Public Policy Formulation and Implementation in Nigeria

Public Policy Formulation and Implementation in Nigeria

Ayuba A. Aminu, Ph.D1 Charas Madu Tella2, Paul Y. Mbaya, Ph.D 3

1Department of Business Management, University of Maiduguri-Nigeria

2 Department of General Studies, University of Maiduguri -Nigeria

3Department of Public Administration, University of Maiduguri-Nigeria

*Corresponding author: ayubaaminu6@gmail.com

Abstract

The paper examine and analyze the importance, problems and factors influencing public policy formulation and

implementation. It dwelt further on the policy reforms and determinant of policy issues and features as a guide to effective public policy formulation and implementation in Nigeria. The study equally revealed that there is lack of full practice of federalism in Nigeria as enshrined in the 1999 constitution rather what is obtained now is synonymous to unitary system of government. Consequent upon that, in spite of the importance of public policy formulation and implementation as a critical factor in the management of government affairs in Nigeria, yet there are no standard formats or generally accepted guidelines towards such. It is against this background, that the bureaucrats has a way of constituting obstacles or frustration in the way of policies formulated by the political officials, especially those policies on which they hold divergent opinions or are not of direct benefit to them. A synonym for this sense is the bureaucratic decision making process. As a result of this since independent, the country has been facing challenges of managing her resources due to the different styles of governance in the implementing of various aspects of government public policies, programmes and actions. The study recommends among other things the need for government to be very proactive, sensitive in formulating and implementation

of public policy decisions that has direct impact on its citizenry.

Keywords: Public Policy, Policy reform, policy implementation

Introduction

Most developing countries that are practicing federalism do not really practicing it as supposed to be rather what they refer to as federal state is synonymous to unitary system of government. A good example of such country is Nigeria which seems to be having a mixture or varieties of decentralization practices of administration evolving in various countries based on some factors such as social, religious, economical, cultural, political influence amongst others. Nigeria as a Federal State has been facing challenges of managing her resources due to the fact that each State in the country is having different styles of governance in implementing various aspects of actions, information and programs. This is so because, each state and local government claiming autonomy based on the Local Government Policy of 1976 as contains in the 1999 constitution. Consequently, today there is no standard formats or generally accepted guidelines towards definition of government public policy. Some define public policy as simply ‘actions of the government" while other put it as a stated principles which guided the actions of government. Public policy is an attempt by government to address a public issue by instituting laws, regulations, decisions, or actions pertinent to the problem at hand. Numerous issues can be addressed by public policy including social such as schools, economical such as industries, cultural such as Arts, political such appointment etc. However, in respect of these definitions, public policy is the process of formulating and implementation of government developmental policies or activities and programs for the benefits of its citizenry. This means, Policy formulation is a decision making process as put down by a political scientist (Easton 1957). He interpreted political dynamics in terms of a continuous process, a system of interaction. To him, a political system is an interrelated set of activities, roles, and institutions that operates within an environment which provides inputs to the political system and then translates these inputs into policy outputs. Government policy makers decide what should be done in order to respond to people’s demand for economic, social, political and developmental progress of the nation. These Policies are therefore critical key in the management of government affairs as no good policy comes from the Government without being criticized by either individuals or group in spite of the fact that government always weigh the merits and demerits of any policy before getting them implemented. Therefore, for a policy to be accepted by people, it must undergo series of policy formulation processes and scrutiny. In certain situation, policies formulated are even tested before implementation so as to see the reaction of the public on the policy(s). Policy formulation is followed by policy demand, policy decision and policy statement. While, Policy statement is

a government formal guidelines that provides specific policy roles for its people. According to Egonmwan (1991) a policy statement is the formal expression as articulations of public policy which include legislation statutes, decrees, presidential

