Project Abstract

From independence (1960) till date the Nigeria society has been under-going rapid transition with the unavailable and the unusual step by step transformation process that affect all social systems of the Nigerian society. The public sector organization being deliberately and hurriedly reformed to avoid the pit falls of the past. Instantly, erratic decisions are being made, new programme established and the old ones re-established with new strategies in an effort to achieve a new social order.

In achieving this social order a number of reforms are introduced into the public sector organizations and these (reforms) tends to be prone to a form of organizational crisis or another. With regards to the Nigerian public sector these crisis arise out of situational uncertainties and inadequacies of an organization. These could be as a result of power tussles, inadequate funds, psychological disorientation of employees in an organization and its employers rejection of managements / authorities reforms. Any such crisis is capable of distorting the realization of organizations objectives.

An important step is ensuring success in the realization of these public sector organizations and to understand the dynamics of a particular crisis and implement appropriate remedies on conditions that the change motivators are genius and determined. We all know that the understanding of the dynamics of crisis is lacked in the public sector of Nigerian Economy. It is also true that our administrators in the public sector are always involved in the crisis management. In conclusion, we can see that there is no effective tool for crisis management in the Nigerian public sector.

For this singular reason the Enugu North Local Government (ENLG) was chosen to give a clear picture of public sector organization whose administrators have not been able to note that local government were created to act as an autonomous part of the central government in Nigeria.

In this study we have been able to identify few of the numerous crisis that could hit the ENLG and ranked them in order of probability of occurrence using that crisis with the highest probability in developing a crisis management more for use by organizations in the public sector of the Nigeria economy.

Project Overview

Crisis management aim at avoiding the acute and chronic stages of crisis. A crisis is said to be effectively managed if it moves from prodromal to resolution stage we are aware that this has not been the case in the local government their crisis have been known to have gone through the four stages with inevitable consequences.

If we take a look at the second republic and early part of the aborted their republic (1988-1989) there were various crisis among which were:

·             Financial crisis

·             Power crisis

·             Manpower crisis

·             Political crisis

The entire above crisis, we unfortunately allowed to go through the four stages and this had their unpleasant effects on the local government in the country. For example, the Enugu North Local Government administration was engulfed by crisis during the year 1988 and 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 (NULGE) Enugu North local government branch on March 9th ’94 protesting for the non-payment of salaries for 6 months.

Furthermore, the strike action carried out by the National Union of Teacher (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 (2) decades of its establishment the local government cannot manage available resources and avoid conflict or crisis from happening.

1.2     STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

It is quite unfortunate that going through literature very little work has been done on how best to handle crisis by scholars and practitioners. In view of these identified lapses, an inquiry into crisis management in the local government has become imperative. It is hoped that this inquiry would stimulate new dimension and direction for crisis management whose overall objective could be the search for an effective and efficient local government administration. In Nigeria, with specific focus on evolving new strategies for building a stable base for local government organization in the country.

1.3     RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The basic research questions for this work are:

·             How can we change from crisis management to the management of crisis?

·             How do employee or workers perceive crisis?

·             What factors influence management attitude to crisis?

·             What role does the federal and state government play in local government crisis?    

This study will attempt to provide appropriate answers / solution to these questions which are regarded as key variables in the local government administration in Nigeria, such answers is hoped would assist in providing insights into the kind of measures to be adopted to ensure effective and efficient crisis management in Nigeria.

1.4     OBJECTIVE OF STUDY

The objective of this research would 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 local government administration with a view to explaining the extent of their involvement.

1.5     SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

The significance of this study work is aimed at developing an effective crisis management tools and thus creating a relatively stable environment becomes clear. In order to make reasonable progress towards achieving the purposes for their creation, the public sector organization requires a relatively stable environment and an effective crisis management tool which is what this study is all about.

1.6                      SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The study touches on various forms of crisis that had characterized the public sector organizations in the country.

This using the Enugu North Local Government (ENLG). As a case study, an attempt is made to identify possible crisis that could effect the public sector organizations, their effect and probability of occurring based on the findings, the study attempts to develop crisis management for use in organizations in both public and private sectors.

It is sine-qua-non to mention were that in the course of the preliminary library research, it is discovered that very few up to date materials / literature on the public sector administration in the local government could be found. This is more so in finding documents that dealt with crisis management as it affects public corporation and local government.

1.7     DEFINITION OF TERMS

In the course of this work: certain key concept were met along the line which may be interpreted differently for the purpose of this study therefore the following operational definitions are given to these 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 government at the local level exercised through a representative council, established by law to provide / exercise specific power within defined areas.

Public Sector

  This is the part of a nations economy which is controlled mainly by the government

Crisis Management

 Any 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 in from of crisis management.

Rural Development

The process of providing inhabitants of the rural area with basic infrastructure and amenities, which could enhance their standard of living.

REFERENCE

Anikpo Mark (1985)     Nigerian’s Evolving class structure in area edited Political Economy of Nigeria, Lagos, Longman publisher

Federal Republic of Nigeria Guidelines for local government reforms (1976), Kaduna, Kaduna government Printers.

Rex Ugorji (1989), Management of crisis in business organization, Being a paper presented at a workshop on crisis management organized at Enugu by the federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN ) in partnership with FIDREX management consultant Lagos.