ABSTRACT
Nigeria's public sector like that of many developing countries plays a significant role in setting and implementing the strategy framework for administrative reform and economic development. Domestic conditions such as high poverty and illiteracy rates, inadequate technological base, deficient industrial and infrastructure development, and a weak private sector have necessitated Nigeria's public sector to assume a dominant role in economic development and administrative reform. The term administrative reform is normative and value ridden. During the past three decades it has acquired multiple views and meanings in the literature. Adwan notes that the different views and meanings signify lack of consensus in the research community and has let to "terminological confusion among scholars, and conflicting considerations among reformers." Improvement of public sector accountability constitutes the third element of administrative reform in Nigeria's post-colonial economic development experience. Inadequate control of public agencies is noted by researchers as a major deficiency in Nigeria's public sector.