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orders, administrative rules and regulations and court opinions. It could also be statements and speeches made by public officials indicating the intentions and goals of government and what and how it would be done to realize them. One should note that policy statements are sometimes ambiguous and conflicting. However, when a policy statement is issued by government it means that such policy had already been formulated. To this end, Policy formulation is the cardinal principle upon which government implements its developmental projects. Whenever

a policy has been formulated and implemented, the implementation of the policy requires a feedback. The feedback therefore serves as check and balance mechanism to assess or evaluate as to whether the policy has been accepted by the people or not. It could also be an indicator to how the policy has changed the lives of the people for a better or worse. For example, when in January 2012, President Jonathan announced the full withdrawal of petroleum subsidy in January, 2012. The outcome of that policy was mass protest by Nigerian labour congress (NLC) and civil societies. Therefore, the scope of government policies are enormous among which include; Education policy, Agricultural policy, Health policy, Defence policy, Industrial policy, Transport policy, Wage policy, Business policy, etc.

The Role of Bureaucrats in Public Policy Formulation and Implementation

In Nigeria and across the world in general, the word bureaucracy is one of the most frequently, used by many authors in modern writing about organization. This is because the public bureaucracies are entrusted with public property and they are charged with responsibilities of specific method of allocating resources within a large organization. A synonym for this sense might be bureaucratic decision making. Furthermore, they are also referred to as essentially civil servants primarily established to help in the formulation and implementation of government’s policies. Therefore, if you ever wonder as a Nigerian why sometimes that governments do things that no one seems to be interested or understand in your particular state, local government or your village in spite of huge population, political or economic activities, and yet you don’t feel the presence of federal, state or local government. While, if you take statistics or compare the area with others, you would discovered that there were more presence of government better than other areas. Then why does such happened? Who are responsible in shaping government decision making and implementation. Furthermore, have you ever wondered to know

who these bureaucrats behind the political scene charged with the responsibility of helping the governments in taking and sharpening decisions that affect policy making process?. The answer is that they are called season civil servants who have a strong background experience as administrators in critical thinking skills as well as decision-making abilities. Thus;

It is ironic that bureaucracy is primarily a term of scorn. In reality, bureaus are among the most important institutions in every part of the world. Not only do they provide employment for a very significant fraction of the world’s population, but they also make critical decisions that shape the economic, educational, political, social, moral, and even religious lives of nearly everyone on earth...The ability of bureaus to outlive their real usefulness is part of the mythology of bureaucracy... (Downs, 1967);

In spite of the important roles of the civil servant in Nigeria in achieving many of government’s laudable policies and programmes, however, not much of such are fully and excellently implemented or achieved but in many instances, as many of them have been marred by poor implementation strategies (i.e. bureaucratic procedures). This become so, as the civil service has a way of putting obstacles or frustration in the way policies are being formulated by the political officials, especially those policies on which they hold divergent opinions or are not of direct benefit to them. As such, they employed so many varieties of tactics “to thwart such implementation”. From the fore-going, as stated by Okotoni (2001) that we can summarize the role of the federal bureaucracy as coordination of federal ministries, advising the political officials, formulation and implementation of government’s policies, gathering and supplying of data for policy makers, ensuring continuity of services and public relations services. All the roles highlighted above are so crucial to the smooth running of any administration to the extent that one may be tempted to conclude that bureaucracy is indispensable in public Policy formulation and implementation.

Framework for the Analysis of policy formulation and implementation

In this paper, the term policy, public policy and government policy simply mean the same and will be used interchangeably in the course of anaylsis. Dror (1973) stated that public policy refers to important actions of government, while Dye (1976) on the other hand defined Public Policy to mean whatever government chooses to do or not to do. Furthermore, Dike (1987) defined public policy as government programme contained either in the nation’s laws or in a public statement by a competent functionary of government. A public policy is mostly referred to by policy professionals as government programme of action or anything government chooses to do or not to do for its citizens, while other scholars believe that policy is what government does and not what government intends to do or what government says it is going to do. Therefore public policy can be viewed as an action rather than intention. Before going into decision making process in public policy,

