Abstract The practice and discipline of public administration in Nigeria is beclouded by problems which are internal (self-inflicted) and external (environmentally induced). These problems impact negatively on public institutions and in the employees of government such that what is demanded from government by the citizens becomes a far cry from objective commitment on the part of government and on the deplorable results that comes from administrators performance. Through the approach of systems school of analysis, this paper tries to find out why the negative synthesis of failure is persisting in the Nigeria administrative machinery especially from the angle of the impact of environmental factors on leadership, administration and on the citizens themselves. The paper looked at how such indices as political, economic, socio-cultural, and other related factors becomes mutually reinforcing on the system. It went on to suggest how a proper enthronement of democratic practices together with a just and an impartial administrative operation would bring about concordance in the polity.