WORKFORCE DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATIVE PERFORMANCE IN NIGERIAN LOCAL GOVERNMENT: A CASE STUDY OF KATAGUM LGA, BAUCHI STATE

Abstract

Managing workforce diversity in public sector bureaucracies remains a significant institutional challenge within highly pluralistic developing nations. This study investigated the challenges in the management of workforce diversity and their implications for administrative performance within the public bureaucracy of Katagum Local Government Area (LGA), Bauchi State, Nigeria. Driven by a breakdown in equitable grassroots governance, the study examined three core dimensions: sub-clannish favoritism in training selection, structural gender disparities in career progression, and the politicization of geographic quota guidelines. A convergent parallel mixed-methods research design was adopted, utilizing a sample size of 215 permanent civil servants determined via Taro Yamane's formula, which yielded 201 valid questionnaires for descriptive and inferential analysis alongside 10 qualitative Key Informant Interviews (KII). Parallel data analysis revealed that sub-clannish favoritism exerts a severe, statistically significant negative influence on manpower training equity (β = -0.458, p < 0.001), systematically excluding minority groups. A Pearson Chi-Square test confirmed that structural gender disparities significantly trap 92.3% of female civil servants within lower-tier cadres (χ² = 6.942, p = 0.008). The study concludes that while workforce diversity is inevitable, its mismanagement has turned it into a source of institutional polarization and operational paralysis. It recommends de-politicizing the Local Character rule by introducing standardized competency examinations for all geographic slots, institutionalizing a gender equity leadership track, and anchoring manpower training nominations strictly onto objective, auditable performance appraisal metrics rather than managerial discretion.