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59 the frequently asked questions are:-a) What is policy formulation, how was it determined or formulated, why was policy formulated, why policy A was chosen over B, was the policy selected a good one and will it achieve the goals of the policy, If yes, why has the policy succeeded, If No, why has it failed, wow can we sustain or improve the quality of policy making, implementation and monitoring to achieve its target? The following framework for analysis is to help examine a certain policy and establish a context. The framework for analysis described below, which has been developed according to the theory of Stokey and Zeckhauser, will serve as a

guideline as cited by Rabah (2007): this means;

Establishing the context: What is the problem? What is the underlying problem that must be dealt with? What specific objectives are to be pursued in confronting the problem?

Laying out the alternatives: What are the alternative methods of solving the problems and what are the possibilities for gathering further information both short and long term? Predicting the consequences: What are the consequences of the alternative actions? What techniques are relevant for predicting these consequences? If outcomes are uncertain, what is the estimated likelihood of each by predicting the outcomes to be certain?

Valuing the outcomes: By what criteria should we measure policy success in pursuing each policy objective?

Making a choice; make a choice based on all the alternatives and consequences available by drawing all the aspects of analysis together. What is the preferred course of action? In other words which policy is most preferable and will yield a better outcome and at what course

Government Policy Formulation, Implementation and Monitoring Process

The public policy making process is an integral part of Policy Formulation, Implementation and Monitoring Process. Egonmwan (1991) stated that policy making is a sequential pattern of action involving a number of functional categories of activities as follows:

i) Policy formulation- this is done after the government has acknowledged or identifies the existence of public

problems and the need to do something about it. Here, policy makers need to take or decide on what course of

action to be done, when as well as how it could be done.

ii) Implementation- this is the second stage, after a public problem had been identified and made its way to the

policy agenda, and various options has been provided, what remains is putting the decision into action or

practical terms.

iii) Feedback and evaluation- After one and two points above had been done; the next step is to assess the outcome of the decision. The outcome comes in two forms, negative and positive. Negative comes in a form of

violence, demonstrations, mob action etc. Example, the decision of the federal government to withdraw oil

subsidy or the outcome of April, 2011 presidential general election. While, positive comes in a form of

solidarity, jubilations, commendation etc. example, the general increase of federal civil servant salaries taking

(18) thousand Naira minimum wage, Monetization etc.The diagram below explain process of policy

formulation, implementation and evaluation

Figure 1.

Formulation

Feedback Implementation & Evaluation

Fig.1 policy formulation, implementation and evaluation

Policy formulation, implementation and monitoring are difficult in a situation where the policies and strategies for the implementation and monitoring are empirically not sound. When policy formulation is not sound then it will be Public Policy and Administration Research

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60 difficult to implement especially if there is no broad based public and political support for the programme. Even where some policies are good, the implementation and monitoring become a difficult task. Thus, the formulation, implementation and monitoring of government policy is a dynamic process which is subjected to internal, external and other unpredictable factors such as intra and inter-sectarian as well as local problems. Policy formulation and government developmental planning should not be in isolation giving attention to a particular government agency, board or ministry but rather should be multi-sectarian. Government policy formulation, implementation and monitoring requires professional skills, such professionals provide the empirical data and statistical analysis of the data gathered and formulate sound policy for understanding of the policy makers and the public support to get it

implemented. These professional policy analysts provide the monitoring skills in the implementation process so as to gather the required impetus that will get the policy to be successful. Monitoring of Government policies after implementation as a project or programme could be in linear or non-linear model form.

