Back to: Civic Education Primary 5
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Welcome to class.
GOVERNMENT’S MAIN SERVICES
Government
Government refers to the group of people who rule a country. The government makes decisions on how people should live in the country and how things should be done. It makes laws and interprets the laws.
Services
Services refer to those things which are officially provided by the government for everyone in a country.
Quality of Government Services
Government services are not free all the time. For instance, those who travel by government buses have to pay bus fares. Those who travel by air have to buy
Their airline tickets.
Even in states where education is free, parents must provide school books for their children and pay some development levies. Anyone who enjoys government services should pay bills (such as electricity bills and water rates). Services such as good roads, electricity, transport, street lights and water are generally called social amenities.
Services provided by the government should be reliable and of high quality.
In providing services, government officials should possess the following qualities:
- Accountability: People in government should know that they are serving their country and be ready to give the citizens an account of their services.
- Transparency: The government should not be secretive in the way it operates because the country belongs to all the citizens.
- Time consciousness: Those who work in the different agencies that provide the services should arrive at their work places early to start work.
- Dedication, faithfulness and integrity: Government officials should be dedicated to their work. They should be faithful and keep such promises.
Government’s Main Services
Apart from ruling the country, the government provides some services for the society. Such services are many but the major services provided by the government are as follows:
- Maintenance of peace and security: The police force is the major agency of government which protects lives and property. It makes sure criminals do not harass law-abiding citizens. The police maintains peace.
- Maintenance of law and order: The government ensures that people obey the laws of the country so that things can work in an orderly way.
- Justice and equity: Government ensures that people get justice whenever they have a problem. It does this by establishing different courts and employing lawyers and judges. The government ensures that everyone is treated fairly, and no one has an unfair advantage over the other.
- Defence: Government defends the country against her enemies. The armed forces are directly in charge of defence. The armed forces are made up of the army, the air force and the navy. They protect Nigeria against aggression from other countries.
- Education: Government ensures that there are good schools for children (and even adults) to attend. It makes sure that teachers work in the schools and that they get paid.
- Health care: Government provides hospitals that are equipped with modern gadgets for health care. It also employs qualified health care providers such as doctors, nurses, pharmacists and laboratory scientists to look after those who are sick.
- Water: Pipe borne water is very important. It makes life easy and helps to prevent diseases. The water flows from the water works, through pipes into our homes. It is thus very clean and safe. Government provides pipe borne water for the citizens to enjoy good health.
- Electricity: This is very important because factories use electricity to manufacture everything they produce, such as books, textiles, shoes, food, furniture, etc. We need electricity to cook and preserve our food (in the refrigerator or freezer). We need it to read, operate the computer and other equipment. In fact, life will be very difficult without electricity. That is why the government provides it.
- Good roads: The government plans the cities and towns. It decides where people should build houses, where gutters should be and how the different areas should be organised. It therefore builds roads to link up the different areas in which people live. It maintains the roads and makes sure they remain good enough for people to use.
- Transportation: Although many people have their own cars and some people operate commercial buses, government also has some buses which people can travel in while they pay fares. Apart from buses, government also has airline services and even ships which transport goods across the sea to other countries. Trains are also a means of transportation provided by the government.
- Communication: This is a very important service provided by government. People and organisations should be able to communicate with each other all the time. The telephones and postal services must therefore work effectively.
- Streetlights: The government provides streetlights on some major roads so that people who have to move around at night can see properly. Besides, when a street is lit up, thieves will find it difficult to hide or operate there.
Quiz
- State five services rendered by the government and explain each in a few sentences.
- List four qualities which government officials should have in order to serve the country better.
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