Neo-Patrimonialism, Institutional Reform, and the Bureaucratic State in Post-Military Nigeria

This study interrogates the relationship between neo-patrimonialism and institutional reform capacity in post-military Nigeria, investigating why bureaucratic reform programmes consistently fail to produce durable changes in administrative practice despite formal adoption of meritocratic and performance-oriented institutional designs. The theoretical puzzle at the centre of the study is the paradox of reform adoption without reform effectiveness, which existing institutionalist theory, focused on formal rule changes, inadequately explains. The study develops an original analytical framework integrating neo-patrimonial theory, the new institutionalism literature, and the political economy of reform to account for the selective implementation and reinterpretation of formal institutional changes within the context of Nigeria's informal governance logic. The framework is tested through comparative case studies of three major bureaucratic reform programmes: the SERVICOM reforms of the early 2000s, the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System reforms, and the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System, drawing on archival data, semi-structured interviews with reform architects and frontline implementers across six ministries, and process-tracing of reform trajectories. Findings demonstrate that each reform programme was progressively adapted to accommodate neo-patrimonial interests during implementation, with formal compliance coexisting with the preservation of informal patronage channels. The study makes an original contribution to the African public administration literature by demonstrating that reform failure is not merely a capacity problem but reflects the rational choices of actors whose interests are served by the persistence of neo-patrimonial arrangements. Recommendations include sequenced reform strategies that align elite interests with institutional improvement goals as a precondition for sustainable change. Keywords: neo-patrimonialism, institutional reform, bureaucratic state, Nigeria, public administration theory