Policy, Policy Reality, Policy Research and Policy Reform

There is a difference between policy, policy reality, and policy research and policy reform. The distinction between policy and policy reality is that, a policy is an instrument that provides for the policy to become a reality. A policy may just be on paper but when implemented it become a policy reality. A policy research is a research undertaking on a particular policy either before or after implementation. But for a policy research to be meaningful it must have clear objectives, by so doing its priorities can be properly identified and strengthened. A policy research objective addresses the following questions which needed answers; What is the policy ought to be?, What instruments will work efficiently for the policy. And how do we implement the policy effectively. Policy makers will answer the question(s) using problem-solving approach. The problem solving approach sometime needs institutional reform or change.

Policy reform

Policy reform is a condition that prevails on policy makers to make changes on a policy after discovering some lapses. These lapses necessitate for a reform. Most government functionaries especially politicians find it difficult to accept a policy reform even if the policy is likely to fail. One should ask even in the face of a visible policy failure in Nigeria, would Nigerian bureaucrats, politicians in Government voluntarily relinquish power because the policy they formulated and implemented has failed? The answer is vehemently No, because it has become part of our culture in Nigeria. But one ought to look at the policy performance when implemented and suggest for institutional reform for a

better and viable policy. However, effective policy implementation cannot be separated from management and monitoring. This requires all staff to be policy-result oriented and adhere strictly to management procedures for the policy implementation. Another difficult area in government policy formulation and implementation is the issue of quality of personnel. Staff to formulate the policy has no adequate qualification or expertise to formulate a policy neither do they have the skills of monitoring the policy. These policies are manned by mediocre who are conservative in their disposition to policy

implementation, in such a way that, they insist in maintaining the status-quo. By so doing, they played down on any attempt to introduce policy reform/innovation that will take care of emerging development in the new challenging world. Little does this set of government bureaucrats realized that the world keep on changing as they approach every policy issue as if the world is static. Having discussed the difficulties in attracting qualified personnel with multi-disciplinary expertise, when salaries are very meagre in the State Government in Nigeria and the civil service constraints which may be quite unnecessary and counter-reproductive so much exist in the Government Ministries, Boards, and Agencies that hinder the effective government policy implementation and monitoring.

Factors Influencing Policy Formulation and Implementation in Nigeria

There exist many factors that influence the success of government policy formulation and implementation. These are:

Needs of the People: In formulating a policy, the policy formulators require a good and thorough understanding of the local needs and problems of the people. Emphasis should be given to the needs of the people, their capacities and total commitment of the local actors in the Community in supporting government programmes.

Stakeholders: In policy formulation, stakeholders must first be identified by taking into account the interest of the stakeholders. Government Policy depend on the agencies of government for support and government should show positive attitude to the policy by ensuring adequate measure to empower the stakeholders, civil society and other interested parties with the required pre-requisite information on the policy for their benefits.

Specific target group: One could say that no single government policy plan is sufficient to meet the needs of the Public Policy and Administration Research www.iiste.org

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Outline

Ø      Introduction

Ø      Goals of policy

Ø      Types of policy

Ø      Policy cycle management in Nigeria

Ø      Policy formulation

Ø      Policy implementation

Ø      Strengths and weaknesses of policy design and implementation in Nigeria

Ø      Reasons for failures

OBJECTIVE

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

•Identify key issues in Nigeria’s policy environment

•Articulate the rationale for public policy

•Identify the types of public policies

•Describe the steps in policy formulation

•Discuss policy implementation process

•Identify major reasons why public policy fails in Nigeria.

What is policy?

A plan or course of action in directing affairs, as chosen by a political party, government, business company.

A definite course or method of action selected by a government, institution, or individual from among alternatives and in the light of given conditions to guide and usually determine present and future decisions

An aggregation of people’s hopes, aspirations and values which may be contained in official documents or merely taken as being the current stand on given problems

In practical terms, it consists of a course of actions and measures deliberately taken to direct the affairs of society towards the realisation of predetermined goals or objectives.

"Stated most simply, policy is the sum of government activities, whether acting directly or through agents, as it has an influence on the life of citizens“.

The term public policy always refers to the actions of government and the intentions that determine those actions“ -Clarke E. Cochran, et al.

