Section 318 (1) provides that civil service in Nigeria means service of the federation in a civil capacity as staff of the government assigned with the responsibility for any business of the government. Section 318 (1) interpretation section)
Public service means the service of the federation or state in any capacity in respect of the government.
Examples of employees under civil service includes;
- Employees that are staffs of the president or governor,
- Employer that are staffs of the vice president or deputy governor
- Employees that are staffs of a ministry or department of the government in the federal or state level.
Examples of public service employees are as follows;
- Clerk or other staff of the national assembly or of each house of the national assembly
- Member of the staff of the various courts of the state or federation
- Member or staff or any commission or authority established for the federation by this constitution or by an act of the national assembly
- Staff of any educational institution established by the government
- Staff or officers of the armed forces, Nigeria police force or other government security agencies public services is a governmental body which provides the public with essential goods or services such as electric power etc
- Civil service covers the employees of both the state and federal government , whose, service are not fund generation or profit making oriented, but totally depends on the government for its existence
- The achievements of the civil services are into measured in monetary terms
- The public service achievements are measured in monetary terms
In civil services, its employees are permanent staffs or officers of the government, no matter the change of the political office holders
In public service, the change of government can affect its employees and deny the of their employment
In the public service the educational qualification for its employees is at least a degree in public administration, to enable them acquire the necessary skills to serve in that capacity.
- In the civil services, the are 4 services class, with its own educational degree. They are as follows ;
- A. ordinary service : they have “first school leaving certificate “ as their qualification
- Intermediate service : they work with school leaving certificate and must have competed a vocational training
- Higher inermechate service : they work with university entrance i.e. o level or a level qualification
- Higher service: here their educational qualifications a university degree
- Civil servant are usually accountable to the ministry the work under
- While public service on the other hand, are directly accountable to the government
- Civil services is made up of employees who are usually experts or professionals in their fields
- On the other hand, public services is based on works that are executor in nature
- A civil servant can work in a public services company but
- A public servant cannot work under the civil service sector
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- Another differentiating factor, si that while the civil servants are usually attached to the government,
- The public servants renders services to the public directly
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- In civil services, the working hours of its employees are stipulated and timed. The normal work hour, is from 8.00am to 4.00pm (Except overtime or for other special reasons)
- In the public service, there is no time specifications, rather the employees run shifts.
- In civil service, during holidays e.g public holidays, their employee are allowed the free day out of work,
- But in the public service, they do not observe public holidays or any other holiday because the nature of their job requires them to constantly be at their work posts for the welfare of the public
- In the civil service, at the probationary period between the time of employment and confirmation of employment which lasts for 2 years .
- In public service the probationary period varies from 6 months to 2 years .
In the civil service their primary source of funds is the government. In some course the civil services in discharging its obligations may realized funds their from which their account to the government. The government appropriate this funds and given a share of it to the civil service by way of annual budget.
On the other hand the public services obtains it revenue by way of tax system in other wards the government tax masses obtained revenue from natural resources which it uses in carrying out its functions
The civil service is headed by the director general. The director general is directly accountable to the public while in the public services it is headed by the governor at the state level and the president at the federal level
The civil service is made up governmental ministries and departments while public services is made up of civil service and other agencies corporations for instance M.N.P.C
The public service compasses both civil servants and those working in parastatals, agencies and corporation. The civil service is manned by civil servants while the public service is manned by public servants
The public service enjoy better working conditions of service than the civil servant in the civil service as revenue accrued to it is unlimited unlike the civil service
The civil service is controlled by the civil commission while the public service is controlled by the board of directors
The civil service commission controls the civil service by investigation either upon complaint or upon its own motion concerning any matter touching on the administration of the civil service system.
