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Abstract

The paper examines Civil Service and Problem of Civil Service Delivery in Nigeria: A
Case Study of Rivers State Ministry of Health (2007-2013). The population of study consists of
the entire 810 civil servants in the ministry of health out of the 23 ministries and parastatals in
Rivers State. A sample size of 81 was judgmentally determined from10% of the population.
A descriptive research design was used in executing the study using 200 randomly selected
respondents from the population of study for questionnaire administration. A research
instrument tagged `Service Delivery Culture and Civil Servants Commitment Questionnaire' was
used for the generation of primary data. A pilot test-re-test study was conducted on 30
randomly selected respondents who are not involved in the study, to ensure the validity of
the questionnaire, using the data obtained; a reliability coefficient of 0.83was calculated
using Pearson product moment correlation analysis indicating a high degree of reliability of
the research instrument. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential
statistics. The descriptive statistics used in the study include frequency counts and percentages.
Hypothesis was tested using the S t u d e n t s ' t - t e s t . The results findings of study reveal
that the civil service has a penchant for recruiting untrained and unqualified staff and does
little or nothing about training or improving their productive capacities even after recruiting
them. The study further revealed that bottlenecks, indolence, nepotism, inefficiency, lack of
accountability/transparency, low productivity, misappropriation and waste of public funds are
very conspicuous in the civil service. Conclusively it evident from the study that service delivery
effectiveness provides the requisite skills, ideas, attitudes and knowledge to perform
current job assignments and tasks effectively. This has an immediate impact on civil service
productivity. The study therefore recommends among others: that Rivers state government
should: improve on the current reward system in its civil service to improve civil
servants' level of commitment to their jobs in order to improve output. Sustain and improve
on the current ways of recognizing civil servants who perform well in their duties to enable
them to be more committed to the civil service.
Keywords: Commitment, Civil Service, Service delivery, Rivers State,
Performance

INTRODUCTION
The Rivers State civil service consists of the individuals (civil servants) employed by
the state to run its public service apart from political office holders. It is organized around
the twenty-three ministries and parastatals in the state. The civil service in Nigeria is a
bureaucratic structure, originally created by the colonial administrators to facilitate their
exploitation of mineral resources and creation of market for finished industrial products.
The new Encyclopedia Britannica (2013) defines civil service as a body of government
officials who are employed in civil occupations that are neither political nor judicial.
It may also be defined as a group of employees selected and promoted on the
basis of a merit and seniority system, which may include examination. Anazodo (2009)
defines civil service in Nigeria as comprising of workers in various ministries or departments
apart from those who hold political appointments. The Rivers State civil service was
established from the old Rivers state civil service on 1st October, 1967 when the state was
created by the then General Yakubu Gowon military administration, (Sorkaa, 2003).
The civil service is the main instrument and institution of public service delivery
in Rivers State. Traditionally, the civil service performs three functions: supporting the policy
making function of the government, facilitating or regulating the private sector and
providing managerial leadership for operating public sector enterprises, (Herscovitch and
Meyer, 2002). The capacity of the Rivers state civil service to perform its statutory functions
creditably is to a large extent dependent on its organizational culture and employees
commitment to its goals and aspirations. The level of employees' commitment to the
organization is therefore an important factor in determining their overall job performance. It
may also be influenced either positively or negatively by the organizational culture. Thus,
Rivers state civil service is expected to nurture and sustains its culture for the overall
achievement of its goals and aspirations. Hence, leaders in different arms of the state civil
service are expected to have an in-depth knowledge of its culture and harness it to bring about
high level of employees commitment. It is against this background that it becomes
pertinent to examine civil service and problem of civil service delivery in Nigeria: A case study
of Rivers State Ministry of Health (2007-2013).
Statement of the Problem
A civil service with ill-defined or negative culture is usually a breeding ground for
corruption, indolence, nepotism, inefficiency, lack of accountability/transparency, low
productivity, misappropriation and waste of public funds. The absence of a strong civil
service effective service delivery culture in Rivers state, due to poor manpower development,
exposes the state to the aforementioned social vices that may affect civil servants level of
commitment negatively. Apart from organizational service delivery culture, employees
commitment may also be influenced by the extent of their involvement in decision
making and the existence of personnel development programmes.
The continued complaints of low productivity and the demonstrated lack of
commitment and efficiency of the civil service has been an issue of great concern. Various
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efforts have been expended by researcher, in an attempt to find a solution to the problems
of the civil service and also successive government administrations have consistently
increased the remuneration and allowances paid civil employees, still in an attempt to boost
the effectiveness and productivity of it workers, (Anazodo, 2009). However their
productivity levels are unarguably not commensurate with the increment. The question that
may naturally emanate from these is, wha t are the p roblems hampering the effective and
efficient service delivery in Nigeria civil service with reference to Rivers state? And of course
one of such key factors apart from pay that determines employees productivity is the civil
servants' skills and knowledge of the job and again what ultimately determines the
amount of skills and specific knowledge an employee possess, is the level of training on
service delivery received by the employee. As strongly note by Inyang (2001), the civil
service has a penchant recruiting untrained and unqualified personnel and does little or in
most cases makes no attempt to train personnel even after recruiting them.
Objectives of the Study
The purpose of this study is to examine the Civil Service and Problem of Civil Service
Delivery in Nigeria: A Case Study of Rivers State Ministry of Health (2007-2013). .
Specifically, the study attempts to achieve the following:
i. Identify / examine the service delivery effectiveness of the Rivers State Civil Service.
ii. Identify the major problems or challenges to effective service delivery in civil service.
Research Questions
The following research questions shall guide the study:
i.
To what extent is the service delivery of the Rivers State Civil Service effective?
ii.
What are the major problems or challenges to effective service delivery of civil
service in Nigeria?
Research Hypothesis
The null hypothesis formulated and tested in this study is as follows:

HO- There is no significant relationship between employees service delivery


effectiveness and productivity in Rivers state civil service.
Background and Setting of the Study (Rivers State)
Rivers State is one of the 36 states of Nigeria. The state was created in 1967 with the split
of the Eastern Region of Nigeria. It has a population of about 5, 185,400 (Five Million, One
Hundred and Eighty five Thousand, Four Hundred) people and occupies an area of 21,850 sq.
km. Its capital is Port Harcourt and it is bounded on the South by the Atlantic Ocean, to the
North by Imo and Abia States, to the East by Akwa Ibom State and to the West by the Bayelsa
and Delta States. The inland part of Rivers state consists of tropical rainforest; towards the coast
the typical Niger Delta environment features many mangrove swamps. Prior to 1967, Nigeria
had four Regional Governments: Northern, Western, Eastern and Mid-West. The official 2006
population figure of Rivers State conducted by the National Population Commission of Nigeria.

Rivers state was part of the Oil Rivers Protectorate from 1885 till 1893, when it became
part of the Niger Coast Protectorate . In 1900 the region was merged with the chartered
territories of the Royal Niger Company (RNC) to form the colony of Southern Nigeria. It
currently has 23 local government areas.
Rivers State government consists of elected representatives and appointed officials
responsible or the government of Rivers State, Nigeria. The Civil Service is headed by the Head
of Service, a career civil servant, with each ministry headed by a Permanent Secretary. The
Minister is responsible for policy, while the Permanent Secretary provides continuity and is
responsible for operations.
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Conceptual Framework
While organizational service delivery culture refers to the set of values, beliefs and
behaviour patterns that shapes employees behaviour and forms the core identity of the
organization(Lund, 2003), civil servants commitment refers to the willingness of employees
to accept the goals and values of the organization and work towards achieving them,
(Muthuveloo and Rose, 2005). According to Mullins (2007), the culture of an organization
is one of the factors that strategically come together to develop an organization. He stressed
that the culture of an organization, like, the culture of the people can be a motivating
factor in maximizing the value of human capital for organizational success.
Deal and Kennedy (1982) defines service delivery culture as a set of values that
underline how we do our duties around here. Harrison et al (1992) states that organizational
culture refers to a system of shared meaning held by members that distinguish one
organization from others. They stressed that these shared meaning are a set of
characteristics the organization values and the essence can be captured in seven primary
characteristics that exists on a continuum from low to high: innovation and risk taking,
attention to detail, outcome orientation, people orientation, team orientation, aggressiveness
and stability. They concluded that the appraisal of an organization on these seven
characteristics, gives a composite picture of the organization's culture.
The four dimensions of service delivery culture as identified by Harrison et al.,
(1992) include power dimension, role dimension, achievement dimension and support
dimension. The power dimension describes the organization culture based on inequality of
access to redemption. Role dimension focuses mainly on job description and specialization.
Achievement dimension refers to task culture which involves focusing on realizing
organizational goals. The support dimension describes an organizational climate that is based
on neutral trust between the individual and the organization. Some other literatures such as
Meyer
and
Allen
(1991)
identified
communication,
training/development,
rewards/recognition, effective decision making, risk taking for creativity and innovation,
proactive learning, team work, and fairness and consistency in most practice as dimensions of
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organizational culture. However, teamwork, communication, training/development and