Public policy is "Whatever governments choose to do or not to do"

"Public policy consists of political decisions for implementing programs to achieve societal goals"

Need for public policy making in the development process:

National economic management

Driver of economic development

No “no policy”(avoid a situation of lawlessness)

Governance-public policy-economic performance nexus

Public policy is influenced by a variety of factors:

Philosophy of governance

Goals and objectives

Strategy and quantum of resources available –in terms of human and financial capacity, including technical and managerial capacity.

RATIONALE FOR PUBLIC POLICY

Public goods

Externalities

Market failure/limitation –“invisible hand” fails to produce paretoefficiency

Government failure/limitation –no nation or political system is completely successful in accomplishing what it wishes

GOALS OF PUBLIC POLICY

Vision of governance

Has to do with government or political party

Usually contained in the party manifesto

Vision-goal/objective-policy-performance relationships

•Goals/objectives dovetail from philosophy/vision

•A goal is what is to be achieved over a long period of time

•Standard of achievement and a criterion of success

•Basis for development of performance indicators

•Must be clearly specified

Political goals/objectives:

•Active encouragement of national integration and prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of place of origin, sex, religion, status, ethnic or linguistic association

•Fostering of a feeling of belonging and of involvement among the various peoples of the federation, to the extent that loyalty to the nation shall override sectional loyalties.

◦Abolishment of all corrupt practices and abuse of power

Economic goals/objectives:

•Harnessing the resources of the nation and distributing them to serve the common good as well as promoting national prosperity and an efficient, dynamic and self-reliant economy

•Promoting a planned and balanced economic development

•Operating the economic system to avoid the concentration of wealth or the means of production and exchange in the hands of a few individuals or group

•Ensuring the provision of suitable and adequate shelter and food, reasonable national minimum wage, old age care and pensions, and unemployment, sick benefits and welfare of the disabled to all citizens

Social goals/objectives:

•All citizens have the opportunity to secure adequate means of livelihood as well as adequate opportunity to secure suitable employment

•Conditions of work are just and humane

•The health, safety and welfare of all persons in employment are safeguarded and not endangered or abused

•There are adequate medical and health facilities for all persons

•There is equal pay for equal work without discrimination

•Children, young persons and the aged are protected against any exploitation whatsoever

•Quality education for all

•The evolution and promotion of family life is encouraged

PUBLIC POLICY MODELS

Rational Decision Making Model –tries to maximize social gains, i.e governments choose policies which result in gains to society exceed costs

Incremental Policy Making Model –views public policy as a continuous activities with only incremental changes, i.e policies are modified incrementally as a result of successive limitations of time, information, and cost.

Mixed Scanning Policy Making Model –views decision making from the perspective of fundamental and incremental, i.e fundamental decisions are radical changes in policy as they are based on facts, while incremental decisions are used to fine-tune fundamental decisions after some of their consequences have been identified.

Elite Theory –views public policy as a reflection of the preferences and values of a governing elite. That every human organization is controlled by small, cohesive minority (holding that the development of elite is inevitable).

TYPES OF POLICY

Aviation policy

Communications and Information Policy Domestic policy

Education policy

Economic policy

Energy policy

Environmental policy

Foreign policy

Health policy

}Housing policy

}Macroeconomic policy

}Monetary policy

}National defense policy

}Population policy

}Social policy

}Transportation policy

}Urban policy

}Water policy

POLICY CYCLES

Policy cycleis a tool used for analyzing the development of a policy.

The four(4) stages of policy cycle are:

•Agenda Setting (Problem Identification)

•Policy Formulation

•Policy Implementation

•Policy Evaluation

Stakeholders in policy cycle management in Nigeria

}The Executive Councils

}The Legislature

}Interest/pressure groups

}Experts/professionals/technocrats

}Others

AGENDA SETTING

The public becomes aware of an issue as a problem and, because of demands being made by certain groups and dominant values in society, this problem is defined as a problem on which action needs to be taken (problem definition).

