By Ben Ngwakwe, Gombe
The Director-General, Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), Dasuki Ibrahim Arabi, has said the success of Nigeria’s democracy should no longer be measured principally by elections and peaceful transfers of power, but by the ability of government to translate political authority into tangible improvements in the lives of citizens.
Arabi, who made the assertion while presenting a paper at the 2nd International Conference organised by the Department of Public Administration, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Gombe State University, Gombe, said the public service remained the critical machinery through which government policies, programmes and promises were converted into services and public value.
Speaking on the theme of public service, democratic governance and service delivery, the BPSR boss argued that elections were necessary components of democracy but were not sufficient indicators of democratic success.
According to him, citizens expect government to provide responsive institutions, protect rights, manage public resources responsibly and deliver measurable improvements in human welfare.
He said: “The primary purpose of government is to improve the quality of life of citizens. To do this, Ministries, Departments and Agencies are established to provide services to the people.
“The public service is the only contact that most people have with government. Therefore, the performance of the public service is, in many respects, the performance of government itself.”
Arabi explained that the relationship between democracy and public service delivery was direct, stressing that political decisions and ambitious commitments of elected leaders could only become meaningful when supported by a professional, capable and accountable public service.
He described the public service as “the machinery that converts political power into public value,” noting that the chain moves from political decisions to public service capacity, policies and programmes, and ultimately to tangible benefits for citizens.
He warned that when service delivery fails, the gap between democratic expectations and citizens’ lived experiences widens, thereby weakening public confidence in government.
Conversely, he said, effective service delivery strengthens democratic legitimacy because citizens could see and experience the benefits of government.
Beyond who governs:
The BPSR Director-General said the 2027 general elections offered Nigeria an opportunity to move the political conversation beyond the traditional contest over who would occupy political offices and which political party would win elections.
He challenged political parties, candidates, civil society organisations, the media and voters to place public service reform and measurable service delivery commitments at the centre of the 2027 electoral discourse.
He said Nigerians should be asking not only who would govern, but what kind of government and public service system would enable the country to achieve better outcomes.
According to him, “The 2027 General Elections therefore present an important opportunity to reconsider what Nigerians should demand from their democracy.
“The electoral conversation should extend beyond the traditional questions of who will govern and which political party will win. It should increasingly address a more fundamental question: what kind of government and public service system will enable Nigeria to deliver better outcomes for its citizens?”
He identified regular electoral cycles, constitutional government and expanded political participation as some of the gains recorded since the beginning of the Fourth Republic in 1999.
However, he said Nigeria continued to grapple with challenges in basic services, institutional capacity, accountability, infrastructure, education, healthcare, security and economic opportunities.
Who is a public servant?
Arabi also broadened the definition of a public servant, saying the public service was wider than the conventional civil service.
He explained that everyone whose salary was drawn from public funds could be regarded as a public servant, including elected and appointed political office holders, legislators, judges, university lecturers, doctors, nurses, members of the armed forces, police personnel and career civil servants.
He stressed that while all civil servants were public servants, the public service extended beyond the civil service to include various institutions and personnel responsible for the functioning of the state.
He identified the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and Federal Civil Service Commission among the central institutions involved in managing the federal public service.
Calls for EPIC public service culture:
The BPSR boss advocated an “EPIC” culture in the public service, with the acronym representing Efficient, Productive, Incorruptible and Citizen-centred.
He explained that an efficient public service should deliver more with available resources and reduce bureaucratic delays, while a productive service should operate with clear job schedules, key performance indicators and defined timelines.
An incorruptible service, he added, must protect public resources and maintain integrity in official transactions, while a citizen-centred service must place citizens at the heart of government operations and respond effectively to their complaints and grievances.
He also identified transparency, equity, inclusiveness, rationality, effectiveness, grievance redress, continuous learning, adaptability and resilience as important attributes of a modern public service.
According to him, public servants have four critical responsibilities: advising political leaders, implementing government decisions, drafting legislation and regulations, and delivering government programmes and services.
He urged public servants to meet the responsibilities attached to their offices, protect public funds, observe due process, treat citizens fairly and continuously improve their professional competence through training.
Leadership must drive implementation
Arabi maintained that government leadership must move beyond making policy declarations to ensuring that policies were actually implemented.
He said leadership in government was fundamentally an execution responsibility, stressing that “a priority without an owner is only an intention.”
According to him, managers often focus on immediate tasks, while effective leaders must understand the wider system, anticipate challenges, coordinate institutions and create mechanisms that can continue delivering results even in their absence.
He identified five key leadership actions required for effective public service delivery: prioritising government objectives, aligning institutions and functions, removing barriers to implementation, reviewing progress and taking corrective action when necessary.
“Vision without systems depends on people. Systems without vision lose purpose. Great leaders do both,” he said.
He further identified six conditions for successful reform delivery: political sponsorship, clear ownership, proper sequencing, institutional alignment, quick wins and continuous review and adaptation.
Arabi warned that reforms often fail not because the ideas were necessarily wrong, but because implementation remained the most difficult stage of the reform process.
