Legislative Oversight and Governance Outcomes: Evidence from Public Service Delivery in Benue State Nigeria 2011-2023

Abstract

The public service is vehicle for the growth and development of most of the great democratic nations of the world such as the united states of America, Britain, and China. This is because the public service system, if well-organized can provide the enabling environment for both the private and public sectors to thrive, which guarantees effective and efficient provisions of services like health, education, sanitation, security and infrastructure to the citizens. The public service systems in Africa also ought to be vehicles of growth and development for the citizens of the continent, but this is not so due to the myriads of problems stemming from weak governance, personnel policy frameworks and implementation. In Nigeria the public service system has been characterized by weak institutional capacities and poor service delivery due to myriads of problems stemming from corruption, low employee morale, and rigid bureaucratic procedures. At the sub- national level, Benue state recorded low service deliveries to the citizens in the period under study (2011-2023) due to incessant work stoppages resulting from weak oversights on labour matters, resulting to several industrial conflicts with an overriding implication for the quality of service delivery in the state. This informed this decision to undertake a study to investigate the effects of legislative oversights on the quality of services delivered to the citizens of Benue state from 2011 – 2023. In the study, both primary and secondary data were used. The primary data were sourced from questionnaires, key informant interviews. The questionnaires were administered to the public servants in ministries, parastatals and sampled citizens from the three senatorial districts of Benue State using the taro yemane population distribution formula. The key informant interview group were selected purposively among top government executives in the state and state house of assembly committee members on labour. The data obtained from the primary sources were analyzed using statistical tables and simple percentages. The hypotheses formulated in the study were tested with the aid of the simple regression analysis. The secondary data were obtained from the Benue state public-service publications, labour bulletins in the state, National Bureau of Statistics documents, journals and periodicals. The study found that legislative oversights had significant effects on service delivered to the citizens, especially essential services such as health, sanitation and water supply system. The study made the following recommendations among others for the improvement of public service delivery in Benue state: The Benue state house of assembly should enact more inclusive state labour laws that will enhance employees’ welfare with details for over sight functions; Benue state government should ensure that employees and their unions make significant inputs in policy formulation and implementation on welfare policies; the public service in Benue state should be digitalized for enhanced public service delivery.