CHALLENGES OF THE USE OF DISCRETION IN PUBLIC SERVICE ADMINISTRATION

Abstract

The work centres on the challenges of the use of discretion in public service administration. This is imperative because public servants encounter many challenges after using their discretionary powers. The study begins with general introduction, statement of the problem and the purpose of the study which are: to ascertain the challenges often confronting public servants in the use of discretion in the discharge of their duties, and to proffer some solutions that will ameliorate the problems of the use of discretionary powers by the public servants. The study adopts contingency theory propounded by Fielder (1967) as the framework of analysis. Thereafter, the work makes a comparative study of some cases of administrative discretion in the U.S.A., Nigeria and India. Finally, the study comes up with findings, and made some recommendations that will be useful to reduce the problems of administrative discretion.