CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0 Background of the Study

The Civil Service is the administrative bureaucracy which occupies an essential position in the political system of nations. Throughout the world, the contributions of Civil Service in promoting sustainable and equitable economic growth are receiving increasing attention. Efficient and effective management of the Civil Service are critical to sustainable socio-economic development of a nation. Civil service in Nigeria comprises workers in the various ministries or departments apart from those who hold political appointments. Civil Service reform on the other hand refers to the purposeful modification of governmental human resource management system with the goal of maximizing important administrative values [1].

Civil Service is the body of government officials who are employed in civil occupations that are neither political nor judicial. Civil Service refers to employees selected and promoted on the basis of a merit and seniority system, which may include examination. The Civil Service consists of people employed by the state to run the public service of a country. The civil service is a term used to cover these civil servants who are direct employees of the federal and state governments, other than the police, the armed forces personnel, tile judicial personnel and the teachers. Its usage excludes also employees of statutory corporations and boards. The civil service comprises all servants of the state, other than those holding political appointments, who are employed in a civil capacity and whose remuneration is paid out of (money voted by the legislature. Civil service can also be seen as the body of permanent officials appointed to assist the political executive in formulating and implementing governmental policies. Workers in the civil service are usually promoted from level to level [1].

Promotion in the civil service usually takes time to process. To effectively manage promotion in the civil service, there is need to automate the process to eliminate bottlenecks.

1.1 Statement of the Problem

The past civil service administration system in Nigeria was characterized by bureaucratic bottlenecks. This was tied to the following reasons:

The manual way of recording and processing flat files, one after the other and it takes a whole lot of time to process a single file. At many times, there is evidence of staff qualified for promotion not getting promoted for many years. One of the reasons for this can be attributed to the method of processing promotion. Files easily get missed or misplaced.

There is therefore need for an automated system that will manage the promotion records of staff of the civil service commission.

1.2 Aim and Objectives of the Study

The aim, of the study is to develop a software that would help in promotion processing management system. The following are the objectives of the study:

To build a database system for civil service promotion records. To develop a system that determines eligibility for promotion To aid the presentation of promotion reports when needed.

1.3 Significance of the Study

The research would be significant in the following ways:

It will provide a better way of processing and managing promotion records. It will reduce the time involved in processing promotions and move forward the activities of the civil service. It will also serve as a useful reference material to other researchers

1.4 Scope of the Study

This research work covers promotion processing management system, a case study of Akwa Ibom Civil Service. It checks if a civil servant is eligible for promotion based on the number of years in post, present grade level and performance rating.

1.5 Organization of the Research

This research work is organized into five chapters. Chapter one is concerned with the introduction of the research study and it presents the preliminaries, theoretical background, statement of the problem, aim and objectives of the study, significance of the study, scope of the study, organization of the research and definition of terms.

Chapter two focuses on the literature review, the contributions of other scholars on the subject matter is discussed.

Chapter three is concerned with the system analysis and design. It analyzes the present system to identify the problems and provides information on the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed system. The system design is also presented in this chapter.

Chapter four presents the system implementation and documentation. The choice of programming language, analysis of modules, choice of programming language and system requirements for implementation.

Chapter five focuses on the summary, conclusion and recommendations are provided in this chapter based on the study carried out.

1.6 Definition of Terms

Civil Service: The body of government officials who are employed in civil occupations that are neither political nor judicial.

Economic Stability: The situation of a nation to be strong economically

Civil servant: An employee in a government department

Promotion: An advancement to a more senior job or a higher rank, grade, or position

System: the combination of related parts working together to achieve a particular goal.