Prof. Sheikh Ahmed Abdullah, a former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, has shed light on previous efforts to establish a strong ethical framework within Nigeria’s public service. He noted that earlier reviews aimed to institutionalise integrity and values across government institutions, though implementation gaps remain a persistent challenge.
According to him, the conclusion of the diagnostic review of Nigeria’s public service ethical infrastructure was that there was a lack of systematic and up-to-date data on the public service. Speaking at an International Conference organised by the Institute of Administration, Ahmadu Bello University, Prof. Abdullahi also said, “This partly relates to factors for low adherence to ethical standards, including the weak capacity of institutions charged with managing public service ethics”.
He said what emerged from the past reviews was a general agreement that there was poor adherence to ethical standards by public servants in Nigeria. Others, according to the former Minister, included the recognition of the absence of coordinated and harmonised roles, responsibilities, and activities among institutions responsible for public service ethics, as well as an admission that pervasive corruption was an unethical response to insecurity of tenure, poor employment conditions, and especially, an uncertain future upon retirement.
Abdullahi’s paper, “The Challenges of Corporate Governance, Leadership, Ethics and Development in Nigeria”, also said experiential weak enforcement of rules and regulations relating to unethical behaviours and corruption, as well as lack of selfless leadership of the civil society, were other facts that emerged after the series of earlier efforts.
Abdullah, a retired professor from the Department of Business Administration at Ahmadu Bello University, highlighted emerging concerns about the symbolic collaboration of the private sector in perpetuating the system of corruption, as well as concerns for less engaged non-governmental actors in monitoring and reporting unethical behaviour. In his address, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Adamu Ahmed, represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Administration, Prof. Ahmed Ibrahim Doko, described the conference theme as timely and relevant.
The Vice-Chancellor expressed the hope that the conference would certainly shape the minds of participants and inspire them to become the next developers of sustainable solutions.
