average annual emoluments of federal civil servants and the annual rental values of houses occupied by them, and subsequently established the percentage of annual income spent on rent. A total of 200 federal civil servants spread across all grade levels were sampled. Simple descriptive statistic, likert scale, relative index and pearson product moment correlation were used to analyse collected data. Findings showed that federal civil servants in the study area spend between 7.3% and 23.8% of their annual income on rents. The study also revealed that civil servants’ level of income having a relative index of 0.96 is the major factor influencing the choice of residential accommodation by federal civil servants in the study area.It further revealed a strong positive correlation between their annual income and rental values of residential properties occupied by them. The sampled respondents expressed varied levels of satisfaction with the houses they occupy, with as much as 59% being unsatisfied with their rented housing units; these were attributed to poor housing quality, small sizes of housing units and densely populated neighbourhoods, among others. Housing Affordability Index was also adopted and used to determine housing affordability levels in the study area.The study recommended a home ownership scheme to enable federal civil servants purchase or build their own houses and pay conveniently because all respondents desired to own their own houses.

English

Building an inclusively representative and equitable bureaucracies in a multiethnic, multilingual and multicultural polity is a challenging phenomenon. Being one of such polities, Ethiopia embarked upon multinational federal nation-building policy exactly two decades ago through a constitutional reform. Accordingly, nine regional states and two chartered cities bureaucracies were established besides the federal bureaucracy. It is obvious that in addition to professionalism, civil service jobs generally require knowledge of certain official working language. Regions have chosen their own official working languages for their respective civil service institutions which have been reiterated as the major opportunity brought by the multinational federal policy of the country. This paper emphasizes on the bureaucracies of the Federal Government where Amharic is retained as the sole working language. From the outset, we ask questions: How could it be possible to build representative civil service institutions in multilingual polities? What are the roles of federal restructuring and official working language? What are the challenges that Ethiopia is facing at the federal level in terms of building a representative bureaucracy? This piece uses government reports of five years (2003-2008) and other theoretical literature to lay out Ethiopia’s (re)quest for building equitable federal bureaucracies. Overall, the finding show that even though it may be different for political positions; the Amharic monolingual language policy of the federal government has ensured inequitable access to the federal civil service institutions thereby posing challenges to the constitutional vision of building equitable and multicultural bureaucracy. Key words:  Federal bureaucracy, official working language, representation.&nbsp

Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Socio-Demographic Constraints of Employment Distribution in the Federal Civil Service, Nigeria

In spite of the introduction of the quota system to solve the problems of inequality and marginalization in employment and appointments in Nigeria, disparity in regional employment distribution has become a pressing national issue. This study therefore seeks to investigate the spatio-temporal constraints of employment distribution in the Federal Civil Service, Nigeria. Secondary data on the number of persons employed in the Federal Civil Service from 2008-2012 were collected from the Federal Character Commission. Rank order technique, standard scores, frequency distribution and simple percentages were used for analyses. The Rank order technique was used to derive the standard deviates and the standard scores (Z) aggregate for each state and year as well as a composite score for indexing the position of that state and region in the employment distribution. The results obtained showed the dominance of males in the Federal Civil Service mostly among the northern states and geopolitical zones which could be blamed on cultural and religious differences. States like Katsina, Zamfara, Yobe, Sokoto and Kano amongst others had more of males than females in the Federal Civil Service. The findings indicated that majority of the employees in the Federal Civil Service for the periods under review were adults between the ages of 31 – 50yrs. The distribution of grade levels showed high variation among states. The present pattern of employees’ grade level or placement is negatively skewed towards the south-southern, north eastern and northwestern geopolitical zones. This skewed pattern showed that employment distribution is lopsided and disproportionate. Therefore, the study recommended that female/girl child education should be pursued vigorously especially in the Northern part of the country and placement of employees in the Federal Civil Service should be in accordance with educational attainment for all sections of people in the country. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n1s1p293

Spatial Analysis of Employment Distribution in the Federal Civil Service, Nigeria

