CRISIS MANAGEMENT IN PUBLIC SECTOR

CHAPTER ONE

1.1    INTRODUCTION

                   The Nigerian society is undergoing a rapid transition in addition to the inevitable and unusually gradual transformation processes that affect all social system.  The institutions reformed to avoid the pitfalls of the Nigerian society are being deliberately and hurriedly strategic adopted all in an effort to achieve a social order.

        One of the on-going strategies to do this is the reform introduced into the public sector by the office of the Chief of General Staff (CGs) making the local government an effective third tiers government.  Usually, such reform tend to point one form of organizational crisis or another crisis were refers to an usual situation the outcome of which is uncertain or capable of generating conflicts.  With regards to the Nigeria public sector, it arises out of the inherent disposition of the system to distort the political and administrative process by its decision or operations.  It also arises from situational uncertainties and inadequacies of an organization.

        There could be power tussle, inadequate funds or time to execute cell envisaged project, physiological disorientation of the populace/employee and its rejection of the reform.  There could be also either a lack of understanding of the full implication of established programmes or a deliberate clinging of politics established primarily to protect institutionalized class relations.  Any such crisis is capable of distorting the achievement of the desired objective of the sector.  Part of the process of ensuring public sector organizations to understand the dynamics of such crisis and apply appropriate remedies, provided that the change motivators are genuine and determined.

        It is a known fact that the understanding of the dynamics of crisis is lacking in the equally true that the chief executive and administration in the management of crisis rather than in crisis management.  From the foregoing, it is seen that there is no effective tool for crisis management in Nigerian public sector because of its large sizes.  It is important that an organization within this sector is used as a reference point in order to limit the wideness of this study.  The Enugu North Local Government (ENLG) has been chosen for proper representation of the public sector organization in the economy.

        In this thesis, we intend to identify the crisis situation that could hit ENLG and through the research, rank them in the order of their probability of occurring to develop a crises management tool for organization with the public sector of the Nigeria economy.

1.1    BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

          The local government has been characterized by instability and discontinuity emanating from one crisis situation to another.  These crisis are always prompted by the activities of federal government and other environmental factors which usually lead to complete dissolution and or take over or functions of the management group by government appointed administrations. In order words, local government of this country has always been subjected to whims and caprices of the federal government.  They were not all to make their own decisions as to contributing to the Nigerian economy or otherwise, they give enough financial assistance (authority) to be accountable to the device inherent in such to government.

        The various government reforms are aimed at stabilizing and rationalizing local government organizations and corporations, it is quite unfortunate that however that the chosen implementation strategies been to have resulted in unanticipated policy outcomes.   As a matter of facts, it is clear that to all that the aim of establishing the local government in Nigerian is to be an effective third tier of the government.  This has not been realized.  It is believed that this is mainly due to thee inability of the local government to effectively manage the form of crisis that afflicted it since its inception.  It is against this background that crisis management in local government is being investigated.  Every crisis has four main stages and allowing each crisis to pass through the four stages has been the bare of effective local government in Nigeria.  The four stages of crisis include:

-              Pronominal stage (early warning stage)

-              Acute stage

-              Chronic stage

-              Resolution stage

Crisis management aimed at avoiding the acute and chronic stages of crisis.  A crisis is used to be effectively managed if it moves from pronominal to resolution stages.  We are aware that this has not been known to have gone through the four stags with inevitable consequences.

    If we take a look at the second republic and early part of the aborted republic (1988-1989) which were;

-              Financial crisis

-              Power crisis

-              Manpower crisis

-              Political crisis.

The above crisis were unfortunately allowed to go through the four stages and this had their unpleasant effect on the local government in Nigeria.  For example, Enugu North Local Government administration was engulfed by crisis during the year 1989, this crisis went through the full cycle which cumulated in the intervention of both the state and federal government leading to the suspension of its popularly elected chairman.

        Another example can be cited from the demonstration carried out by members of the National Union of Local Government employee (NULGE) Enugu North Local Government Branch on March 9^th 1999 protesting for the non-payment of salaries for six months.

        Furthermore, the strike action carried out by the National Union of Teachers (NUT) calling for the collection of their annual subventions directly from the federal government and not from the local government because they believe that this cannot be effectively carried out by them.  It can be seen that after about two decades of it establishment the local government cannot manage available resources and avoid conflict or crisis from happening.

1.2    STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

          Crisis is inevitable in every organization, sometimes, most crisis are beneficial to the organization the problem is not the resurrection of crisis but how best these crisis can be managed.

        Conflicts or crisis is an organization occur as a result of poor conditions of services, failure of management of implement in full, the terms of agreement of collective bargaining, delay in payment of workers salaries etc.  This ill treatment by managers leads to organizational crisis.  This is important in organization because it helps both the management and the workers know their duties and obligations which they are owe to each other.

        Where crisis is not well managed, it would be determined to the organization because the organization will run into loss at the time of crisis or conflicts, but where crisis is identified at the initial stages and possible settlement are made it would not affect the effectiveness of the organization rather proper strategies will be used for effective management of such crisis.

1.3    OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

        The objectives of this research will include:

(a)       To examine the existing methods of handling crisis in Enugu North Local government and ascertain how corporations are performing within the bonds of available manpower in the local government.

(b)       To attempt to appraise the existing and potential manpower for co-operations in the local government administration with a view of explaining the extent of their involvement.  

1.4    RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1)      How can we change from crisis management to management of crisis?

2)      How do employees or workers perceive crisis?

3)      What factors influence management attitude to crisis?

4)      What roles does the federal and state government play in the local government crisis?

1.5    SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

          The significance of this research work is aimed at

developing and effective crisis management tools and this will help in creating a relatively stable environment.

In other words, to make reasonable progress towards

achieving the purpose of their creation, the public sector organization requires a relatively stable environment and an effective crisis management tool which is the purpose of the study.

        This study will attempt to provide appropriate answers and solutions to this questions which are regarded as key variables in local government in Nigeria.

1.6    SCOPE OF THE STUDY

          The study touches the various firms that characterized the public organizations in Nigeria.  The scope of this study is limited to Enugu State, thus using Enugu North Local Government (ENLG) as a case study.  An attempt is made to identify possible crisis that could affect the public sector organizations.

1.8    DEFINITION OF TERMS/ACRONYMS

          In the course of this work, certain key words were met along the line which may be interpreted differently for the purpose of this study.  The following operational definitions are given to this concept thus,

Crisis:      This is an unusual situation in an organization or corporation, the outcome of which is uncertain or capable of generating conflict.

Local Government:  This is a government at the local government through a representative councils established by law to provide or exercise specific power within a defined area.

Public Sector:  This is a part of the nations economy controlled mainly by the government.

Crisis Management:  These are measure that plans in advance for a crisis (or turning point).  Any measure that removes the risk and uncertainty from a given situation and thereby allows one to be more inform of crisis management.

Rural Development:  This is the process of providing inhabitants of the rural area with basic infrastructural amenities which could enhance their standard of living.

ENLG Enugu North Local Government

L. G. A       Local Government Area

FG             Federal Government

SG            State Government

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