Public Administration and National Security in Nigeria

The paper assessed public administration issues and challenges to national security in Nigeria. This is to know how public administration can be strengthened to curb threats to national security in Nigeria. It is a theoretical paper hence, it relied on data obtained from relevant published textbooks, journals, newspapers, and conference papers. The data collected were analysed through the descriptive method. Using the structural functionalism theory, public administration was identified as a critical instrument of government to achieve its national security goal of Nigeria. It found that public administration has not been able to provide the expected national security in Nigeria. The unfriendly and paralysing situations of the political and socio-economic environment, the collapsing conditions of good governance, and the leadership crisis were found as issues and challenges facing public administration on national security in Nigeria. The paper concluded that public administration is what the government uses to maintain national security but could not provide the expected results due to issues of poor political environment and crisis of leadership. It recommended, among others, the redefinition of political structure and rebirth of leadership in Nigeria to promote a better and more friendly political environment that is conducive for public administration to discharge its function of national security in Nigeria.