One of the problems confronting the Nigerian nation is unemployment and regional imbalance in employment has now become a pressing national issue. The aim of this study is to find out whether or not the current pattern of employment in the federal civil Service reflects the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria. Secondary data on the number of persons employed in the Federal Civil Service from 2008-2012 were collected from the Federal Character Commission. Rank order technique, standard scores, frequency distribution and simple percentages were used for analyses. The Rank order technique was used to derive the standard deviates and the standard scores (Z) aggregate for each state and year were used to derive a composite score for indexing the position of that state and region in the employment distribution. The results of the analyses showed that the south-eastern (20.60) and south-western(17.76) geopolitical zones were privileged to have more employees in the senior cadre placement, while the south-southern(-5.78), north-central(-16.31), north-eastern(-1.43) and north-western(-14.8) geopolitical zones were under-privileged or deprived. The most privileged geopolitical zone was south-eastern, while north-central geopolitical zone was the most underprivileged in the distribution of senior cadre officers in the Federal Civil Service. The North-Central zone was more represented in the lower cadre and South-south was at the middle lower cadre. The North-east and South-east had the lowest employees in the low cadre employee distribution in the Federal Civil Service. The employment distribution therefore shows that employees from the geopolitical zones in the Southern part of Nigeria are more represented in the Federal Civil Service and dominate the senior cadre compared to their Northern counterparts, reflecting existing inequality. The study recommended that the quota system should be applied more appropriately in order to correct the existing imbalance. DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2015.v5n1p265

Utilization of dental services among civil servants in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Background: Civil servants are adults that cut across all ages, educational status, and social class. This study describes and compares dental service utilization among federal and state civil servants in Port Harcourt and identifies the determinants and barriers to the utilization of dental services among these groups. Materials and Methods: This study was a comparative cross-sectional study carried out among Federal and State civil servants in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. The study units were selected using multistage sampling technique. Data were collected using pretested self-administered questionnaires and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20.0. Results: A total of 638 participants comprising of 313 and 325 civil servants from the federal and state civil service respectively, completed and returned the questionnaires.Only 143 (22.4%) of the participants had visited the dentist in the past 1-year, this is made up of 80 (25.6%) federal and 63 (19.4%) state civil servants. Most of the federal workers 55 (68.8%) and state workers 45 (71.4%) had visited the dentist based on need. Participants with tertiary education were significantly more likely to utilize dental services (P = 0.009). The reasons for nonutilization of dental services reported among the respondents were no need for treatment 59%, cost of treatment 20%, being scared 13.5%, and fear of infection 10.3%. Conclusion: Dental visits were based on the need for treatment. Whereas education was a determinant of dental service utilization, perceived lack of treatment and cost of treatment constituted barriers to utilization of dental services.

Recruitment Policies in the Nigerian Federal Civil Service and Their Implications on Employees' Performance

Recruitment Policies in the Nigerian Federal Civil Service and Their Implications on Employees' Performance

Psycho-Organizational Factors in Employee Acceptance of Organizational Change in the Federal Civil Service

Although change is constant, and thus, should be expected, studies have shown that individuals and groups resist change in most situations. This study particularly focused on factors that could promote acceptance of change among 257 management and nonmanagement staff in a bureaucratic public sector where ‘things are done as usual’. Specific variables of interest include personality and sense of competence, organizational support and culture as independent variables and acceptance of change as dependent variables. The results showed that openness to change and extraversion were positively related to acceptance; females were more favorably disposed to change than males and male and female management staff scored high on acceptance of change than non-management members. The results enhanced understanding of personality traits and organizational dynamics that propel individuals to accept change, reduce resistance as well as promote adaptation to change.

Serviço público: significados e sentidos de um trabalho em mutação

Neste artigo propomos uma discussão que se situa no campo temático de articulação entre Psicologia e Trabalho. O objetivo foi discutir os sentidos e significados que os servidores públicos atribuem ao trabalho. Para tanto, a análise foi embasada em dados de uma pesquisa de campo com 30 servidores públicos federais que atuam em uma instituição de ensino técnico e tecnológico, e em referenciais teóricos que tratam da centralidade do trabalho e das especificidades dos processos de trabalho no setor de serviços. Os resultados revelam a importância do trabalho na estruturação material e simbólica da vida dos servidores, sendo que os sentidos a ele atribuídos estão relacionados ao provimento da sobrevivência, à (re)produção de valores sociais como autonomia e independência, à integração social, à realização pessoal e sentido existencial. A análise dessa dimensão subjetiva do trabalho também possibilitou dimensionar a importância da atenção à saúde desses trabalhadores em tempos de profundas mudanças no setor público.

