A former Director General of the Bureau of Public Service Reforms, Dr Joe Abah, has noted that public service is beyond the excellence in the technical know-how of a government appointee.
Dr Abah explained that while many erroneously attribute the underperformance of these appointees to distractions from jumbo pay, he noted that government jobs, when performed “honestly”, do not come with much largesse as many have been conditioned to believe.
“What do you think happens when a critic from the private sector gets into government and suddenly becomes humble? Some say it’s because you can’t speak with your mouth full,” he said. Adding that, “Not necessarily true. Often, you are not chopping anything other than your meagre salary…IF you are an honest public servant.”
According to the development practitioner, private sector is a sharp contrast from the public service, citing how various national interests such as ethnicity, religion or even gender can be a major challenge to achieve results for a newbie from the private sector.
He said, “Often, you don’t realise that in the private sector, your job might be to sell as much Coke and make as much profit as possible. When you are selling Coke, you don’t care about how many children’s teeth are getting rotten or how many adults are getting addicted to what you sell. In fact, the more that are addicted, the better for you.
“You don’t have to balance gender, ethnicity, religion, culture, politics or the self interest of your boss, since you may not have the same ultimate control that you had in the private sector.”
Dr. Abah linked their seeming silence and humbleness to their realisation that the public service space is a different niche, where their private sector ingenuity may not thrive as envisaged before their appointments.
He said, “Suddenly, you realise that it’s not rocket science. It’s harder than that. Then you become gentle.”