reward/recognition are the four dimensions that have greatest effect on employees'
behaviour/commitment (Lau and Idris, 2001).This is the view adopted by this research.
Meyer et al., (1991) identified three types of commitment, namely affective
commitment, continuance commitment and normative commitment. The affective
commitment involves the employees' emotional attachment to identify with and involve in
the organization. The continuance commitment involves commitment based on the cost that
the employee associates with leaving the organization. The normative commitment on its
part involves the employees' feelings of obligation to stay within the organization. Meyer
et al., (1991) stressed further that the three components of organizational commitment are
not mutually exclusive. This means that employees could be simultaneously committed in an
affective, continuance and normative commitments at different levels of intensity. The
employee may have commitment profiles that may reflect high or low levels of all
components. These different profiles would eventually lead to different effects on work place
behaviour and could be influenced by many factors, one of it being organizational culture
(Herseovitch et al, 2002).
Civil Service: Those branches of public service concerned with all governmental administrative
functions outside the armed services. The body of persons employed in these branches. A system
or method of appointing government employees on the basis of competitive examinations, rather
than by political patronage.
Commitment:
Tendency of an employee giving total loyalty to his work with zeal and
desire required in performing such work in order to achieve a given target.
Performance: This is a process of achieving a given standard at a given period of time. It is also
an ability to carry out a given activity effectively and efficiently.
Service delivery: Is a clearly defined customer-based business model that offers a reliable and
readily accessible system. It defines the quality and availability of its product or service and
describes how and when it is delivered. Service delivery lets the customer or client know what to
expect from a service, and it helps them understand a service's scope and how it operates. It
details eligibility, limits to the service, the cost and how to obtain help. Service delivery is used
in virtually all disciplines of business from information technology and medicine to family
services. Companies use service delivery statistics to create innovations based on customer needs
or expectations.
The Evolution of Nigerian Civil Service
Although the pre-colonial institutions existing in Nigeria might have had some
form of service to be equated with civil service, the present Nigerian civil service can be
said to have evolved from the onset of colonial rule (Tagowa, 1999; Balewa 1994). It is a
deja vu that colonial rule was the product of the insatiable appetite of the European
economies for raw materials and markets for the processed industrial goods of Europe. Ekeh
(1978) says greed and lucre were the motive of colonizers. Thus, the motive of colonial
rule was essentially to maintain law and order and to create a conductive environment for
exploitation. The colonial government established a civil service with a limited objective of
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ensuring peaceful administration of the colonized people. At that time the service was
principally dominated by colonial officials as Nigerians were deliberately excluded in the
service, especially the senior cadre. For example, by 1948 only 172 (representing 7%) of
the 2,297 senior civil servants were Nigerians; the proportion hiked to only 19% at
independence (Nicolson 1966).
From that time the civil service witnessed phenomenal growth in number and
service institutions, training and competence levels. There was also a shift in the role of
the service from the control of decision making process to advising on policy matters
and implementation of policy decisions until independence was achieved in 1960. In a
similar vein, the period coincided with the time the unity of the service as a colonial
institution was broken into Federal and Regional Civil services in the wake of the
adoption of the Macpherson Constitution and the quest for the adoption of a "true
Federation" in 1954. The federal and regional (and later the state) governments were to
maintain sovereign civil services loyal and answerable to no other authority than the regional
or state authorities. In this respect the regional/state civil servants considered themselves
equal in role notwithstanding the needs for national integration.
In spite of the brake-up, the civil service of that period continued to remain the
primary source of advice and policy ' implementation. And in terms of structure and
role the service remained the same under the civilian administration of the First Republic.
However, the specter of corruption among the politicians which accelerated from 1962
also found its way into the civil service and became a matter of concern when the military
took over political leadership in 1966.
With the coming of the military there was the suspension of all democratic
institutions, ban on political party activities and party bureaucracies. Secondly, during the
early period of military rule, politicians were kept away from government with permanent
secretaries taking over the mandate of decision-making in addition to their primary role of
advice and implementation. The period also witnessed the dilemma of the civil warwhether Nigeria was to remain united or not. With the east poised for secession, the
military and the civil service had cause to defend the unity of the country throughout the
period of the war. Although civilian commissioners were appointed in June,' 1967, some
of them' felt their position anomalous; they looked forward to the earliest end of the civil
war and an end to military rule. Since the role of the civil servants was to "patriotically
serve the government-of-day to the best of their abilities, the situation led to mutual distrust
between the military and the politicians in government. As a result the military rulers
found convenient ally in the civil service. The top civil servants continued to maintain
highly political positions which turned them political masters rather than civil servants
(Tagowa, 1999; Balewa, 1999).

