HOPE! That is what Nigerians are living for daily. It is a season of expectations. The baton of leadership has just changed hands. Lives of ordinary Nigerians have been so messed up by those appointed to lead them that they near comatose – no electricity, no water, no jobs, no good roads, health care services and more – yet we trudge on. It did not start today. Since 1999, we have lived on hope and because of the Nigerian factor, we have not been able to take any action against those who have turned our hopes to hopelessness.

Now there is palpable excitement in the air about the expected change. One can almost   feel it, breathe and touch it. Will our cravings be assuaged? Let us look at one sector that will determine whether the expected change will be a mirage or a reality – the Civil and Public service.

I remember with nolstalgia the change that I practically experienced in July-August, 1975. Murtala Mohammed had just overthrown the government of Yakubu Gowon in a military coup, before now, the land papers – deed of conveyance – of my family property in Warri had been in a file at the Lands ministry, Benin, in the defunct Bendel state.

I was just out of secondary school then; my father summoned me to go to Benin to collect the documents, giving me the necessary references and directions. I got to Benin, traced the office and the officer in charge and on presenting my references, I was asked to sign the register for collection and the documents were released to me.

The entire process did not take fifteen minutes. When I got back to Warri, my father could not believe the ease and speed the entire process took and was vey elated. That was the change then – no bribe, no connections, a young man of barely 17 years of age, undertaking such an important assignment in a government ministry and getting his request granted within record time. You could see fear on the faces of those government officials; nobody wanted to step on the wrong side of the law and so could not afford to be careless.

Since the death of Murtala Mohammed, successive governments have ran the affairs of this country and things have gone progressively worse. Will Buhari be able to bring out that discipline from the Nigerian civil servants?

It is very important that we bring attention to bear on this sector as the civil/public servants are responsible for implementation of government policies and directives; they also exercise supervisory control over essential government parastatals and even private companies.

The civil service as it is today, is at its lowest ebb, things that ordinarily belong to the citizens by right are now turned to privileges; applications for land or building approvals now take as long as ten years in some ministries and nobody is doing anything about it. Consequently, people recourse to building their houses without the required approved plans because any delay in developing the property ia an invitation to encroachment by undesirable elements.

The story is same for all government ministries and parastatals, whether in education, health, aviation, immigration, tax, judiciary, all sectors. Files are delayed unnecessarily and even get lost in transit with no culprit brought to justice. This is the state of our civil service. Can President Muhammadu Buhari effect the required change in the civil service? That will be the day.

Buhari has something going in his favour to make this change realistic, he is perceived as one of high integrity and prudent. So, his examples can serve as a beacon or a guide for all government and public officials to take cue from.

With the above situation, the workers are very well aware that with him, it will not be business as usual. So, we do not need much campaigns or enlightenment programmes. What is required is to put in place adequate standards and indices that will be used to determine productivity of the government workers. By the time performance is appraised according to job output, they will begin to sit tight.

For example; no official should close for the day without been in position to determine his productivity for that day. All jobs are measurable in terms of quality, quantity, time and money. We must put timelines in place to treat public and private applications, permits, approvals and so on in government establishments, that will eliminate delays, bribes, extortions, loss of files, poor service delivery from government officials.

If standards are introduced in public institutions, with disciplinary measures taken against those who flout them, there will be considerable improvement in all aspects of our public life.

Every government ministry is important to national development and all must have standards of measurement to determine efficiency. If Muhammadu Buhari can effect change in this direction, he will be leaving behind a legacy that will stand the test of time and a model for others coming behind to follow.

Can he effect this change? Only time will tell.

Mr. Sunny Ikhioya, a commentator on national issues, wrote from Lagos.