Civil Service Recruitment: Problems Connected With Federal Character Policy in Nigeria

The purpose of this paper is to assess the extent of relevance of the federal character as a national policy in recruitment into the Nigerian federal civil service and probe whether or not the level of application of merit supersedes the application of ecological considerations in recruitment into the service. It utilizes quantitative and qualitative data collection to espouse its theme. The paper finds that there are personnel problems connected with poor application of federal character policy in recruitment into the civil service and this affects the quality of entrants. It recommends strict application of merit standard to attract best workers while implementing federal character policy through proven certification of state of applicants. The paper notes that the Nigerian federal character policy is one that places premium on state representation in governance and bureaucracy and a strategy for national integration. However, there must be predominant application of merit in recruitment.

The reform of the Belgian federal administration 10 years on: what balance has been achieved between operational autonomy of top managers and the supervision carried out by the horizontal ministerial departments?

In the wake of the Copernic reform, Belgium’s senior federal civil servants are now appointed for a fixed term and guided on performance via management plans. This article sets out to assess the impact of the introduction of the fixed-term system on the autonomy of senior civil servants with regard to the horizontal departments responsible for the budget, on the one hand, and human resources, on the other hand, within Belgium’s federal administration. Based on the so-called ‘inconsistencies’ approach, the article focuses briefly on three inconsistencies: internal, discursive and contextual. An analysis of these inconsistencies confirms one of the forms of ‘cheating’ in the relationship between ministers and senior civil servants formulated by Hood and Lodge (2006), namely that the first can be inclined to reduce the margin of discretion of the latter by maintaining formal or informal mechanisms to exercise control over the provision of resources. Points for practitioners Greater managerial autonomy for senior civil servants, as advocated by NPM, cannot succeed without a transformation of the traditional modes of operation of the political-administrative relationship accompanying structural reforms. The low degree of autonomy of senior civil servants does not stem so much from the introduction of a ‘contractual’ relationship, but from the lack of support shown by the latter in the implementation of such reforms. In the case studied, senior civil servants can only be made more accountable and given greater autonomy if the ‘pyramid’ of control is reformed and internal audit activities developed.

Health services utilization and costs of the insured and uninsured under the formal sector social health insurance scheme in Enugu metropolis South East Nigeria

Health insurance is a social security system that aims to facilitate fair financing of health costs through pooling and judicious utilization of financial resources, in order to provide financial risk protections and cost burden sharing for people against high cost of healthcare through various prepayment methods prior to falling ill. It is still unclear how the Federal Social Health insurance program for federal civil servants has affected the insured and uninsured civil servants in terms of health services cost and utilization in Enugu metropolis. The aim of the study was to compare the health services utilization and cost of insured with that of the non-insured federal civil servants with a view to generate information for policymaking on improving services of the National Health Insurance Scheme. A comparative, descriptive, cross-sectional survey of both the insured and uninsured federal civil servants was conducted in Enugu metropolis. Respondents were purposively enrolled and were grouped according to their insurance status after signing the informed consent form. Comparative analysis of health services utilization, satisfaction, and health services cost which include total cost, average cost, and catastrophic expenditures were done using SPSS version 17.0. There were 809 respondents; this comprised 451 insured and 358 uninsured respondents. There were 420 males (51.9%) and 389 females (48.1%). It was found that 657 respondents had at least easy access to health; this comprised 369 (56.7%) insured and 288 (43.3%) non-insured respondents while 70 (46%) of the non-insured and 82 (54%) of the insured civil servant had difficult access to health care ( P = 0.620). There are still federal civil servants yet to enroll into the formal sector social insurance program. The NHIS-insured civil servants have no appreciable advantage in terms of access to and cost of health services in Enugu metropolis.

