Editorial
Celebrating The Civil Service
As the Civil Service in Rivers State
plans to observe the 2014 Civil Service
Week between July 13-14, 2014, the plight of civil servants across the country comes to the radar. The question on the lips of industry watchers is what has changed since the commencement of the annual celebration that is expected to draw attention to the service.
Indeed, the Tangier Declaration put together by all African countries to commemorate African Day of Administration and Civil Service on every June 23 has become more of a sad reminder of the state of the civil service in Africa.
Nigeria started marking the declaration at the inception of the Fourth Republic in 1999. Unlike the previous years when the celebration runs for one week, the 2014 Civil Service Week is being celebrated across the country in low key, in deference to the mood of the nation; especially the state of insecurity in the northern part of the country.
The civil service week is aimed at appreciating members of the civil service for their invaluable services and contributions to the administration of the country. These they often render at the risk of their lives and under harsh conditions and poor welfare arrangements.
We are pleased to join other well meaning persons to salute the civil service across Africa for their perseverance, understanding as well as sense of duty and commitment even in the face of protracted political misadventure and bad governance in some African countries.
The theme for this year’s Civil Service Day: “… Values and Principles in Administration: Tools for Good Governance,” is particularly apt as it is critical to the sustenance of a viable and focused civil service. It is expected that civil servants will use the period to focus on the promotion and sustenance of good governance in the country.
While we appreciate some recent reforms, especially under the present administration, such as the N18,000 Minimum Wage for workers and the new pension scheme, we want to state that the civil service is still far from the ideal. As key players in the governance of the land, civil servants deserve better treatment in terms of, remunerations, and benefits.
It is only natural that as the civil service opts to do a low-key celebration this year, as a mark of respect for the mood of the nation, the nation should also be concerned about the mood of the civil service. It is indeed sad that successive governments fail to see the plight of the service even when its failings tend to rubbish governance.
The Tide is touched by insinuations that many States are yet to implement the N18,000 Minimum Wage years after it was signed into law. Such act does not only constitute an infringement on workers’ right but tends to promote inefficiency and corruption in the service.
Meanwhile, incentives like car and housing loans that used to constitute part of the welfare packages for civil servants are no longer there. It is high time the country returned to the situation that made the civil service a place of pride.
In Rivers State, it will not be out of place for the State Government to move Directors to Grade Level 17 to enable the civil servants in the State come to par with their counterparts in other States of the federation.
We must also note that as the engine of government the civil service needs to be circumspect in their dealings with politicians. A situation where some civil servants have become willing tools in the hands of politicians, with some even serving as conduit for corrupt practices is sad, retrogressive, unacceptable and against good conscience.
While we felicitate with the Nigerian civil servants, especially those in Rivers State, they must recommit to the service of the nation, no matter the current state of affairs. The fact is clear, that very soon even the service in Nigeria will achieve global best practice.
There are moments in the life of a legislature when plain speaking becomes a public service. Senator Adams Oshiomhole provided such a moment on the floor of the Senate when he accused the Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, of manifestly neglecting critical federal arteries in Edo and Delta States, and implored his colleagues to prevail on the Minister to adopt a more equitable and genuinely national approach to road infrastructure delivery. It was blunt, it was uncomfortable, and it was necessary.
The specifics of his complaint deserve restating. Drawing attention to the recent approval of some 20 new road projects despite the parlous state of existing ones, the former Edo State governor lamented that Nigerians cannot travel from Benin to Warri, Benin to Asaba, Benin to Auchi, or Auchi to Okene without encountering severe distress. He alleged a deliberate omission of these corridors from the national budget in the last three years, save for palliative interventions directed by President Bola Tinubu through tax credit arrangements. His question — “What have we done wrong?” — resonates far beyond the chambers of the National Assembly.
We lend our full and unequivocal support to that call. The Auchi-Benin Road, for instance, has been in a deplorable and near-impassable condition for several years, turning what should be a two-hour journey into an all-day ordeal of broken axles, extortionate fares, and despondent commuters. The media have, on multiple occasions, chronicled the suffering of motorists, traders, and students who ply that route. To describe it as a federal road today is to stretch the meaning of the term beyond recognition.