This problem then becomes a part of the political decision-making agenda, meaning that a decision has to be made as to when and who will deal with the problem and in what form (agenda setting).

POLICY FORMULATION

This is the pre-decision phase that encompasses the steps in the decision-making process . These are:

•identify alternatives,

•gather and analyze alternatives; and

•apply a decision tool.

It requires policy analysis

POLICY ANALYSIS

Policy analysis can be defined as "determining which of various alternative policies will most achieve a given set of goals in light of the relations between the policies and the goals". However, policy analysis can be divided into two major fields.

Analysis of policy is analytical and descriptive, i.e. it attempts to explain policies and its development. Analysis for policy is prescriptive, i.e. it is involved with formulating policies and proposals (e.g. to improve social welfare)

METHODOLOGY OF POLICY ANALYSIS

Policy analysis is methodologically diverse using both qualitative methods and quantitative methods, including case studies, survey research, statistical analysis, and model building among others.

}One common methodology is to define the problem and evaluation criteria; identify all alternatives; evaluate them; and recommend the best policy option.

STEPS IN POLICY ANALYSIS

§Verify, define and detail the problem

§Establish evaluation criteria

§Identify alternative policies

§Assess alternative policies

§Display and distinguish among alternatives

§Implement, monitor, and evaluate the policy

PROBLEMS DEFINITION

State the problem meaningfully:

§Determine the magnitude and extent of the problem

§Continually re-define the problem in light of what is possible

§Question the accepted thinking about the problem

§Question initial formulations of the problem

§Say it with data

IMPLEMENTATION POLICY

A well designed and developed policy and procedure document will be effective only if it is implemented in an appropriate way to ensure maximum impact is achieved to address the particular policy purpose, issue or need.

}It is therefore critical to ensure that the implementation process is well thought out and effective

}For major policy and procedure developments or changes, or where a number of policy improvements are occurring simultaneously, an implementation plan

should be developed to ensure that maximum impact of new policies and procedures is achieved

An implementation plan involves:

}Assigning responsibility to individuals / bodies for implementation tasks and feedback. }Specifying policy communication requirements.

}Identifying the resources necessary to carry out implementation actions.

}There are numerous ways of implementing new policies and procedures. The method chosen will depend on the organization and the type of policy system being implemented. These include:

•Direct cutover;

•Parallel;

•Phased;

•Pilot.

Direct cutover -there is a set date and time where the new policy overrides the old system, or a brand new system is implemented.

Parallel-the new policy/system runs in tandem with the old system for a predetermined period of time. This implementation process allows for the old policy or system to act as a 'backup' process while any issues or problems with the new system are rectified

Phased-the new policy/system is implemented in stages as the old policy is 'phased out'.

Pilot-the new policy/system is tried in a particular area, program or department to rectify any issues before wide-scale implementation.

REASONS FOR POLICY FAILURE

Disregard or oversight of recurrent cost implications of capital projects /expenditures

}Undue reliance on External Sector in Revenue Projections

}Poor Monitoring

}Fiscal Indiscipline and Irresponsible Public Investment

•Insufficient and unreliable data

•Dearth of skilled manpower

•Unexpected economic disturbances

•Institutional weaknesses

•Resistance to change and innovation

•Unhealthy inter-ministerial rivalry

•Political and bureaucratic corruption

•Lack of national interest

•Lack of commitment and political will to implement policies

•Inadequate consultation

•Vague plans and policy objectives –therefore, performance targets and benchmarks cannot be meaningfully specified

•Inconsistencies and policy summersaults

•Inadequate follow-ups and poor sequencing

CONCLUSION

Commitment of our leaders to sincerely address the concerns of the people they represent

Building capacity on leadership to resolve the conflict of interest regarding policy design and implementation

Selfless service/value reorientation –remove greed/self from our plans/actions (leadership by example)