Cora’s First Day in Public Service: How Good People Get Beat.
On her first day in the ministry, Cora arrived 20 minutes early.
Polished shoes. Best blouse. Appointment letter in her bag. Her mother’s last words at the door:
“Remember why you’re going there. Do your work well. Don’t follow them, make them follow you.”
By lunchtime, she had a desk, a stack of files and a colleague, Funmi, assigned to “show her the ropes”.
Funmi’s first lesson:
“If anybody brings a file, don’t collect it directly. They must first go to the front desk so it can be entered into the register. Unless they’re coming from Oga.”
A few minutes later, a man walks in:
“Good afternoon. I’m from the Honourable’s office. They said I should bring this straight to you. They need it today, today.”
Cora looks at the file.
She looks at the long line of citizens at the front desk.
She remembers the manual they gave her that morning about proper registration and equal treatment.
Two instructions. Two worlds.
She smiles, takes the file, and places it on her desk.
The knot in her stomach introduces itself.
How good people get bent
Every year, thousands of young professionals enter public service with some version of Cora’s mother’s prayer in their ears.
They don’t join to become “corrupt civil servants”. They join to work, to serve, to build a stable life.
So how do they become the people everyone complains about?
Not in one dramatic fall. In slow motion:
The first time a “big man’s” file jumps the queue.
The first time they accept “transport” from a desperate applicant.
The first time they inflate a small allowance because “everybody does it”.
Each small bend resets what “normal” feels like.
Three forces that bend people like Cora
1️⃣ Socialisation into “how things are done”
On the wall: integrity, professionalism, fairness.
In the corridor:
“Don’t form holy, this is how we survive here.”
“You want to retire as junior staff?”
“Here, we don’t embarrass oga.”
Culture is taught through side comments, jokes, and who is actually rewarded. Belonging is a powerful need and often the gateway through which compromise enters.
2️⃣ Low pay and high pressure
When salaries are poor, and promotions politicised, it becomes easier to rationalise small abuses:
“They don’t pay us well.”
“The big people are chopping; we should be the ones to suffer?”
Citizens start to look less like clients and more like “opportunities”.
This doesn’t excuse wrongdoing. But if we ignore the economics, we will keep preaching integrity into a vacuum.
3️⃣ No credible protection for refusers
What happens if Cora politely insists that the man from the Honourable’s office go through the proper process?
Complaints go upstairs: “The new girl is stubborn.”
She’s told she’s “not yet aligned with the culture of the department.”
Her appraisal quietly pays the price.
In many places, there is no real protection for those who want to apply the rules equally. The message is clear:
“If you want peace, look away.”
So what can you do if you are Cora?
You may not be able to redesign the ministry, but you’re not powerless.
You can decide that:
People will not need “connection” to get fair treatment from you.
Files will pass through the register, even if it annoys a few people.
You will quietly document worrying instructions and seek advice from people you trust.
You will form small “islands of integrity” with colleagues who feel the same
These are not miracles. They are habits. Institutions are ultimately composed of habits.
Joining The Integrity Generation
If you work in public service (or any organisation that serves the public) and still feel that knot in your stomach when “how things are done” clashes with what you know is right, then you are part of what I call The Integrity Generation.
Not perfect. Not naïve. Just tired of pretending nothing can change.
This week, try this:
👉 Think of your own “first small bend” or the one you’re being pushed towards now.
👉 Ask yourself: What story will this choice tell about me in five years?
👉 Write down one small practice that will make it easier for citizens to get fair treatment from you without knowing anybody.
Drop a comment (no names, just lessons):
What’s one “small bend” you wish you had refused, or are now planning to refuse?
That’s how culture shifts: one file, one refusal, one young professional at a time.
