OPINION…Nigeria’s Civil Service: The corruption syndicate no one talks about

Ask a 12-year-old Nigerian teenager about the biggest problem affecting the country, and don’t be surprised if he says, “Politicians.” Ask an average, frustrated Nigerian the same question, and you’ll likely hear the same whipping boy. You can’t blame them, politicians are the most visible faces of governance. But beneath the surface lies a more insidious problem: the Nigerian civil service. It is the real machinery of stagnation, the hidden force behind corruption, inefficiency, and the country’s failure to progress.

A friend once told me about his aunt, who had just relocated to the UK but was still receiving a regular salary from the Nigerian government. She hadn’t resigned, nor had she been replaced. She was simply collecting free money from a system that has normalized fraud. And this is not an isolated case. Across government offices, ghost workers, budget padding, and institutionalized corruption are the norm. While politicians come and go, civil servants, the real power brokers, stay, manipulating the system to serve their interests at the expense of national development.

The civil service is meant to be the backbone of governance, ensuring continuity in government policies, managing public resources, and delivering essential services. Ideally, it should function efficiently regardless of political changes. But in Nigeria, it has become a bureaucratic monster that stifles progress rather than facilitates it. Instead of fostering creativity and development, the system rewards mediocrity, protects corruption, and resists any attempt at reform. Even well-meaning political leaders struggle to implement change because of the entrenched inefficiencies within the system.

Obviously, Nigeria’s civil service was inherited from the British colonial administration, which was designed for control rather than development. At independence, rather than restructuring it for national growth, successive governments merely adopted it as it was. The result? A rigid, hierarchical system that values protocol over productivity and connections over competence. Over time, civil servants began to see their jobs as lifelong entitlements rather than positions of service. Promotion became a matter of seniority rather than performance, and attempts at reform were met with resistance. Today, the system is bloated, inefficient, and corrupt, full of individuals who contribute little but continue to collect salaries and benefits.

Unlike politicians, who have term limits, civil servants remain in office for decades. They know the system’s loopholes and manipulate them for their “national interest.” Corruption is not just a problem within the civil service; it is the foundation upon which the system operates. In 2023, the Nigerian Senate uncovered over N3 trillion in fraudulent allocations within government ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs). These funds were stolen through budget padding, fake contracts, and other fraudulent schemes.

Have you ever wondered why courts often require a civil servant of a particular level to serve as a guarantor for bail conditions or to own landed property in prime areas? It always seemed puzzling to me, where do they expect these civil servants to get such wealth? But to my amazement, it is an easy feat in Nigeria’s civil service. It is often assumed that only politicians can afford lavish lifestyles, but a closer look at civil servants, especially directors and permanent secretaries, tells a different story.

Today, many senior civil servants own mansions in highbrow areas like Maitama in Abuja, Banana Island in Lagos, and GRA in Port Harcourt. With an official salary structure that shouldn’t afford such luxury, how do they do it? Through systemic corruption, budget manipulations, contract fraud, and ghost worker schemes. While junior staff struggle with delayed salaries, top bureaucrats siphon billions.

Again, one of the most well-documented frauds in Nigeria’s civil service is the ghost worker syndrome, where non-existent employees are placed on government payrolls to steal funds. In 2016, a Nigerian government payroll audit uncovered over 23,000 ghost workers, costing Nigeria N2.3 billion monthly. In 2022, the Benue State Government discovered over 500 fake pensioners receiving regular payments. Despite these exposures, the fraud continues. Why? Because insiders who benefit from it actively sabotage reforms.

The inefficiency of Nigeria’s civil service is legendary. Processes that should take a few days stretch into months due to excessive paperwork, unnecessary approvals, and a culture of delay. Civil servants deliberately slow down work to create an artificial need for bribes. Business registration, contract approvals, and document processing are unnecessarily complicated. Government agencies demand irrelevant documents, forcing Nigerians to waste time and money. Civil servants arrive late, take extended breaks, and leave early. The result? A system that wastes time, kills productivity, and frustrates businesses and citizens alike.

Meritocracy does not exist in Nigeria’s civil service. Instead, recruitment and promotions are determined by ethnicity, connections, and political affiliations. As a result, unqualified individuals occupy critical positions, making governance a disaster.

Every attempt to reform the civil service has failed because those who benefit from its inefficiencies fight back. The Steve Oronsaye Report (2012) recommended merging or scrapping over 220 MDAs to reduce waste, but civil servants frustrated its implementation. The Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) was introduced to curb payroll fraud, yet civil servants manipulated it to maintain ghost workers. No matter how progressive a policy is, the civil service finds a way to sabotage it.

While politicians make policies, civil servants implement them. A corrupt and inefficient civil service ensures that even the best policies fail. Funds for infrastructure projects mysteriously disappear before reaching contractors. Government projects exist only on paper, with civil servants approving payments for non-existent work. Budget allocations are inflated, and fake contracts are awarded to non-existent companies. The civil service is the real machinery of corruption in Nigeria.

I agree that 90% of Nigerian politicians are corrupt, and that will not change overnight. However, the war against corruption cannot be won if it does not start with the civil service. It is unfortunate that many of us are guilty of this directly or indirectly, we have family members or friends who are part of the system or have even offered us favors from it. Nigeria’s civil service is not just an institution; it is a deeply entrenched mafia that thrives on inefficiency and corruption. It controls the daily functioning of government, and its failures cripple the country’s progress.

So, what needs to be done? I hesitate to suggest another round of civil service reforms because history shows they lead nowhere, they merely recycle the same inefficiencies. Instead, a massive downsizing and total restructuring should be considered. Some advocate for transparency and accountability mechanisms, but I believe the civil service needs to be broken down entirely and rebuilt from scratch.

Until these steps are taken, no matter how good Nigeria’s leadership is, the country will remain trapped in inefficiency and underdevelopment. The civil service is the real problem of Nigeria, and without fixing it, no real change can happen.

AUTHOR: Ogungbile Emmanuel Oludotun

Articles published in our Graffiti section are strictly the opinion of the writers and do not represent the views of Ripples Nigeria or its editorial stand.

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