RETHINKING THE ‘COMPLICITY’ OF GOVERNMENT IN DECLINING ETHICS AMONG KOKONA LOCAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES.

Public organisations and members are required to be guided by established ethics in the discharge of their official responsibilities, to ensure credible service delivery to the citizens. The objective of this study is to examine the extent of observance of established public service ethics by employees of Kokona Local Government Council, Nasaram State, Nigeria, The central research questions were: whether employees fully observed the ethics; and the reasons for default, if any. A sample of 282 employees was drawn from the total staff strength of 352 (2019), with purposive technique, because of the homogeneity and relatively small size of the target population; while a questionnaire was employed in data collection, in the primary survey research design. Oral interviews were also conducted with respondents, to clarify ambiguities. Vroom (1964)’s Expectancy Theory was adopted in the theoretical framework, in view of the Theory’s potency in providing insight into the relationship between employees' effort and the outcome of the effort, in the form of reward. Data were analysed with simple percentage tools, as is widely applicable in Management and Social Science researches. Salieni among the findings were that Kokona Council employees were aware of the service ethical codes; but they were however largely deficient in fully observing the code, due to the deplorable service conditions, including poor remunerations and incentives Consequently, it was recommended, among others, that Council should improve th service conditions of employees; diversity the revenue base, to support the anticipated higher expenditure profile; and embark on ethical re-orientation of the staff, to regularize the psyche.