The Journal has expressed concern whether the New Year’s Eve coup d’etat in Nigeria may not have made obsolete the contents of this article. The mechanical workings of government in Nigeria are handled by a massive civil service bureaucracy. A new government will replace ministers and possibly permanent secretaries, but it will go no further. Many of the procedures, regulations and laws discussed within were put in place by the previous military government prior to 1979, were continued by the elected government, and will not be terminated by the new military government. I am convinced that bureaucratic life will go on as before. My information sources in Nigeria suggest that under the efficiencies of military dictatorship, it will now be possible to get things done more expeditiously.