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It’s Time To Outsource Federal Civil Service!

Olushegun Olapojoye

Now that it is very obvious, as indicated by Dimeji Bankole, the Speaker of the House, that the Federal Civil Service is not capable of delivering on the programs of the PDP led government, I strongly believe that the best short-term solution to this problem is a large scale outsourcing of government services and programs that are currently run by Ministries, Departments and Parastatals, which have failed miserably year in - year out to deliver programs and services to Nigerians. It is scandalous, as noted by Bankole, for 500billion Naira meant to have been used to deliver programs and services, to be languishing in the CBN vault, one month to the end of the fiscal year! This amount represents about 25% of the total spending appropriation of about 2trillion Naira for 2009. Now, this is good news in a normal situation. What makes it not only abnormal, but immoral is that there numerous government projects languishing and begging for funding. Additionally, there are millions of people waiting for good roads, electricity, basic healthcare, and good schools, to be delivered to them by government.

Of course the blame for the present stench in the Federal Civil Service, cannot only be placed at doorsteps of civil servants, they also have enough blame for this. To add insult upon injury, this current government has not successfully done anything to redress the situation in the civil service. There have been some lame attempts at reforms, resulting in the expenditure of huge amounts of money. These attempts have at best helped to entrench various interests within the civil service, all for personal or political gain. The current environment just does not allow for effective result-oriented public service. One can spend a whole year analyzing the problems within the civil service, but one thing is clear. The Federal Service has to be thoroughly cleaned out, something akin to what Murtala Mohammed did in the 70s.

However, while all the reforms are on-going, the government still has the obligation to deliver services to people, and I believe outsourcing a governmental department, to a private company or an NGO to help carry out these obligations is the most prudent thing to do in the short-term. The only government agencies that should not be outsourced are those with monitoring and regulatory compliance functions, for them to perform their statutory functions, with specific requirements for reporting their activities to the legislature and the public. These outsourcing arrangements should be funded directly for the budgetary allocations, such that no minister or DG can steal the money, at least not as brazenly as they do right now. These outsourcing arrangements are also likely to succeed in the current climate where it is fast becoming almost impossible for senior civil servants to steal budgetary allocations. We all know that the old arrangement was for the Ministry to sit on the budgetary allocations, until year end and split the money in December, ostensibly as Christmas Bonus. Bonus to who? Some of these Ministries don’t even pay staff salaries!

Some may say how do you determine which MDA to outsource, and I would say, how about if we use their Servicom scores. It should start with any MDA that scores less than 3/5 in the Servicom rating.

However, in order for this outsourcing arrangement to work, government needs credible partners. This is where the NGOs and private services companies come in. NGOs have to up their game in their respective categories, ranging from health to education. Private services companies must also be there to provide the necessary private sector expertise and upfront financing needed for the outsourced agencies to perform. A good example of a Ministry where this outsourcing arrangement will work perfectly is the Ministry of Health. This is because last fiscal year, the Ministry had a budget surplus! A budget surplus? One may ask. With the broken healthcare delivery system we have in Nigeria.

At the local level, government should request proposals from local NGOs to take over all the Primary Health Centers in Nigeria, as long as there are paid directly from the budgetary allocation for the services they render. These NGOs will also position themselves for donor opportunities to expand service and reach. At the federal level, the Hospital Services Department of the Federal Ministry of Health should be outsourced, with the exception of the units with oversight and monitoring responsibilities. The Department should be outsourced to a credible private hospital facilities management company or an NGO with the same capabilities, to manage its funds professionally. This is where a large chunk funds leak from the Federal Ministry of Health. This leak must be plugged.

I believe what I have proposed can also be replicated in other MDAs within government, but will only work if the House Speaker and does not just stop at making these pronouncements without any actionable plan to remedy the situation. This option also has the added advantage of creating enormous amounts of jobs. There are several options, apart from mine out there. Will they get the necessary political support to make them happen? Time will tell.

Olushegun Olapojoye is the Executive Director of Nigeria Policy Forum. info@nigeriapolicyforum.org