This pattern of sidelining is not confined to Edo or Delta. Even here in Rivers State, the disposition of the Federal Ministry of Works has left much to be desired, particularly along the Eleme axis of the East-West Road. That road, which ought to be a flagship of federal presence in the Niger Delta, has remained in a wretched state for long. Those who use it daily — workers at the Eleme Petrochemical Complex, the two refineries, Onne Port, and the countless ancillary industries — can attest to its deterioration. Work has proceeded in fits and starts without the sustained urgency such a strategic road demands.
The Eleme stretch is not a mere intra-state byway. It is the gateway to the nation’s economic jugular. According to the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing’s 2023 Highway Condition Survey, only about 35 per cent of the country’s 36,000 kilometres of federal roads are rated as being in good or fair condition, with the remainder classified as poor or very poor. The East-West Road, conceived in the 1970s to bind the entire Niger Delta, remains unfinished in critical sections more than four decades after. If it had been treated as a priority, the perennial gridlock, carnage, and economic loss on the Eleme-Refinery junction would have long been consigned to history.
The irony is as painful as it is glaring. The Niger Delta remains the goose that lays the golden eggs. Data from the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative [NEITI 2023 Oil and Gas Audit] show that the region still accounts for over 78 per cent of Nigeria’s federally collected export earnings and about 65 per cent of total government revenue. The National Bureau of Statistics [NBS Foreign Trade Report Q4 2024] similarly confirms that crude oil continues to dominate export receipts. By every metric of equity and economic logic, a region that sustains the national purse deserves first-rate consideration in the allocation of infrastructure, not afterthoughts and tokenism.
Road infrastructure is not largesse to be dispensed by favour; it is the skeleton upon which commerce, cohesion, and citizenship hang. When contracts are concentrated in one geopolitical zone while other zones are left to contend with craters, it erodes trust in the federation itself. The World Bank’s Nigeria Development Update [June 2023] estimated that poor transport connectivity inflates the cost of moving goods by up to 40 per cent and costs the Nigerian economy an estimated $1.5 billion annually in lost man-hours and vehicle maintenance. If we profess to be one country, then equity must be the compass that guides key institutions before any project is executed. Development must spread round, not pool in one place as though other regions do not matter.
There is also a grave security dimension that can no longer be ignored. The deplorable condition of federal roads has become a veritable enabler of criminality. The NBS Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey reported over 2.5 million incidents of kidnapping-related occurrences nationally, with transport workers identifying bad road spots as prime ambush points. When vehicles are forced to crawl at 10 kilometres per hour through failed sections at Auchi, Sapele Road, or Eleme, they become sitting ducks for armed gangs. Fixing bad roads, therefore, is not merely about convenience; it is about safeguarding lives.
By his intervention, Senator Oshiomhole has hit the nail on the head and reminded Minister Umahi of a fundamental constitutional truth: public office is held in trust. The Ministry of Works is not a personal estate where contracts are awarded according to whim or political convenience. It is a national institution funded by the collective resources of Nigerians, including the oil and gas rents from the very communities whose roads are now neglected. The Minister must demonstrate balance, transparency, and a pan-Nigerian outlook in the distribution of projects that impact the daily existence of citizens. Selective neglect breeds suspicion, and suspicion is corrosive at a time when the nation is preaching unity, oneness, equity, and justice.
Consequently, the National Assembly must go beyond rhetoric and assert its oversight powers with vigour. Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution [as amended] empower the legislature to investigate and expose any maladministration in the execution of federal projects. If an office holder is not acting rightly, it is the duty of the Senate and the House of Representatives to call him to order. Oversight must not be reduced to budget approval ceremonies; it must translate to field verification, public hearings, and insistence that the Federal Character principle, as enshrined in Section 14(3) of the Constitution, reflects in road awards.
Let the Auchi-Okene, Benin-Warri, Benin-Asaba, and Eleme East-West gangways be restored to motorable dignity. Let priority be given to completing existing, economically vital roads before embarking on new ones. If those who, through their resources, sustain the federation are sidelined in the distribution of tangible dividends, it tells poorly of our nationhood. Bad roads must be fixed, and they must be fixed now, with fairness as the guiding standard.