The representation of ethnic and linguistic groups in the federal civil service of Belgium and Canada

AbstractThis article investigates how the struggles of national groups have affected the politics of bureaucratic representation of ethnic minorities in Belgium and Canada, and vice‐versa. It argues that the politics of multinational representation in Belgium limited the adoption of measures seeking to guarantee a greater representation of ethnic and racial minorities. In contrast, the politics of multiculturalism in Canada associated with the political mobilization of ethnic groups, contributed to the rejection of measures of guaranteed representation of Francophones in the federal bureaucracy. Measures adopted to increase the representation of Francophones, however, did not impede later attempts to augment representation of visible minorities in the civil service.

The Human Capital Model and Federal Employees’ Pay: Gender, Veteran Status, and Occupation

Do the human capital variables education and experience, and the chosen occupations for which male and female veterans and nonveterans qualify affect pay in the federal civil service? Are the strength and direction of relationships similar before and after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? When compared to federal employees in other agencies, are differences in pay based on gender and veteran status the same for those who work for the Department of Defense (DOD)? This is an ordinary least squares regression analysis of Office of Personnel Management records for a 1 % random sample of federal employees in 2000 and 2009. These regression models based on the Human Capital Model, data from years before and after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and separate analyses for DOD and non-DOD agencies differ from earlier analyses. Whether or not an employee works for the DOD, years of education and experience are significantly related to pay. In addition, between 2000 and 2009 the gender-based wage gap for nonveterans decreased while the gap between the pay of the reference group and male and female veterans grew for federal employees who did not work for the DOD. In the same years, for DOD employees there are fewer differences in pay based on veteran status and gender and race. With some exceptions for the DOD, the significant positive relationships between pay and occupation became significant negative relationships when the pay of women in each occupation was analyzed.

The Impact of Wage Differentials on Labour Turn Over in Nigeria

This study investigates the impact of wage differentials on labour turn over in the public service between the state and federal employees. We employed the logit model in our analysis, using a sample of 840 employees, in accordance with our theoretical priors, the empirical result support the standard inverse relationship between wage differential and labour turnover. That as state workers’ wages increases, the probability of a State worker leaving to Federal civil service falls by 0.2901. We therefore recommend for a unified salary structure with no disparity to harness the legislative wage structure we assume to practice. This we believe will reduce labour turnover in the economy.

From Glass Ceiling to Glass Cliff: Women in Senior Executive Service

The dominant paradigm that frames the challenges women face in attaining upward mobility has been the glass ceiling metaphor (Bowling, Cynthia, Kelleher, Christine, Jones, Jennifer, and Deil Wright. 2006. Cracked ceilings, firmer floors, and weakening walls: Trends and patterns in gender representation among executives leading American state agencies, 1970–2000. Public Administration Review 66 (6): 823–36; Bullard, Angela, and Deil Wright. 1993. Circumventing the glass ceiling: Women executives in American state governments. Public Administration Review 53 (3): 189–202; Naff, Katherine C. 1994. Through the glass ceiling: Prospects for the advancement of women in the federal civil service. Public Administration Review 54 (6): 507–14; Riccucci, Norma M. 2009. The pursuit of social equity in the federal government: A road less traveled? Public Administration Review 69 (3): 373–82; Sneed, Bethany G. 2007. Glass walls in state bureaucracies: Examining the difference departmental function can make. Public Administration Review 67 (5): 880–91). However, over the last decades women have made steady progress and are moving to positions of leadership. Women in leadership positions continue to face an uphill battle; they often are placed in precarious positions setting them up for failure and pushing them over the edge—a phenomenon recently termed as “glass cliff” (Ryan, Michelle K., and S. Alexander Haslam. 2005. The glass cliff: Evidence that women are over-represented in precarious leadership positions. British Journal of Management 16, 81–90. Ryan, Michelle K., and S. Alexander Haslam. 2007. The glass cliff: Exploring the dynamics surrounding the appointment of women to precarious leadership positions. Academy of Management Review 32 (2): 549–72). Using data from the 2010 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, this research examines the challenges women face in Senior Executive Service (SES) in various US federal government agencies (distributive, redistributive, regulatory, and constituent policy). The study is based on three widely discussed theories in the field of social psychology—think-manager-think-male, social role theory, and role incongruity theory. The study findings indicate that SES women in distributive and constituent policy agencies are most likely to face glass cliffs. The odds of women falling off the cliff are less when women have influence over policymaking decisions, perceive empowerment, and experience organizational equities. Address correspondence to the author at meghna.sabharwal@utdallas.edu JPART doi:10.1093/jopart/mut030 © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Inc. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory Advance Access published June 13, 2013 at U niersity of T exas at D allas on Jne 4, 2013 http://jpaordjournals.org/ D ow nladed from Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 2

