My Public Service Journey: Issues in Public Service Administration in Nigeria, Bukar Usman, Klamidas Communications Ltd., 2019, pp. 456
Henry Akubuiro
Many in his shoes would like to vegetate in a cozy ambience after retiring at the highest level as a permanent secretary in the Presidency. Not Bukar Usman. Since 1999 when he retired from the public service, Usman has continued to serve the nation, noticeably, on three critical panels of inquiry, and presenting a number of lectures and keynote addresses to federal agencies and tertiary institutions within and outside the country.
These and other papers have found themselves in a new book, My Public Service Journey: Issues in Public Policy Administration in Nigeria. This tome is a chronicle of the author’s decades of service to his fatherland, nay an appraisal of Nigeria’s public policy administration in practice and, above all, a primer on the evolution of the public service in our clime. It, in addition, puts us in the know on the fluctuating trajectory of governance in the country since independence.
A book in two parts, with Foreword written by Chief Philip Asiodu, former Federal Permanent Secretary/ Secretary (Minister) for Petroleum and Mineral Resources, it revisits a public service steered by masters from its foundation, juxtaposing it with one with some anomalies.
Usman’s acquaintance with public administration was at his birthplace, Biu, in present-day Borno State, as he recalled the District Officer, the Emir, and the Chief Warder as the foremost symbols of public administration in the Biu Emirate then.
Sequel to his appointment as Director-General in 1988 and later Permanent Secretary, Usman details, in this book, how he embarked on public policy advocacy with interest groups in the country to promote general peace.
“The interaction was quite a mutually rewarding experience in societal ‘crisis management’ and the promotion of harmonious relationships in such a complex environment as ours,” he writes (p.74).
Usman doesn’t leave us in doubt as a stickler for ethics in public service. Therefore, whenever he saw the opposite in his active days, he would flinch. This finds expression in the sixth chapter of Part 1 of this book where he wrote two memos to Ambassador Babagana Kingibe on public service in 2007, following the latter’s appointment as the Secretary to the Federal Government.
He, among others, in the first memo, criticised the unguarded utterances among government functionaries, their breach of protocol at public functions, the need to work out presidential engagements in advance, getting the electoral system right, efficient management of Nigeria’s oil business, while emphasising on rule of law and tackling labour issues promptly.
His second letter to Ambassador Kingibe on public service advances for expeditious disposal of some criminal cases that have assumed political dimension, including those of General Ishaya Bamayi, Maj. Hamza Mustapha, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, Alhaji Mujaheed Asari Dokubo, and DSP Alameiyeseigha.
Writing on “50 Years of Nigeria’s Public Service”, the author examines how the service has fared in post-independent Nigeria, Usman hints on how he entered the Federal Civil Service as a Third Class Clerk (now known as clerical officer) on December 17, 1965, and grew through the ranks.
He recalls: “My postings to the Ministry of Communications, Ministry of Mines and Power between 1969 and 1972, and then to the Cabinet Office, afforded me the rare opportunity to observe and experience the service intensely and widely” (p. 92). Reading this chapter, one follows the evolution of Nigeria’s public service, from the era few expatriates were manning some essential positions to a period Nigerians were in total control of the wheel of the service.
Part B of My Public Service Journey: Issues in Public Policy Administration in Nigeria contains articles, interviews and the author’s closing thoughts. Some of these articles include those on local and international issues. Usman, in this section, goes beyond merely running his articles and interviews; he offers the readers tips on writing an article and another recipe for the public policy interviewee.
Through Usman’s articles on local issues, we learn how President Umaru Musa Yar’adua ended armed agitation in the Niger Delta via his Amnesty Initiative; the author’s perspective on Nigerian political economy; secrecy in government’s media relations; combating corruption in Nigeria; the traps in Sovereign Wealth Fund; the case for state police, etcetera.
He also examines “The New Scramble for Africa” in one of the articles on international issues, which he says has been a continuous project since the era of the slave trade. The author’s trips to Niger Republic, South Africa, and Burkina Faso are chronicled to offer us fresh insights into these African countries.
In the interview section, conducted by different journalists with the author during his heydays in public service, we get to learn, from the voice of the master, how reforms precipitate periods of instability in civil service; how changes herald instability; how conflicts in civil service are resolved through information management, and whatnot.
In 2008, Usman established the Dr. Bukar Usman Foundation as a charity to assist the needy financially and in kind, in all manner of circumstances. The author admits on page 303: “So far, so good. The aims are modestly being realised, within available resources, and the Foundation is making the desired positive impact.”
There are as many photos as many historical facts in this book. My Public Service Journey… is not all about Usman; it is about Nigeria, its public administration through the years and, above all, a gift to posterity from a seasoned technocrat yet to “retire” from serving Nigeria.