SERVICOM Service Charter and Service Delivery Imperatives in Federal Government MDAs

Abstract

The growing call for qualitative service delivery for nation building through the adoption of internationally recognised service improvement benchmarks by Nigerian citizens, nongovernmental organizations, civil society and advocacy groups and professional organizations made this paper imperative. This paper highlights the importance of service delivery and policy directives in the attainment of service objectives by ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) at all level of governments. Thus the paper carefully examined the contributory role and effect of the SERVICOM service delivery charter 13 years after its formulation by the administration of former president Olusegun Obasanjo. The review identified the strong points of the SERVICOM charter, its achievements and areas of policy review for effective service delivery at all levels of governments in Nigeria since effective service delivery by MDAs is a sine qua non for national development, creating trust in the people for the acceptance of government programmes and policies and above all repositioning the country in good light before the international community to attract foreign investments and high ranking in the global competitive index for quality service delivery. The review concludes that for any service delivery mechanism like the SERVICOM charter to satisfy service expectation, it must be people service centered, have a minimum benchmark for service delivery throughout the entire public service, be adequate timed with a clear definition of each and have a sustainable reward systems in place that can motivate the people towards attainment of service objectives of the government.