Service delivery remains the ultimate test:
The BPSR boss defined service delivery as the practical process through which public programmes, goods and infrastructure reach citizens.
He said effective service delivery covered critical areas such as healthcare, education, security, energy, roads and transportation, as well as digital government services.
He listed people-centredness, equity, inclusiveness, rationality, efficiency, transparency, grievance redress, effectiveness, sustainability, integrity and continuous improvement as essential principles of public service delivery.
He said an efficient and predictable public service could also encourage private-sector investment by creating confidence in government institutions and reducing uncertainty.
Six decades of reforms
Arabi traced Nigeria’s public service reform efforts to several commissions and initiatives introduced over the decades.
He cited the Morgan Commission of 1963, Elwenkun Commission of 1966, Adebo Commission of 1971, Udoji Commission of 1974, Dotun Philips Panel of 1985, Civil Service Reform Decree 43 of 1988 and Ayida Panel of 1995.
He said the reform trajectory had evolved from concerns over salaries and wages to productivity, professionalisation, performance management and structural reforms.
According to him, the post-1999 era witnessed several major initiatives, including reforms under the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, the Seven-Point Agenda under Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, personnel and financial management reforms under the Goodluck Jonathan administration, and the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan under Muhammadu Buhari.
He identified the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System, Government Integrated Financial Management Information System, Performance Management System and National Strategy for Public Service Reform among the major instruments introduced to improve public sector performance.
Why reforms continue to struggle:
Despite decades of reforms, Arabi said Nigeria still faced significant obstacles to effective public service delivery.
He identified lack of strong political will, inadequate stakeholder buy-in, poor planning and design, insufficient resources, weak implementation capacity, inadequate monitoring and evaluation, corruption, vested interests and disparities in pay and compensation as major impediments.
He also cited weaknesses in public financial management, inadequate funding, technical and managerial capacity gaps, resistance to change and challenges associated with monetisation policies.
The electricity sector, he noted, continued to face problems relating to inadequate supply, gas availability, funding, sabotage and post-privatisation labour disputes.
More broadly, he said widespread poverty, weak political commitment and the absence of a constitutionally empowered agency with responsibility for coordinating reforms had continued to affect the sustainability of reform initiatives.
2027 reform agenda
Looking ahead, Arabi proposed an eight-point reform agenda for the government that would emerge from the 2027 elections.
The agenda includes strengthening political commitment to reform; digitising government processes; establishing a clear career management framework; improving pay, incentives and rewards; modernising human resource practices; encouraging innovation and responsible risk-taking; creating public-private staff exchange programmes; and providing adequate funding and continuous capacity development.
He stressed that reform should not be viewed as a one-off exercise but as a continuous process requiring institutional commitment across successive administrations.
He also advocated the use of performance management systems to link career progression and promotion with measurable results.
Campaign promises must become governance commitments:
Arabi proposed an implementation roadmap beginning before the 2027 elections and extending into the first two years of the next administration.
He called on civil society organisations to publish service-delivery baseline reports for states and local government areas, while political parties should incorporate measurable public service reform commitments into their manifestos.
He also urged the media to organise debates around public service reform and service delivery to enable voters to assess candidates on their capacity to deliver rather than merely on political rhetoric.
For the post-election transition period, he proposed a comprehensive civil service audit, establishment of an appropriate reform coordination mechanism and development of a national digital public infrastructure strategy.
Within the first 100 days of a new administration, he advocated publication of measurable performance indicators by Ministries, Departments and Agencies, as well as regular citizen engagement.
What Nigerians should demand:
Arabi said the next government should be judged against measurable outcomes in governance, agriculture and food security, security, economic growth, infrastructure, energy, education, healthcare, social investment, industrialisation, digital economy and innovation.
The central questions, he said, should be whether public services reached citizens quickly and fairly, whether food was available and affordable, whether communities felt safe, whether economic opportunities were expanding, whether roads and transportation systems worked, and whether schools and hospitals were delivering quality services.
He urged political leaders, civil society, the media and citizens to collectively promote a reform agenda centred on effective public service delivery.
Among other measures, he advocated depoliticisation of the public service, digital transformation, performance management, citizen participation and stronger local government institutions.
Need for continuity
The BPSR boss called for legislative backing for major public service reforms to ensure that important policies survived changes in government.
He also advocated multi-stakeholder oversight involving civil society, the private sector and citizens, as well as quarterly public reporting of reform progress.
According to him, institutional reforms should not depend solely on executive orders that could easily be reversed by succeeding administrations.
He further identified global trends that Nigeria could adapt, including digitalisation and e-government, artificial intelligence and automation, agile governance, open government, citizen engagement, open data and data-driven decision-making.
Arabi concluded that the ultimate test of Nigeria’s democratic journey would be the extent to which government institutions delivered tangible improvements in the lives of citizens.
He said the 2027 general elections should therefore become more than a contest for political power, describing them as an opportunity for Nigerians to demand a government and public service capable of delivering measurable results.
In his words, “2027 will be a referendum on service delivery and governance quality.”