The Civil Service Reform During the First Republic and National Development
Generally, the political and administrative climate of Nigeria since independence was
characterized by a variety of power coalitions between the civil service and the political
leadership (civilian or military). In assessing the role of the civil service in the postindependence period and its contribution to national development, Olugbemi (1979) and
Omoruyi (1991) conceived of the service as part of a National Dominant Coalition (NDC).
This is a conception which denotes a configuration of whose interest is in hegemonic rule at
a particular point in time. The civilian and military politicians are viewed in the NDC as
other partners in the coalition: a coalition of equal partners with a dominant and dominated
partners at a given historical period. The position which a partner occupies in the coalition is
determined essentially by the balance of power struggle within the coalition (Omoruyi; 1991:10).
Between 1990 and 1965 the civilian politicians as the inheritors of political power from the
colonialists were the centre power. The other partners in the coalitions (the military and
civil services) were merely used to fulfill the specific interest of the civilian politicians. For
example, while the civil service was used for implementation of policies of the politicians,
the military was to stabilize their rule and to curb opposition.
In principle, the goal of this coalition was the same with the objective of
independence, that is, the pursuit of unity and national development. But in reality the
objective of independence was to some extent opposed to the dominant interest of the
politicians themselves. They were more concerned with complimenting the political power
they inherited with economic power. This led to the creation of various institutions and
agencies through which primordial accumulation was ensured, the civil service became the
"conduit pipe through which public funds were diverted to private hands (Omoruyi, 1991:11).
This clearly arrested national development.
Within the trio coalition the civil service was the most junior partner between 1960
and 1965. It was junior to the military even though the military as a political institution
was yet to appear on the political scene. Due to the way the military was used by the
civilian politicians to quell civil riots or displace rival political factions (for examples, in the
western regional crisis of 1962 and the Tiv riots of (1964), the military soon became
politically relevant not only in the power coalition, but also by commitment on the
political plane. This situation it was argued significantly altered the position of the
military in the NDC. (Omoruyi, 1991:130). Consequently, the power of the civilian
politicians was depleted in favour of the military and by extension increased the power of
the civil services.
The Civil Service Reforms from t he Second Republic to 1999
The 1975 purge and the new deflation of power of the top civil servants was seen in
some quarters to have reverted the civil service to its proper place and to its proper place
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and to its traditional role of offering policy advice and implementation of already agreed
policies by the political office holders. This has prepared the way for the perception of the
second republic politicians of what the proper role of the civil service should be. This was
because the major actors in the second republic were the prominent politicians of the first
republic and the same crop of leaders who the senior civil servants relegated to secondary
positions during Gowon regime. The situation again reverted the civil servants to the most
junior partner in the NDC "at a time when a vibrant and result - oriented civil service was
needed to complement the presidential system of government newly introduced by the
1979 constitution. (Omoryi, 1991:20).
The most unfortunate consequence of the 1979 purge which the second republic
suffered was that the purge demoralized and killed the initiative of the civil service.
Secondly, it also generated a feeling of insecurity in the entire service. Thirdly, the
constitutional provision (section 159 (2) (d) of the 1979 constitution) empowered
discretional appointment of anyone outside the service as Permanent Secretary of a ministry.
Despite the re-expansion of the service, the exploitation of this executive prerogative was
viewed by career civil servants as undeserving and unprecedented politicization of the civil
service. This further exacerbated the feeling of insecurity introduced by the 1975 purge.
In the wake of the Buhari coup in 1983, there was a renewed retrenchment. The new
military government saw the retrenchment as a clearing process and a way of reducing
government expenditure on overstaffed and inefficient civil service. This further aggravated
the fears of insecurity in the service with the morale of civil servants sinking to its lowest
ebb. This was a time emphasis was being shifted to the issue of revamping the ailing
economy where the civil service ought to have been more useful.
Perhaps that was why the Dotun Philips Study Team was set up to review the
civil services. Although the central focus of the team was to "examine the adequacy of
the Federal Civil Service its "structure, composition and methods of operation to cope with
the demands of government in the 1980s and beyond, (Omoruyi, 1991).
Attention was paid to how to enhance the moral of the service and make it efficient.
The team submitted its report to the Babangida government in August, 1985. The main
emphasis in the report was how to revamp the economy as a basis for a stable political
order. Unfortunately the implementation of the recommendation of the Study Team started
in 1988 when the Structural Adjustment Programme introduced as an alternative to the
IMF loan was being implemented too. Secondly, the reforms were being implemented
when the government had also introduced a political transition programme with various
institutions in response to the political, cultural and economic needs of the country.
Indeed, the new reforms provide an empirical validation of the nature of the NDC
and the balance of power struggle within the coalition. The military as the dominant faction
in the coalition was interested in pursuing policies and programmes which by their input
promote its identifiable class interest. The pursuit of the Structural Adjustment Programme
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and the botched political transition programme as specific types of socio- economic-cum
political structures formalized such class interest and underscores the logic of the various
changes which the IBB administration imposed on the Nigerian class interest in the pursuit
of governmental programme, the task of the civil service reforms was to redefine a civil
service which is committed and subservient to political leadership (Omoruyi 1991). As put
by Professor Omoruyi, the reforms demand an unequivocal commitment of the civil
service: ... to government policies and programmes under conditions in which control over
the service is both desirable and expedient. Commitment here would seem to imply a
neutrality suggesting, in effect the abandoning of the time honoured but obviously
pretensions tradition of a politically neutral civil service often used as a core by the civil
servants in denying responsibility of the lapses of the administration of which they are part.
(Omoruyi 1991:20)
The imperative of the reforms which centre on accountability and responsibility
of the political leadership and demanding the subservient commitment of the civil service,
thus allows the ruling class to submit "itself to the temptation of dipping its hand directly
into the coffers of government fund, This explains the open looting of government fund
and property, and the acceleration and even' 'legalization' of corrupt practices following
the implementation of the Structural Adjustment Programme and the pretentious political
transition programme of the Babangida administration between 1985 and 1993.
The Civil Service Under t he Current Democratic Order: Impediment to National
Development
Nigeria returned to a democratic presidential system on May 29th, 1999 after a
long period of military interregnum. In fact, the presidential system as it is seems to have
been consciously deigned to prune down the powers of the top civil service. Sections 17 (1)
and
208 (1) of the 1999 Constitution gives the President and the Governors the power of
appointment and removal over the following top civil servants;

