Schedule Flexibility and Performance of Ebonyi State Civil Service in Nigeria

Francisca Nkiruka Ezeanokwasa — 2023-08-25

Civil service has been identified as the fulcrum capable of contributing to the industrialization of Ebonyi State. The study aimed to examine the relationship between schedule flexibility and performance of Ebonyi State Civil Service. The study employed a descriptive survey design. A sample size of 371 respondents was drawn from a population of 5027 civil servants in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). Primary source of data was employed mainly through a structured questionnaire. 360 copies of questionnaire were correctly filled, returned and used for analysis. Descriptive statistic was used to present data generated and Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient with the aid of Software Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 20. The results revealed that there is a positive significant relationship between flexi-time flexibility and commitment among civil servants in the Ebonyi State Civil Service. Also, a positive significant relationship exists between job sharing and loyalty among civil servants in the Ebonyi State Civil Service. Within the period of creation of the state, the idea of schedule flexibility has been incorporated in the administrative documents of the state. Notably among these alternative work practices are flexi-time flexibility and job sharing flexibility which is believed to have influenced employee performance in terms of employee commitment and employee loyalty to flexible hours. The study recommends that government should redirect itself toward the implementation of flexi-time in order to influence and sustain employee commitment to higher performance in the state civil service. In the same-vein, government and other employers of labour should endeavour to make provision for job sharing in order to enjoy continued loyalty of employees in the organization.

African Union Self-Sustainable Financing Reform and its Challenges

Tesfaye Molla — 2023-08-25

The problem of overdependence on partner funding, overlapping and unclear mandate among organs, and limited institutional capacity were some of the major drives initiated the African Union (AU) institutional and financial reform. To improve the situations, the policy organs have taken number of financial reform-oriented decisions that recognize the need to take practical and concrete measures to self-sustainably finance its activities through contributions from Member States by achieving pre-set financial autonomous targets in 2020. Thus, this study examines the implementation of financing strategies to achieve its aspirations of financial autonomy and the challenges associated with the implementations of the decisions. Qualitative dominant mixed method was adopted and data were collected from key informants, archives of the African Union Commission, and other secondary sources such as articles, newspaper and websites. While the quantitative data were analyzed using simple descriptive statistics, the qualitative data were analyzed using thematic content analysis. It is found that soliciting sufficient funds from sources within Africa that makes it predictably and reliably finance its activities remain existential challenge to realize the aspired visions of the continent. The Union has been experiencing lack of consensus in negotiations and commitment in implementations among member states, and beset by ineffective oversight mechanism, donor-influence and interference, and inefficiency and lack of institutional capacity. It can be concluded that despite its strong aspiration to self-sustainable by the financial year 2020, the AU is in short of achieving targets of financing its activities; thus, it has remained largely dependent on partner funds.

International Journal of Accounting and Public Sector Management

Schedule Flexibility and Performance of Ebonyi State Civil Service in Nigeria

African Union Self-Sustainable Financing Reform and its Challenges