Improving Public Service Delivery in Nigeria : A Paradigm Shift between Traditional Public Administration and New Public Management

The New Public Management represents the culmination of a revolution in public management. Many governments have embraced the NPM as the framework or paradigm through which governments are modernized and the public sector re-engineered. The NPM reform is radically changing the traditional ways of delivery public services. Indeed, the NPM offers important lessons and analyses for public management throughout the world and Nigeria is no exception to the process of implementation of efforts aimed at achieving the outcomes embodied in the said NPM This paper presents the efforts at improving public service delivery through NPM reforms in Nigeria. The paper states that in order to benefit from the NPM ideas, the public sector in Nigeria needs to develop sound bureaucratic principles that would become the foundation upon which the NPM principles can be progressively embraced and nurtured. It concludes that improving technical, managerial and leadership skills of government employees in various ministries is vital if Nigeria is to benefit from the administrative technology brought forth by the NPM ideas. This effort must further be supported by a strong ownership of reforms and political will.