The purpose of this study is to assess the perception of public service in Nigeria from the standpoint of young and middle-aged adults in Ibadan, Nigeria with a view to determining its performance and contribution to national development. Concurrent triangulation mixed methods research design was adopted in this study to collect primary data from young and middle-aged adults in Ibadan, Nigeria. Descriptive and inferential statistics described quantitative data and principal component analysis (PCA) extracted two factors. In addition, thematic content analysis was adopted to analyze qualitative research data. Findings showed that respondents had a negative perception of public service in Nigeria both in terms of its operation and reward. Job security was perceived positively but corruption/bad behavior in the public service was most perceived negatively. Also, final year undergraduates most perceive public service negatively and public paid workers least perceived public service negatively. Knowledge of this study will benefit Nigerians who render and enjoy public services, and will be most useful for the Nigerian public service to formulate policies that will prevent self-interested, inefficient, ineffective, and unproductive public service workforce. This study measures, for the first time, perception of Nigerian public service in terms of its operation and reward. Studies that will investigate the rationale behind young and middle-aged adults' negative perception of and high preference for careers in Nigerian public service are recommended. Also, improvement in service delivery and in the conditions of Nigerian public service will help in correcting the negative view.

中文翻译：

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尼日利亚的公共服务：年轻人和中年人的看法

本研究的目的是从尼日利亚伊巴丹的青年和中年成年人的角度评估尼日利亚公共服务的看法，以确定其绩效和对国家发展的贡献。本研究采用并发三角测量混合方法研究设计，以收集尼日利亚伊巴丹青壮年和中年成年人的原始数据。描述性和推理性统计描述定量数据和主成分分析（PCA）提取的两个因素。此外，采用主题内容分析来分析定性研究数据。调查结果表明，受访者对尼日利亚的公共服务在运营和奖励方面都有负面看法。工作保障被认为是积极的，但公共服务中的腐败/不良行为被认为是消极的。此外，最后一年的本科生对公共服务的看法最负面，而公职人员对公共服务的看法最不负面。这项研究的知识将使提供和享受公共服务的尼日利亚人受益，并且对尼日利亚公共服务制定政策以防止自利、低效、低效和非生产性公共服务劳动力最有用。这项研究首次衡量了人们对尼日利亚公共服务的运作和奖励的看法。建议开展研究，调查青年和中年成年人对尼日利亚公共服务职业的负面看法和高度偏好背后的基本原理。还，