the Head of service

Permanent secretaries or the chief executives in any ministry, department or agency


of the government in Nigeria.
This is a clear departure from the previous arrangement or system where such positions are
usually filled by career officials. Moreover, with the present democratic presidentialism, it
means that the President or the Governor has direct personal responsibilities for the
activities of government. It means also that one of the key values of this system is that the
chief executive should be in charge. Generally, there are certain definite changes in the
Nigeria civil service deriving from the introduction of this presidential system of
government. We have already stated that the presidential system of government gives the
power of hire and fire over the top civil service.
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Another major element in the present system is the introduction of the concept of
federal character. According to Sorkaa (2000), this simply a reference to quest for a
representative civil service. He maintains that the whole essence is to consciously have the
composition of the Nigerian civil service to reflect the different major groups and geopolitical units that make Nigeria.
The concept of federal character has been eloquently concretized in the 1999
constitution. For example, section 14 (3) says that: The composition of the Government of the
Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner
as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria. This is meant to promote national unity by
ensuring that people from a few states or ethnic groups do not dominate governmental
affairs. The states, local governments and their agencies are supposed to also adhere to the
federal character principle. Over all, the rationale behind the introduction of the federal
character concept is quite plausible. However, the main problem with it is the manner of
its implementation. Many times, those appointed into the civil service positions are not
even the best material from their areas, but are qualified due to their political affiliations.
It shows that merit is sometimes neglected or relegated and nonentities found themselves
saddled with responsibilities they could hardly perform. Clearly this undermines the
development process.
Summary of the Literature Review
This literature review has demonstrated that the civil service is a key machinery
in the implementation of government policies towards accomplishing overall national
development goals. Perhaps, this informs the government to embark on series of reforms of
the service. However, as revealed by this paper, the intentions of the various reforms have
failed to reposition the service for effective service delivery in the country. Today, the
Nigerian state and people are still faced with the problem of development.
There is therefore the need to embark on realistic, workable and practical reforms
that have human face rather than the usual cosmetic approaches. First of all there is need for
the government to create enabling conditions of service. This has to do with ensuring
adequate pay package and other economic incentives. If this is duly and religiously
implemented, civil servants will be discouraged from using unethical means in getting
economic benefits from clients and the public in general. In fact, the current national
minimum wage of N18,000.00, should be increased to N50,000 as a starting point.
Finally, there is also the need to promote sound policies on recruitment, training
and retraining of civil servants for effective service delivery. These polices will contribute
immensely to enhancing and promoting professionalism, and ethical, values of honesty,
integrity, confidentiality, political neutrality, accountability, discipline and transparency in
the conduct of government business. Recruitment and promotion or advancement on the Job
should be strictly based on meritocracy, performance and achievement.

