PUBLIC SERVANTS AND CODE OF CONDUCT IN NIGERIA: A STUDY OF ANAMBRA STATE 2010-2015.

Francis Nnaemeka Mbuba

Department of Public Administration,

Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Igbariam Campus, Anambra State 

e-mail: fn.mbuba@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

As at the time of writing this paper, the air was saturated with the controversy surrounding the issue of compliance to the Code of Conduct for Public Officers by public servants in Nigeria. The discontent among the people as to whether these public servants have been sincere in the process of their Assets and Liabilities declaration to the Code of Conduct Bureau as required by the Law was rife. The people in their opinions also wondered whether the Code of Conduct Bureau, an agency set up by the government to oversee the management of these declarations has been forthright, considering the apparent flagrant abuse of the Code’s provisions by the public servants. This paper is therefore set to inquire into the extent to which the Code of Conduct Bureau has been able to do its work in Anambra state and the level of compliance with the Code’s provisions by public servants. Also the questions of whether the Bureau is to blame or that the public servants are responsible for the contraventions have been raised. Accordingly, hypotheses have been formulated and observation, interviews and questionnaire administration were used to elicit the facts therein. Added to the above primary sources to complement the fact gathering are literature from such secondary sources as social media, published documents, including books, magazines and newspapers among others. It was found that (a) the public servants have not been sincere in their declarations and that (b) the code of Conduct Bureau has not demonstrated enough dexterity and seriousness in their assignment. Requisite statistical methods, including chi-square formula were used to arrive at the above conclusions. It has been recommended among others that the Code of Conduct Bureau should be further empowered to enable it perform creditably and that public servants should be made to repeat the declarations more often than it is presently done for better results.

Keyword Code of conduct and public servants