ECOLOGY OF DEVELOPED AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES Administration of development means the process of administering or guiding

the process of development in a country. Development as a concept has experienced methodological and conceptual shift over the years.

Ecology of developed and developing countries is very unique in the sense that while the developed nations practice those administrative systems that suit its socio-cultural environment, the developing nation in turn is very comfortable with imitating these foreign models or systems without taking into consideration its socio-cultural environment.

This brings us to the theory of administrative imitation which is an attempt to explain the persistence of the legacy of the past colonial masters to the

here is not absolute imitation, which would in any case be unrealistic, but an attitude in the sphere of social psychology which will help to throw more light into the mindset of the operators.

Most of the developed nations have experienced colonization. Most of them have what is regarded as dual administration. There are elements of traditional and modern administration taking place in one society.Riggs et al (1964) investigated the impact of ecological factors in the environment, cultural and historical experiences of societies on the need and effectiveness of administrative systems in the management of development programmes. Riggs and his colleagues opined that administrative systems can be better understood if the surrounding conditions, influences and forces that come into their shaping and modifications are identified and classified in relation to their relative importance and influence. They went further to classify societies into three groups:

a. Refracted societies - Developed or modern societies b. Prismatic societies - Transitional societies (Developing) c. Fused societies - Traditional societies

This classification made it easier to differentiate between developed and developing nations, that is, refracted and prismatic societies. Riggs model was that of administration in transition which he refers to as the SALA model.

According to him, developed society belongs to the refractive portion; the developing countries come into the prismatic category having the combination of elements of tradition and modernity. Although, they are moving towards the refractive end, they are yet to completely disengage themselves from the traditional fused society.The traditional society, on the other hand, belongs to the fused portion. He posited that at the traditional society, powers are usually fused, for instance, the Chiefs, Obis, Obas, Emirs exert so much power or influence over their subjects.

Characteristics of prismatic society are as follows:

a. A high degree of heterogeneity -

Here, there is a mixture of traditional and modern society.

There is co-existence of a modern city with its sophistication of intellectual class, modern gadgets of administration etc and local villages run by rural leaders whose roles and mode

of administration may be quite local or traditional in character.

b. High degree of formalism -

There is a discrepancy between what isprescribed and what is being practiced. Here, the laws in the Constitution is one thing and the actual behavior of the people is another. This explains the situation in the public sector and indeed the country in general.

c. Over lapping -

Here there is co-existence of formally differentiated structure

and undifferentiated structures.In this situation, new norms or values that are appropriate to the differentiated structures are paid lip service while the older values of an undifferentiated society still retains its stronghold.

In prismatic societies there are;

Nepotism and favouritism:

This is regarded as the influence of family, God fatherismetc on the office holder.

Ploy Communism:

Here the public office holder apply rules to suit his personal interest or to benefit his constituency and not for the universal interest.

Ploy normalism and lack of consensus:

In this situation, there are so many norms operating in a particular system and there is lack of rational relationship between ends and means. Power distribution does not necessarily lie with the formal authority.

It is pertinent to point out that Nigeria Public Administration system is better described in terms of the ‘Sala Model’.

Other scholars in ecology school of thought explain the features of administration in the developing countries as follows that:

a. The basic pattern of administration is highly imitative rather than indigenous.

b. There is wide spread discrepancy between form and norm.

c. Bureaucracy in developing countries does not enjoy operational autonomy.

d. Bureaucracy is deficient in skilled manpower which is necessary for developing projects.

There is need for adaptation which can involve imitation but not absolute imitation which is really unrealistic. Imitation itself makes for balance but the disadvantages are nevertheless considerable. For instance, imitation prevents distinctive evolution of the social psychological features of each community and apes that of another country.

3.3 Impact of Environmental Factors on Public Administration in Nigeria

There are some environmental factors that impede the development of public administration. These factors are not peculiar to Nigeria environment alone as

there are also found in other developing countries. Some of these are discussed below:

3.2.1 Social Factor

One problem that is so deeply rooted in the Nigerian Public Administrative system that has refused to go is nepotism. In this situation, the loyalty to family, friends, local, state, and ethnic groups take precedence over loyalty to the nation. This makes supervision and control difficult to implement. It breeds corruption and mediocrity as merit is not the yardstick for appointment to public office or the award of contracts.