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Research Methodology
This section deals with mechanisms for gathering of information for analysis of data.
This involves the determination of the research approach, research population, sampling
techniques and sample size, data sources and collection techniques, questionnaire construction
and administration and data analysis technique.
The population of study consists of the entire 810 civil servants in the ministry of
health out of the 23 ministries and parastatals in Rivers State. The sample size was chosen to
involve at least five (5) cadres of staff in the Rivers State Ministry, Port Harcourt. The sample
selection of the respondents recognized by the population was done randomly through a
probabilistic sampling technique involving deterministic deduction. The sample size was
determined as follows:
Medical staff
20
Management staff
16
Para-medical staff
16
Middle management staff
17
General staff
12
Total
81
Therefore, the sample size =
81 Staff
The collection of data was based on two sources
i)
Primary Sources, and
ii)
Secondary Sources.
Primary data were generated from samples of the study. The instruments used to source
these data were structured and unstructured questionnaire as well as random interviews of the
staff of the Rivers State Ministry, Port Harcourt. The secondary source of data consisted of desk
research reviews of related literature which formed the foundation of this study; they were
derived from standard texts, academic and professional journals. The tool of data analysis
included: Simple averages, percentages and ranking which have been proved to be useful
mathematical tools in data analysis as well as students' t-test..

RESULTS
A sample of 81 staff from the Rivers State Ministry of Health was drawn for the study,
for which the sample elements consisted of 5 cadres of staff medical, (management, paramedical, middle management and general staff ). Accordingly, 81 copies of questionnaire were
administered on the staff of the Rivers State Ministry of Health. Out of the 81 copies of
questionnaire administered, 79 copies were retrieved and after going through them 77 (i.e. 95%
response rate) copies were found useful for data analysis.
Table 1:
Options

Administration and Retrieval of Questionnaire from the Respondents


Number
of Number
of Number
of Response
Questionnaire
Questionnaire
questionnaire
Rate
Administered
Retrieved from found
useful
Respondents
for the study
Medical staff
20
19
19
95 %
11

Management staff
16
Para-medical staff
16
Middle
management 17
staff
General staff
12
Total
81
Source: Survey Data, 2014

16
15
17

16
15
16

100%
93%
94%

12
79

11
77

92%
95%

Table 1 reveals how the copies of questionnaire were distributed to the sampled elements
in the Rivers State Ministry of Health, the number generated there from and the number found
useful/relevant/valid for the data analysis. The data analysis indicated that 20 copies of
questionnaire were administered on the respondents of medical staff segment and 19 copies of
them were actually retrieved, and 19 copies of questionnaire were found relevant, this represents
95% response rate of this segment. Equally, 16 copies of questionnaire were administered on
the management staff in the Rivers state Ministry of Health, 16 copies were collected from
them, after going through them all the 16 copies (i.e. 100% response rate) were found useful for
the study. From the Para-medical staff of the Ministry of Health; 16 copies of questionnaire
were administered on them, and 15 copies retrieved, and 15 copies (representing 93% response
rate) were found useful for the study. Also, 17 copies of questionnaire were administered on the
middle management staff in the Rivers state Ministry of Health and after going through them 16
copies of questionnaire (i.e. 94% response rate) were found useful in this segment. For the
respondents in General staff cadre ; 12 copies of questionnaire were administered on them, and
12 copies returned while only 11 copies of questionnaire (representing 95% response rate) were
found useful for the study.
In all, the study administered 81 copies of questionnaire were administered on the staff
Rivers state Ministry of Health, while 79 copies of questionnaire were actually retrieved from the
respondents. However, after editing the copies of questionnaire 77 copies (representing 95%
response rate) were found useful for the data analysis in this study.
Demographic Characteristics of the Respondents
Table 2:
Sex of the Respondents
Options
Number of Respondents
Male
47
Female
30
Total
77
Source: Survey Data, 2014.

Percentage Response
61%
39%
100%

Table 2 shows that the respondents were made up of 61% male and 39% female.
Table 3: Respondents Years of Civil Service (Working Experience).
Options
Numbers of Respondents
Percentage
Response
Under 5 Years
6
8
6 10 Years
15
19
11 15Years
12
16
12

16 20 Years
21 Years and above
Total
Source: Survey Data, 2014.

39
5
77

51
6
100

Table.3 Shows that 8% of the respondents have been in the civil service for less than 5
years while 19% of the respondents have been in the ministry for 6 to 10 years. Equally, table 3
reveals that 16% of the respondents have been in the civil service for 11 to 15 years and 51% of
the respondents have stayed in the civil service for 16 to 20 years while 6% of the respondents
have been in the civil service for 21 years and above.
Table 3.4: Level of Education/Qualifications of the Respondents
Options
Numbers
of
Respondents
PGD
11
HND /B.A. / B.Sc. / B.Ed.
32
Masters
12
Ph.D
5
O' Level / OND / Others
17
Total
77
Source: Survey Data, 2013.

Percentage Response
14
41
16
7
22
100

Table 3.4 shows that 14% of the respondents have PGD; 41% of them have HND /B.A. /
B.Sc. / B.Ed.; while 16% of the respondents have Masters. Table 3.4 equally shows that 7% of
the respondents have Ph.D, while 22% of the respondents have O' Level / OND / Others.

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Table 5: Frequency Distribution of Civil Servants Responses and


Percentages on Service Delivery in Rivers State Civil Service
QUESTIONNAIRE ITEMS

YES

NO

Have you acquired any additional


qualification after employment?

10

13.3

65

86.77

Wish to go for further studies?

70

93.3

6.7

Have financial ability to go for


further studies?

15

20

60

80

Currently on or previously received a


scholarship for further studies?

9.4

68

90.6

Already in school through personal


effort?
Have you required qualification to
pursue further education?

20

26.7

55

73.3

15

20

60

80

Anti bribery and corruption


investigations?
Have you ever attendedtraining
workshop/refresher course?

9.4

68

90.8

10

13.3

65

86.6

Have you been encouraged by


government to join a professional body?

12

16

63

84

10

Attend re-training exercises regularly

10

13.3

65

86.7

11

Implementing new government


50
policies is sometimes difficult
especially when key changes in skills are
involved?

66.7

25

33.3

6
7
8

14

12

Retraining exercise avails you the


opportunity of acquiring new skills and
knowledge to cope with new policies?

54

72

16

28

13

Would you wish to join a professional


body and acquire its certificate?
Personal efforts made to develop self
are geared toward gaining promotion
than acquiring new skills and
knowledge?
Usually receive periodic examination
or study leave to allow you concentrate
on your studies or exams?

55

73.3

20

26.7

56

74.7

19

25.3

25

33.3

50

66.7

14

15

Source: Survey Data, 2014


As shown in the table 5 (above), 10 out of 15 items on the negative (no) category
scored above 50% while on the positive (yes) category only five were above 50%. The
method of data analysis described in the study stated that any questionnaire item that has the
percentage of 50 and above is said to have a great impact on effective service delivery in the
civil service and productivity in the civil service. Civil servants occupy centre stage in the
implementation of government policies; there is therefore a need to regularly expose them
to training and retraining workshops and to exercises to equip them with new and relevant
skills, ideas and knowledge. Civil employees also need to be encouraged to take up
academic and professional programme by awarding them scholarship. But however, as
indicated on table 5 above, it is observe civil servants do not have such provisions or
opportunity, hence the items scoring 50% and above is more on the negative.
Table 6:

Problems/Challenges to Effective Service Delivery in Rivers


State Civil Service represented by the Ministry of Health
(2007-2013)
Options
Number
of Percentage
Rating
respondents
outcome
N = 77
Administrative bottleneck
62
80%
4th
Misappropriation and waste of public
55
72%
5th
funds
Lack of accountability/transparency
64
83%
3rd
Bribery and corruption
72
93%
1st
Interference of sentiments with judgment/
72
93%
1st
bias
Low productivity
67
87%
2nd
Bureaucracy
67
87%
2nd
Multiple Responses
15

Source: Survey Data, 2014


Table 6 shows that the respondents selected Bribery and corruption and interference of
sentiments with judgement as the first set of problems or challenges to the effective service
delivery in Rivers State Civil Service, these have been indicated by 93% of the respondents. The
next option selected by the respondents as a major problems or challenges to the effective
service delivery in Rivers State Civil Service are low productivity' and 'Bureaucracy', 87% of
the respondents indicated these options placing the options 2 nd in the ranking. Other problems or
challenges to the effective service delivery in Rivers State Civil Service identified by the
respondents include:

Lack of accountability/transparency selected by 83% of the respondents rated 3rd.

