ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS IN A POST-COLONIAL STATE AN APPRAISAL OF NIGERIA’S EXPERIENCE UNDER OBASANJO REGIME (1999-2005)

Abstract

This article takes a critical look at the current reforms of the Civil Service being implemented by the Obasanjo administration. It examines the main component of the reform programme. The article notes that the current reforms just like the previous ones will fail because, they are based on the erroneous assumption that the main problems of the civil service are corruption, lack of professionalism, lethargy, low morale, weak institutional base, etcetera. It contends that these often identified problems are manifestations or symptoms of a more fundamental problem-the contradictions of the prevailing neo-colonial capitalist political economy. The article concludes that no reforms of the civil service will succeed unless there is a radical restructuring of the neo-colonial capitalist nature of the Nigerian state.