Staff Indiscipline and Productivity in the Public Sector in Nigeria

Abstract

The existence of various acts of indiscipline in public sector in Nigeria is a source of concern to people (managers, bureaucrats, top public/civil servants and other patriotic Nigerians). The reason is that they see such negative/deviant behaviour, which include habitual lateness to work, loafing, buckpassing, bribery, corruption, embezzlement or misappropriation of public funds, misuse of government property as counter-productive and therefore
detrimental to the accomplishment of organizational goals. This paper
perceives such acts of indiscipline as the reasons for low productivity in the public sector and argues that they are curtail-able. It goes further to discuss the factors responsible of such official acts of indiscipline which characterize contemporary public organizations in Nigeria. The paper recommends that to overcome the problem of indiscipline and low productivity in the public sector, there is the need for the three tiers of government to regularize the payment of workers’ salaries and wages to increase their productivity. Furthermore, the current efforts of the Federal Government in fighting corruption should be sustained.