Civil servants and political contests

The old debate in this country over civil servants’ participation in partisan politics was rekindled recently when, at the end of the recent political party primaries, many civil servants who had resigned from their jobs to contest the elections tried to go back to their positions in the service. The reception they got on their […]

The old debate in this country over civil servants’ participation in partisan politics was rekindled recently when, at the end of the recent political party primaries, many civil servants who had resigned from their jobs to contest the elections tried to go back to their positions in the service. The reception they got on their return was mixed. While in some cases civil servants who l.ost the primaries were able to seamlessly return to their jobs, others were blocked from returning to those jobs. There was no uniform rule; a civil servant who contested primaries in the ruling party at federal or state level often had no problem returning to his or her job whereas one who belonged to an opposition party was easily blocked from returning.

This untidy state of affairs was due to the lack of clarity on the policy that guides the participation of civil servants in partisan politics. For decades the policy has been that any civil servant who wishes to participate in politics must resign his or her appointment. Whether or not a civil servant resigned from his or her position before contesting an election often featured in pre-election litigation. During the days of military rule however, government allowed anyone who failed in his political quest to return to his job. Where a civil servant was in good terms with his bosses, a practice also developed whereby the resignation letter was discreetly withheld and if the officer returned after a failed sojourn, it was removed from the file and he resumed his job.

Under civilian rule however, partisan considerations began to feature into whether or not a civil servant is permitted to resume his job. The matter is far from settled in Nigerian society. Some experts believe that given the need for civil servants to maintain neutrality in service delivery to any political party in government, anyone of them that intends to contest for elective office should resign outright. Others however think that civil servants should enjoy the constitutional right of other citizens to participate in politics. Even though a court ruling recently upheld the right of civil servants to belong to political parties, it is not yet clear whether that included the right to contest for election without resigning from service.

The Public Service Rules [PSR] which govern the service provide for various types of leave periods during which civil servants can engage in private activities and return to work at the end of such periods. Among the reasons for granting such leaves however, political activities are conspicuously missing. This area of ambiguity is a core weakness in current service rules at all levels and should be redressed immediately. In many parts of the country, the best material for leadership recruitment is found in the civil service. This reality should be considered in any reform process.

At the same time, it is very important to insulate civil servants from open partisanship in the discharge of their duties. Even now, the service has suffered a lot and has deteriorated in many respects due to undue politicization. An immediate manifestation of such is the situation whereby some civil servants hardly can distinguish the thin line between dedication to public sector service compact and loyalty to political persuasion. Limits must therefore be set on when and how civil servants can contest for elections and return to their jobs when they fail.

We observed during the last party primaries that heads of agencies at federal and state level contested for elections while still holding their positions. While those people were not strictly speaking civil servants, they were holding jobs that ordinarily belong to civil servants and their contesting elections at the same time sent the wrong message to their underlings. In future it is better to state clearly that only such political office holders as elected chief executives, lawmakers, cabinet members and part-time board chairmen and members should be able to contest elections without resigning from their posts.