DISCIPLINARY PROCEDURE AND JOB PERFORMANCE OF CIVIL SERVANTS IN LAGOS AND ONDO STATES (2005-2015)TABLE OF CONTENT

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background to the Study

The Civil Service is an indispensable instrument for the implementation of government policies and programmes. This is because it is through the instrumentality of Civil Service that government policies are translated into services for the people (Maikudi, 2012). On this note, Ugwu-olo (2007) averred that the success or failure of any policy of government is a function of the disposition of the civil servants to its implementation. Similarly, Abasili (2008) argued that no matter how well articulated government programmes may be, they cannot be successfully implemented without effective administrative machinery whose technical competence, loyalty and commitment should translate ministerial policies and programmes into action.
Put differently, there is little or no hope of success in the delivery of Services if the Civil Servants are not professional or ethical in their conducts. According to Gildenhuys (1991), poor, dishonest management of public affairs and corruption (immoral acts) are among the most common manifestations of unethical conduct. Maladministration and corruption in the public sector are usually widely broadcast and exaggerated, largely because the public sector is run with taxpayers’ money. For practitioners in the public sector, especially for public supervisors, it is important that there be guidelines for administering and directing the public service in other toplace subordinates on the right track so as to prevent corruption and eliminate maladministration. It is worthy to note that the Civil Service is the heart, nucleus and core of the public service. The strength and efficiency of the Civil Service are vital to the success of the government machinery as a whole. It is the loyalty and commitment of members of the Civil Service which ensures the effective translation into action of ministerial policies and programs.

The Nigerian Civil Service has its roots in the British system. Lagos and Ondo state Civil Service came into existence with the creation of each state in 1967 and 1976 respectively. Unfortunately, Nigerian Civil Service, and the Civil Service of the component states have had their fair share of political impasse with sundry reforms, thus altering their normal course.
The primary function of the Civil Service in Nigeria is to implement government policies and programmes. The ability of Civil Servants to perform this function effectively depends largely on the quality of training, motivation, integrity of the judges (supervisors) and other players.
Salisu (2011:67) opined that the traditional roles of the Civil servant in Nigeria has been diluted by the politicization of the Civil Service in recent years thereby undermining its credibility and integrity. Presidents and state governors tend to listen more to their close political supporters and associates than to professional Civil Servants because they are associated with inefficiency, ineffectiveness, corruption, self-centred and lack of accountability as such, government and the society no longer have confidence and trust in them.

The gross indiscipline among the rank and file of Civil Servants, makes it necessary to have disciplinary measures for the purpose of improving employees’ performance on the job. Many factors such as motivation, training, poor work environment, inadequate information on employees’ feedback, discrimination and biased judgment to mention a few have contributed to employee low job performance. Supervisors who are faced with problems of correcting the abnormalities of their subordinates, to a large extent, think that formal discipline is the only method they can apply to deal with poor performance and unacceptable behaviour.
While some employee seem to think that supervisors take pleasure in meting out punishment the truth is that it is usually a dreaded exercise. However, it can often be done in an effective way. When employee discipline is done properly, it would not generate hurt feelings or resentments. On the other hand, when it is not done properly, it is often seen as unfair and can actually result in low job performance. Therefore, supervisors who impose discipline need to be disciplined and trained for the purpose of achieving disciplinary objective. This is because the primary objective of discipline is to correct certain behaviour or misconduct in respect of job performance and not punishment. This requires that the employees have adequate information (feedback) about their current performance, attendance or behaviour vis-a-vis the desired performance, (Aguinis, Joo and Gohfredson, 2011, Aguinis 2009). It is against this background that the study examines the disciplinary procedure and job performance among civil servants in Lagos and Ondo States.

Statement of the Problem
There have been claims and counter claims that the appropriate disciplinary process is not usually followed in the handling of cases involving civil servants. Many extra- legalistic factors were alleged to have been glossed over in the disciplinary procedure. There were insinuations that no efforts were made to investigate factors such as, why there is change in employee behaviour/attitude. Hence, many cases were alleged not to have been properly investigated before conclusion were drawn, such as that of Mrs. Ojikutu vs. Lagos State Ministry of Youth and Sports.(see pg 17)
There were suspicions that lapses in the disciplinary procedure could have been due to lack of or improper training of specialists to handle disciplinary cases. Presently, the Civil Service Commission delegated its power to the Permanent Secretary to constitute a Personnel Management Board when dealing with erring staff, with a representative from the commission,Ministry of Establishment and Training and the Public Service office as members, hence, the most senior officers are usually picked to be members of this committee based on their level of experience and not expertise. This method of selecting members of the committee may have negative consequences in the case of not following the appropriate disciplinary procedures. In addition, disciplinary cases and procedure published or gazetted for the consumption of civil servants are not within their immediate reach. This could have a negative effect on compliance with civil service rules and disciplinary procedure. It wasn’t surprising therefore some civil servants claimed that it was after they were disciplined that they became aware of the procedural rules guiding them. This problem of lack of awarenessmay have negative effect on civil servants’ job performance.
There have been several allegations of poor handling of disciplinary procedural cases glossing over of extra- legalistic factors in disciplinary cases, intrusion of political interference or affiliations, biases, improper training and composition of panels to handle disciplinary cases and non-gazetting of disciplinary cases. In order to attempt a clarification of these issues, this study investigated the effect of disciplinary procedure in Lagos and Ondo states on the job performance of Civil Servants.

Objectives of the Study
The main objective of this study is to examine the disciplinary procedures and job performance of civil servants in Lagos and Ondo States. The specific objectives are to: