PUBLIC POLICY IN NIGERIA: AN IMPLEMENTATION PARADOX

Fidelis A.E. Paki and Kimiebi Imomotimi Ebienfa

Department of Political Science, Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, Nigeria

Department of Political Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ibadan, Nigeria

Email: paki_fae@yahoo.com, Kimiebi1981@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

Is this the hardy days of public policy implementation in Nigeria? Why it is that public policy implementation cannot record remarkable success in Nigeria? This paper examines public policy in Nigeria and noted that it is an implementation paradox. This is against the backdrop of the fact that despite the lofty public policies initiated by different administrations to promote development, success in most cases has been elusive due to low degree of implementation. The paper concluded that lack of political will/attitude to public policy implementation, poor implementation design, conception and discipline, poor program leadership and management, lack of resources, corruption, sectionalism and ethnic biases, egocentrism and duality/multiplicity of public policies, cultural and religious factors, selective and non-implementation budgets and misplaced priority are the paradoxes of public policy implementation, which has continued to militate against public policy success in the country. The paper suggested that until public policies are implemented to achieve the lofty goals for which it was made, the general aspiration for Nigeria to join the league of developed nations in 2020 will be unattainable. This calls for a change of attitude on the part of policy implementers and the target beneficiary of public policy.

Keywords: Public Policy, Implementation, the Nigeria state