Despite lamentations about government agencies and ministries not being regular with salaries payment, research has shown that many Nigerians still prefer to work in government-owned establishments.
In 2020, about 191,000 candidates applied for jobs in the Nigeria Immigration Service and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).
Early in 2022, more than 81,005 applications were received for the police recruitment exercise. Recently, the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) announced recruitment to fill most of its vacant positions and the rush as observed BusinessDay is significant.
Experts are of the view that many Nigerians are more than willing to resign from private-sector jobs for the public sector for some personal reasons.
Eniola Adewunmi, a civil servant attributed the rush for public jobs to the fact that there are no jobs in the private sector in the first place. The jobs that are there are very minimal and are in most cases reserved for certain persons.
Besides, she noted that most of the people that clamour for public jobs do so because of retirement benefits accessible in the public sector.
“These people think of their futures, government jobs are more secured with better incentives at the retirement age, which the private sectors do not offer,” Adewunmi said.
Similarly, Efriye Bribena, the chief executive officer of TAMIEF International Limited disclosed to BusinessDay that job security and security for the future are the driving forces that lure people to public jobs.
However, Bribena stated that all those benefits inherent in the public sector jobs were truncated years ago when civil servants were being sacked without prior notice.
In view of this, he explained that the drive for public jobs goes beyond job security and security for the future, but that it is more of an avenue to make something extra out of the public purse.
“The quest to make something extra from the public treasure which is rooted to the corruptive tendencies beclouding the country is the reason most Nigerians would opt for public jobs,” Bribena stated.
Bribena reiterated that with the introduction of the National Pension Commission (PENCOM) most of the fears and worries that people have over the security of their future is been addressed even in some private sectors that offer pension savings for their staff.
For Charity Olisakwe, an insurance broker the reason for the rush for public jobs in Nigeria today is because of the pressure inherent in private sector workplaces.
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“Non-performance is not condoled in the private sector, unlike the public sector. The private sector employers have zero tolerance for laziness,” she said.
Besides, Olisakwe noted that public sector jobs are less stressful compared to the private sector.
“What they do public sector is a regimented appraisal and not a strict appraisal. In most public offices what you get is promotional appraisal as against performance appraisal that is obtainable in the private sector,” she noted.
According to the insurance manager, “more to it is the platform for using public office for personal economic benefits that is common with most Nigerians.”
Sharon Nwoko a staff of Classic FM believes that most Nigerians are more concerned about the security of their jobs, which the private sectors do not offer.
“Most private organisations do not care about staff job security and that is the more reason staff in a private firm will have an eye for a public job. To them, in the private sector, the job is just for survival!” she said.
However, some other people believe that public sector jobs are for societal values, and philanthropic service, among others.