The Public Sector is also viewed as a faceless entity or as ‘national cake’ which should be sliced and eaten by those who are fortunate to get close to it. The bigger your slice, the smarter you are viewed by the society. The same society regards those who have been to the corridors of power but have nothing to show for it as very foolish. They are scorned and despised even by their own families. The result is looting of the public treasury by public officers, politicians, the military et cetera. This have impoverished the country and made the Transparency International to rate Nigeria as one of the most corrupt nations in the world despite the acclaimed fight against corruption in Nigeria.

3.2.2 Human Relations Factor

There is lack of cooperation and team spirit in the public sector. Undue animosity, jealousy and bickering are strife in the system. The superiors in most cases are very reluctant to delegate responsibilities and authority to their subordinates. The subordinates, on the other hand, are often reluctant to accept responsibilities from their superiors. The decision-making is usually concentrated at the topmost levels with the resultant inefficient use of the talents of both the superiors and the subordinates. Mduabum (2008:295) contends that this unco-operative attitude snowballs into an aggression which

poor public relations with its attendant consequences of inefficiency, ineffectiveness, poor performance and poor service delivery.

3.2.3 Language

Nigeria is a populous country with over 400 different languages. There is no indigenous acceptable lingua franca for the nation with the result that most people are conducting their business in different languages. This has adverse effect on productivity as well as on government business because, in most cases, it is hard to communicate or execute instructioneffectively.

3.2.4 The Educational System

The educational system handed over to the nation by the colonial masters was superficial. It was not really meant to educate the indigenes rather to serve the purpose of interpreting their language to the natives, hence the emphasis on reading and writing as against science and technology. This state of affairs also was responsible for the emphasis on paper qualifications rather than acquisition of skills. The paper qualification is tailored towards acquisition of

‘white collar’ jobs which is evident in the majority of the nation’s elites opting for generalists as against specialists professions.

3.2.5 Time and Number

Nigerian Public Servants are noted for lack of time consciousness. They have this mindset that their job is a ‘white man’s’ own where one is prone to stroll in and out as one wishes. There is total disrespect of time which they nicknamed ‘African-time’. There is lack of result-oriented attitude to their duties. Our government is very good in shunning out good policies or projects but find it difficult to define how or when these projects will be completed.

They are always not serious in tagging time to each project and follow it up with strict compliance. To be result-oriented, according to Maduabum (ibid), the organs of government should also be time-oriented and number-oriented.

3.2.6 Climatic Condition

Nigeria is situated in the tropics with hot and harsh climate which is not conducive for high productivity in the work place. This is a natural phenomenon which can be resolved by making sure that the offices are highly ventilated or furnished with good air conditioners. This of course will suffice if there is uninterrupted power supply in the country. Added to the above is, as posited by Maduabum (ibid), to cope with it by establishing a positive relationship between climatic and working conditions, especially in terms of hours of work, rest periods, and recreational facilities.

3.2.7 Copy-Catism

Nigerian administrative system relies much on the styles borrowed from the European system of administration as against the African system or styles.

And because these foreign administrative systems have different cultural background which does not conform to our cultural values, there is bound to be conflicts in most of the policy issues raised by the government and this will, without doubt, be counterproductive in the public sector.

4.0 Conclusion

Public Administrators operate in a complex environment. They affect, and to some extent, influence the environment in which they operate. In playing advisory roles to the political class and also in policy implementation they must consider the internal and external environment. Many governments are making serious efforts to establish an environment that is beneficial to the society.

Nigerian government is towing similar line.

5.0 SUMMARY

From the discussion on the ecology of public administration we have seen the influence of environmental factors as it impacts on the practice of public administration in Nigeria. Ecology in Public Administration context is concerned with the differences in social, cultural and environmental factors and how environmental factors and historical experiences affect the way in which administration is conducted. It also deals with how administrative actions affect the society in which it plays a part.

We also observed that development strategies and approaches must take into cognizance the very nature of the society involved, drawing at the same time from its human and material resources to achieve social change in the society.

Ecology of developed and developing countries and their impact on Public Administration is an interesting reading. We noted three categories of societies;

refracted, prismatic and fused societies. Riggs model which he refers as SALA was also examined. This model helps to differentiate between developed and developing societies and their characteristics. Finally, we opined that Nigeria Public Administration is better understood from Rigg’s et al SALA model.