Nigeria’s public institutions can deliver exceptional results even within a weak state, but such gains will remain fragile unless they are supported by clear mandates, performance targets, effective management and systems capable of surviving changes in leadership, former Director-General of the Bureau of Public Service Reforms, Dr Joe Abah, has said.

Abah said the challenge was not simply finding exceptional individuals to transform public organisations, but building systems that could preserve the gains made by such leaders after they leave office.

He observed while speaking at a virtual session on “Strong Organisations, Weak States: How Public Institutions Succeed against the Odds,” where he examined why some Nigerian public organisations have performed above the wider standards of the country’s public sector.

Drawing from his research on anti-corruption agencies, regulatory bodies and revenue organisations, Abah said strong performance was rarely the result of a single factor. Rather, it emerged when pressure for change, the power to act and the passion to deliver a mandate came together.

He described this as the theory of “convergent demand,” explaining that “people must want things to change” before meaningful reform can take place.

According to him, pressure could come from international expectations, public demands or the consequences of institutional failure, while political backing gives an organisation the authority to act. Passion, he added, comes from leaders who are personally committed to achieving the mandate.

Abah, however, stressed that exceptional leadership alone could not guarantee institutional survival.

“There’s a theory in the organisational development literature that charismatic leaders are not often very good at building systems and building institutions. But you need them to provide that spark. And then when that spark has been provided, you perhaps need a more boring person to come in and stabilise the organisation,” he said.

He argued that institutions must therefore move beyond personalities to strengthen recruitment based on merit, career progression, organisational culture, internal management, financing, public communication and measurable performance.

Abah also warned that public institutions could drift from their intended mandates when governments fail to establish clear, measurable priorities.

“What I, by my experience, don’t have is a clear strategy that says, okay, over the next 10 years, these are the things we’re going to focus on,” he said, stressing the need for long-term strategies backed by the executive, legislature and judiciary.

He also identified weak direction as a major problem in Nigeria’s public service, noting that political appointees and public officials were often given little guidance on what they were expected to achieve.

According to him, mandate letters should specify the priorities and measurable outcomes expected from ministers and agency heads, rather than merely communicate their appointment.

“You can go to your office and do nothing for four years,” he said, arguing that without clear expectations and continuous performance measurement, public organisations could continue to consume government resources without delivering meaningful results.

Abah nevertheless rejected the suggestion that pockets of effective institutions necessarily make wider state failure more acceptable. Instead, he said, successful organisations could give citizens evidence that better public services were possible.

He said the priority should be to identify critical areas where the government could demonstrate effective performance and build institutions capable of sustaining those gains.