By Moses Jolayemi
Sir: If infrastructure forms the skeleton of governance, the public service is its bloodstream. When the bloodstream weakens, the skeleton becomes mere decoration.
Under the present administration, Ekiti’s once-respected public service appears to be drifting into a condition best described not as rebellion, but exhaustion. There are no strikes dominating headlines, no dramatic confrontations—only a quiet resignation settling into offices that once brimmed with professional pride.
At the heart of this decline lies the unresolved matter of accumulated leave bonuses reportedly unpaid for several years. These are not privileges or political favours. They are earned entitlements, embedded within public service regulations, owed to men and women who have devoted decades to sustaining the machinery of government.
What makes the situation more troubling is the fiscal context within which it persists. Following the removal of fuel subsidy in 2023, the Federal Government rolled out nationwide relief measures intended to cushion the economic shock on citizens and subnational governments.
In Ekiti State, however, controversy accompanied the distribution of the N5 billion palliative allocation. Reports indicated that retirees who expected N30,000 each reportedly received N10,000, while serving workers who anticipated N50,000 reportedly received N30,000.
Government authorities may have explanations related to coverage expansion or distribution realities, but among beneficiaries the outcome deepened disappointment rather than providing meaningful relief.
For workers already coping with unpaid entitlements and rising living costs, the gap between expectation and reality further eroded confidence.
Across ministries and agencies, conversations among civil servants no longer revolve around professional development or public impact. Instead, the language is one of survival—how to cope with inflation, how to sustain families, how to remain motivated when diligence appears disconnected from reward.
Training opportunities have thinned. Promotions remain slow or uncertain. Incentives have become ceremonial rather than meaningful. The bureaucracy still functions, files still move, salaries still arrive—but the animating spirit that once defined public service is fading.
The consequences extend beyond government offices. A demoralised civil service cannot deliver efficient governance. Policies falter at implementation. Citizens encounter delays and frustration. Public trust gradually erodes.
Economic pressure compounds the problem. Civil servants frequently return home to families expecting allowances and benefits that remain unpaid. Financial strain outside the office inevitably shapes productivity within it. A worker preoccupied with survival cannot easily deliver optimal public service.
Importantly, the situation does not stem solely from fiscal constraints. It reflects choices—how governments balance infrastructure ambitions, political expenditure, welfare commitments and administrative obligations. Sustainable governance demands equilibrium, not the neglect of one priority in favour of another.
None of this suggests hostility between government and workforce. Rather, it reveals a widening gap between policy intention and lived administrative reality. Many reforms announced with optimism struggle precisely because the machinery meant to implement them is fatigued.
States that have successfully improved governance outcomes often begin not with grand projects but with restoring confidence within their bureaucracies. Transparent promotion processes, regular training, timely payments and meaningful welfare provisions create a motivated workforce capable of delivering reform.
The solution, therefore, may not lie in dramatic policy overhauls but in practical administrative compassion: clearing arrears gradually but transparently, revitalising professional development, rewarding excellence and re-establishing public service as a respected vocation.
The challenge before policymakers is urgent but solvable. Reviving morale within the public service is not merely a welfare gesture; it is an investment in governance efficiency, economic growth and social stability.
Ekiti—and indeed many subnational governments—stand at a crossroads. One path continues with gradual administrative fatigue masked by periodic infrastructure showcases. The other chooses to strengthen the human engine of governance.
History tends to reward societies that choose the latter.
Moses Jolayemi, former managing director of Newswatch Newspapers, wrote from
Lagos.
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