International Journal for Tourism and Technology (IJTT)
The civil service is the engine room that implements government policies and programmes .The strategic position of this sector in socio-economic development and good governance of a nation can never be overemphasized, the re-invigoration of the civil service has become inevitable and pertinent as Nigeria is at crossroads of economic crisis bogged down by decline in oil prices in the international market, with its attendant threats to national security and deplorable living conditions of the citizenry. The service delivery of the Nigerian civil service exhibits significant potential for enhancement. Nevertheless, the realisation of this potential necessitates civil servants to recognise the pivotal role that innovation assumes as a catalyst for constructive transformation and advancement within any given economy. The study adopted the technological theory of social change by William Ogburn(1947) and being a qualitative study, data was generated through secondary sources i.e. texts, journals, newspapers and online sources. The study examined the Nigerian civil service and how it has fared as regards innovation in efficient and effective service delivery to its citizens. The study recommends there is a crucial need for government to build a civil service that is innovative, futuristic and technological driven, devoid of red-tapism and bureaucracy by institutionalising the culture of innovation in the public sector. The study further suggests that a well-motivated and trained civil service would be an asset rather than liability.
The civil service is the engine room that drives and implements government policies, programmes and projects. In view of the strategic position of this sector in the socio-economic development and good governance of a country, the Nigerian civil service needs to be reinvigorated and repositioned for efficient service delivery. The importance of embracing innovation in the public sector becomes even more apparent when considering the rapid adoption of innovative technologies in private sector administration. Many organisations have successfully utilised these technologies to improve their efficiency, transparency, performance, and overall success. As a result, it is critical that the public sector, which is expected to be the driving force behind the country's socioeconomic development, falls behind in this critical area. While innovation in the private sector is viewed as one of the five key drivers of productivity, alongside investment, skills, enterprise, and competition, in the public sector, innovation is concerned with efficiency and strongly aligns with service delivery. The drivers for innovation in the
public sector in the 21st century consist of different domestic as well as global forces. These include, but are not limited to globalisation, rising new technologies, changing expectations of citizens, and increasingly complex problems facing governments, particularly against the backdrop of the recent COVID-19 pandemic and resultant economic crisis and constricted budgets. Against this backdrop and despite the divergences of approaches to innovation, the consensus seems clear, that the civil service needs to find new ways of working and doing things to be effective in the 21st century.
Innovation, Service delivery, Civil service, Nigeria