THE ROLE OF EFFECTIVE ADMINISTRATION IN THE RAPID SOCIAL-ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION OF NIGERIA

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Administration in the general sense is usually described in terms of a cooperative human effort directed towards the achievements of agreed objectives.  It is thus a social activity which can occur in a wide variety of institutional frame work.

Administration in a political setting and, as distinct from other forms of administration, is concerned with the formulation and implementation of Government policies at the grassroots level, a branch of Public Administration.

Herbert et al (1900) observed that when two men cooperate to roll a stone that neither could have moved, the rudiments of administration are taking place. He went further to explain that this simple act has the two basic characteristics of what has come to be called administration.  There is a purpose-moving the stone, and there is cooperative action-several persons using combined strength to accomplish something that could not have been done without such a combination. On the basis of the foregoing, Herbert et al defined administration as activities of groups cooperating to accomplish common goals. What to note about Simon et al’s definition is the emphasis on cooperation and purpose. For them, therefore, it is necessary to have groups cooperating and such cooperation must have a purpose.

Stephen (1985) defined administration “as the universal process of efficiently getting activities completed with and through other people”. The process, according to him refers to the planning, organizing, leading and controlling that take place to accomplish objectives.

There are features common to varying kinds of administrative organisation and much administrative theory is relevant to all organisation, be it government or private.

The Kaduna State Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (KASEEDS)as a set of activities which are carried out by the officers, and which can be classified as/or concerned with planning and development of the area.  The SEEDS is to help state governments todraw up and implement realistic plans to make NEEDS and each individual state’s SEEDS come true.

When SEEDS was launched, the National Planning Commission (NPC) issued a guidancemanual entitled: The SEEDS Framework – “Government for Growth and Service”.This expanded version of that manual does not change the original guidance. It certainlydoes not mean that states which have completed their SEEDS documents need to revisethem. Instead, the focus is on the SEEDS as a process: on how to take a strategy that hasalready been drafted through to action.

It is against this background that the researcher intends to assess the effective administration in the rapid socio-economic transmission of Nigeria.

1.2     STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

An analysis of government development administration in Nigeria reveals unpolished and erratic practices. Very few government institutions in Nigeria have fully fledged Development Administration departments and even those few concentrate much of their efforts on politicking rather than professional Administration (Career Administrators).  Their Administrative policies do not take cognizance of such factors as public wants, opinions and objectives.  Project planning and Development are usually undertaken without prior research, project implementation strategies are mostly handled by low level executives coupled with low budget, summarily Development Administrations in government parastatals are conducted haphazardly.

          In view of this problems identified, the research will seek to find answers to      the following question:

1. What are the roles of KASEEDs in the socio-economic transformation of Nigeria?
2. How does effective administration impact on socio-economic transformation of Nigeria?
3. What are the likely problems and solutions of administration in Nigeria?

1.3. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The general objective of this study is to assess the role of effective administration in the rapid socio-economic transformation of Nigeria. The specific objectives are:

1. To identify the role of Kaduna State Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy in socio-economic transformation.
2. To evaluate the impact of effective administration on socio-economic transformation.
3. To identify the problem of administration and proffer possible solution to overcome such problem.

1.4     STATEMENT OF HYPOTHESIS

          The following hypothesis is formulated to guide this study:

Ho:    Effect administration in KASEEDs does not have significant impact on national development.

Hi:     Effect administration in KASEEDs has significant impact on national development.

1.5     SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study will highlight the functions of KASEED and its role inNational development. The study will inculcate and imbibe into the spirit of our KASEED officials the need to adopt an efficient and effective Administrative practices.

The study would help in discovering certain problem areas in the Administration of KASEEDs and through this, recommendations will be made towards improvement.

It is hoped that this research work will be of particular importance to students, Administrative Officers, executives, politicians and others that may find themselves involved in this field.

It is also in partial fulfillment for the requirements of the awards of Higher Diploma in Public Administration.

The scope of this study is to analyse the role of effective administrations in the rapid socio-economic Transformation of Nigeria. The study will cover the activities of Kaduna State Economic Empowerment Development Strategy vis-avis the transformation agenda of Jonathan/Sambo administration towards national development

There are certain limitations which are placed in this study.

1. Financial constraint: this is considered to be the first constraint faced by the researcher.  This hindered students from getting all the needed data for this research work. This really did not help matters looking at the very fact that as a student, there is always limited fund at ones disposal which formed part of those factors that discouraged the researcher to go further than this. This extent in getting all this needed data from this research work. A typical example is the fund for going to different places to get information buying of related literature text books that are not available in the school library.
2. Available data: in no small measure, incomplete and inaccurate data also provide a lot of difficulty in carrying out this research work. As a matter of fact it is because most of the senior staff were either too busy running their official responsibility that made them hardly available to give the researcher the needed time to gather information or they were not just willing to do that, though some did cooperate just like most senior staff.
3. Time constraint: this was the biggest constraint faced by the researcher because combing rigorous drilling of the institution i.e. lectures, assignments (both individual and group), tests etc. and carrying out the research work made it virtually impossible to dedicate all the time needed to carry out this research work.