Government Bureaucracy and the New Public Management in Nigeria: A Critical Analysis

Abstract

The paper set out to establish the effect of New Public Management (NPM) on government bureaucracy with a view to identifying the positive or negative benefits of the new policy. Secondary data were collected from information already recorded and arranged in published and unpublished materials such as textbooks, newspapers, articles, publications and reports. The results showed that lack of efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and accountability were responsible for the adoption of new public management, while innovation and efficiency were the primary reasons for NPM involvement in the social service delivery in Nigeria government bureaucracy; that using ideas from private sector had positive impact on the effective and efficient service delivery; that there was positive relationship between the NPM and public service delivery in the Nigerian government; and that there were no significant challenges and problems in the adoption of new public management strategies. The study concluded that New Public Management
(NPM) addressed the perceived lacuna and challenges in more traditional public administration strategies with greater managerialism, and an emphasis on privatisation and decentralisation, as methods for improving public services and improving public organisational efficiency, cost-saving and accountability.