International Journal of Academic Accounting, Finance & Management Research (IJAAFMR)   Year: 2020 | Volume: 4 | Issue: 9 | Page No.: 1-21 Fragility of Ministry of Defense, Abuja: The Imperative of Ethics and Accountability Michael Josephine Tani, Iloanya Kenneth Abstract: This study examined the fragility of Ministry of Defence, Abuja and the imperative of ethics and accountability. Public services in Nigeria generally have underlying organizational problems which tend to impair their ability to perform their public functions to the satisfaction of the citizenry. The study adopted a descriptive survey design and reviewed related literature on the topic. The study had a population size of 4,887 while the sample size was 390. The data for the research were collected by means of documentary instruments and the use of structured questionnaire, using Likert 5-point scale. Interview and focus group discussion guide. Data collected were presented and analyzed with simple percentages and Mean score of 3.00 to give scientifically verifiable answers to the problems and objectives of the study. The findings revealed that unethical behavior and weak accountability exist in the Ministry, and many factors were responsible for the anomaly; the multiplicity of the control mechanisms with the resultant overlap functions have rather made matters worse; and the measures adopted to ensure that they are duly observed are weak. The study concluded that unethical behavior and weak accountability are still prevalent among the civil servants in the Ministry. It, therefore, recommended that factors that create opportunities for unethical behavior and weak accountability in the Ministry should be addressed; that all the institutional control mechanisms should be enhanced to perform more efficiently; and that systems and procedures should be simplified in order to remove the unnecessary blockages in organizational systems, which create opportunities for bribe to be extracted from members of the public.