Citizenship behaviour, organizational integrity, and the practice of ‘discretion’ among members of a Nigerian Paramilitary Organization

Abstract

Organizational citizenship behaviour could be roughly understood as extra role behaviours engaged in by members of an organization that are not formally rewarded by the organization, but which in the long run contribute to making the organization more efficient and effective. This paper examines the ramifications of Organizational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB) among members of a Nigerian paramilitary organization, the Federal Road Safety Commission of Nigeria (FRSC), with particular reference to a strand of extra-role behaviour that the members describe as “discretion”, which in some instances amount to outright justification for corrupt (and even anti-citizenship) behaviour. The paper also examines the implications of “discretion” for the Organizational Integrity of the FRSC, which relates to the ethical climate of this paramilitary organization as well as members’ perception of it. The paper ultimately attempts, relying on an on-going fieldwork and the thinking of members themselves, to understand the rationale for “discretion” among members of the FRSC and the implications of “discretion” and similar behaviour among members of the FRSC of Nigeria and indeed other governmental bureaucracies in the “modernization” agenda of the current Nigerian (and, by extension, African) political regime.