Performance Ratings and Career Advancement in the US Federal Civil Service

A strong link between performance and rewards in the U.S. federal civil service could raise top performers to positions of power and responsibility and motivate employees to greater productivity. Federal employees, the general population and scholars all express doubts about the strength of that link, however, though few have estimated it empirically. Using random-effects panel data models on a one per cent sample of federal personnel records for 1988–2003, we examine whether performance ratings meaningfully influence promotion probabilities and annual salary increases. With an average annual promotion rate of 17.8 per cent over this period, we estimate that employees with ‘outstanding’ and ‘less than fully successful’ ratings were one-fourth more likely and one-fifth less likely, respectively, to receive promotions than those with ‘fully successful’ ratings. Average salary impacts were smaller but still significant. Patterns held up across agencies and stages of the federal careers. Performance ratings continued to affect career advancement one or two years later. We speculate on whether these links are strong enough to motivate performance and advance the most qualified federal employees.

Monetization of Workers Fringe Benefits: The Journey so far in Nigeria Federal Civil Service

This study appraises the monetization of workers fringe benefit in Nigeria’s federal Civil Service with a view to identifying the problem areas. Data collected through questionnaire were analyzed using Chi-square. The findings revealed that the monetization policy has reduced the running cost of federal government of Nigeria, somehow bettered the lots of workers, greatly favored the ruling elites, and generated some unintended consequences due to the reversal of some aspects during implementation. However, in order to ensure equity in the distribution of benefits of the policy, it is recommended that payment of housing and furniture allowances should be en bloc and direct method to be adopted in the implementation to curb reversal of the contents of the policy. More so, state and local governments in Nigeria and under-developed and developing countries are to adopt the policy to their civil service for efficiency and cost effectiveness.

The Impact of Veterans' Preference on the Composition and Quality of the Federal Civil Service

The Impact of Veterans' Preference on the Composition and Quality of the Federal Civil Service

Cervical cancer and pap smear awareness and utilization of pap smear test among Federal civil servants in North Central Nigeria.

Cervical cancer is a leading cause of cancer death in women in developing countries. A key factor linked to the relatively high levels of cervical cancer in these populations is the lack of awareness and access to preventive methods. This study aimed to determine the level of awareness of cervical cancer and Papanicolaou test (Pap smear test) and factors associated with the utilization of Pap test among female civil servants in Jos. Data was obtained from female workers (n = 388) aged 18–65 years in a Nigerian Federal establishment. Participants were randomly approached and instructed to complete validated questionnaires. Data was analyzed using Chi-square, t-tests and logistic regression analysis to determine if there was an association between variables and identify any predictors of awareness and utilization of the Pap test. Cervical cancer and Pap smear test awareness was 50.9% and 38.6% respectively, with the media as the major source of information. Pap smear test utilization rate was 10.2%, with routine antenatal care (ANC) as the major reason for getting screened. Personal barriers to screening include the lack of awareness, and belief that cervical cancer is not preventable. Opportunistic screening, mass media campaigns and ANC education were suggested as ways of improving awareness and utilization of cervical cancer screening services.

Civil service reforms in Nigeria: The journey so far in service delivery

Nations all over the world are currently in the struggle to better their existence through the process of good governance, and responsible civil service for effective and efficient service delivery. Nigeria is one of such countries. However the kind of civil service bequeathed to Nigeria by her colonial master was alien and narrow in scope, and so not development oriented. At Nigeria independence in 1960, the federal civil service had a staff strength of only 30,000, this increased steadily to the level of 200,000 in the late 1990s due to political patronage. Many unqualified personnel joined the Civil Service which resulted to over sized workforce that absorbed about 87% of the total government revenue. The paper examined the civil service reforms in Nigeria from independence to the present and how they affected efficient and effective service delivery in the country. It is the position of paper that the kind of civil service reform that would tackle these problems should be evolutionary and pragmatic in nature to meet Nigeria developmental needs and the challenges of the modern world.