Administrative bottleneck selected by 80% of the respondents placing the option 4th.
and
misappropriation and waste of public funds indicated by 72% placing the options
5th in the rating of the problems/challenges to effective service delivery in Rivers
State Civil Service.

Test of Hypothesis
HO- There is no significant relationship between employees service delivery
effectiveness and productivity in Rivers state civil service.
Table 7 : t-test comparison of the responses of civil s e r v a n t s who a r e
i n v o l v e d i n service delivery effectiveness and those who
are not involved
t-test: paired two sample for means
Variable 1

Variable2

Mean

47.5

27.5

Variance

441

441

Observation

Pearson correlation

-1

Hypothesized mean
difference
Df

0
3

T stat

0.952380952

P(T < = t)one tail

0.205582468

T critical one tail

2.353363016

P(T < = t)two tail

0.411164936

T critical two tail

3.18244291

Analyzing the t-test at 95% confidence interval, the null hypothesis that there is no
significant relationship between employees service delivery effectiveness and
productivity in Rivers state civil service was accepted because t-(t critical one tail = 2.353)
16

is greater than t- (t calculated = 09523).


Discussion of Findings
The result of the analysis on table 5 revealed that the percentage of response score of
the questionnaire that are above 50% are more on the negative side than those on the
positive side. This finding is consistent with the findings of Lau and Idris (2001), Boon and
Arumugam (2006) and Nystron (1993) where they all found that significant relationship
exist between service delivery culture and employees organizational commitment. A
plausible reason for the finding could be the present state of high unemployment rate in
Rivers state may have elicited more commitment from civil servants as a way keeping their
jobs. Another plausible reason could be that employees tend to be more committed to an
organization where the service delivery culture such as values and beliefs are closely related
to the employees personal values and beliefs or vice versa.
The result of the data analysis also revealed that civil servants are not given the
opportunity to attend training workshops and refresher courses which are necessary to
provide them with new and relevant skills and knowledge to cope with new challenges and
organizational or policy changes that may occur in the civil service. The results of the data
analysis aptly agrees with the studies of Inyang (2002) who observed that the civil service
has a penchant for recruiting untrained and unqualified staff and does little or nothing about
training or improving their productive capacities even after recruiting them. The study further
revealed
that
bottlenecks,
indolence,
nepotism,
inefficiency,
lack
of
accountability/transparency, low productivity, misappropriation and waste of public funds are
very conspicuous in the civil service . These findings agree with what Al-Roweitei, (2004) calls
ingredients of civil service inertia in Nigeria.
Conclusion
Service delivery effectiveness provides the requisite skills, ideas, attitudes and
knowledge to perform current job assignments and tasks effectively. This has an immediate
impact on productivity. Development activities also enhance future and continuing
productivity and growth by equipping employees with skills and knowledge for future jobs
challenges. In the nut shell, civil service delivery offers employees skills and knowledge
required to effectively enhance their productive capacities to meet present and future
organizational challenges and task. Based on the findings of this research, it can be
concluded that organizational culture is related to employees' commitment in the Rivers
state civil service. It can further be concluded that there are significant differences in the
commitment of employees of different sex, ages and length of service in the Rivers state
civil service. In summary, the findings of this study provide some understanding on the
importance of service delivery culture on civil servants commitment in a formal work
environment.
17

Recommendations
In the light of the findings and conclusion of this study, it is recommended that Rivers
state government should:
1. Improve on the current reward system in its civil service to improve civil
servants' level of commitment to their jobs as well as improve output.
2. Sustain and improve on the current ways of recognizing civil servants who perform
well in their duties to enable them to be more committed to the civil service.
3. Sustain and improve on the level of teamwork or sprit among civil servants by
organizing team building programs or exercises for them.
4. Improve on the current training and development programmes for civil
servants to enhance efficiency and effective in public service delivery.
5. Improve on the current channels of communication existing within the state civil
service by creating and building trust through open communication and dialogue.
6. Involve civil servants in decisions making on issues that concern them to ensure
a sense of ownership on part of civil servants in the execution of government policies.
7. The anti-graft war should be pursued with vigour and without selection. This has the
potency of exposing corrupt public office holders, and ensuring that justice is not only
done, but seen to be upheld, thus serving as deterrent to potential offenders. This can
assist in redressing the prevalence of corruption in the public service as identified by
some civil service reform panels.

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