Getting Things Done: Strategies for Policy and Programme Implementation in Nigeria

Abstract

In Nigeria, national and sub-national governments have adopted international and regional policies to guide the design of growth and development towards getting things done. These critical policies are the Economic Growth and Recovery Plan (ERGP) and the Medium-Term National Developmental Plan (MTNDP) 2021-2025. Notably, implementation gains of the ERGP exited Nigeria out of recession in 2017 and improved Nigeria’s Ease of Doing Business ranking, which moved from 170th in 2015 to 131st of 190 countries in 2019 (The World Bank, 2020). Furthermore, as part of the efforts to create an enabling environment for the effective implementation of policies and programmes, the Nigerian government has embarked on reforms that yield impressive results. These reforms include the budget cycle of January to December, introduction of Treasury Single Account, International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), Open Treasury Portal (OTP), Government Integrated Financial and Management Information System (GIFMIS), and the introduction of IPPIS. The cumulative effects of these reforms have improved cash flow transparency and visibility in the accounts management, thereby addressing bottlenecks in public financial management. However, despite these reforms, policy and programmes implementation encounter systemic, legal, institutional, and attitudinal challenges. It is against this background that the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency Muhammadu Buhari GCFR, tasked the participants of Senior Executive Course (SEC) 43, 2021 of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) to research the theme “Getting Things Done: Strategies for Policy and Programme Implementation in Nigeria”. As part of the study and to address the requirements of the theme, the curriculum of the SEC provides for the development of the Presidential Parley Report from lectures, reports, findings, contributions, and lessons accumulated throughout the course. The essential factors primarily affecting effective policy and programmes implementation are not inexhaustive. They include citizen's engagement and consensus, revenue mobilisation and utilisation, inter-governmental coordination and synergy, as well as securing the nation. But, unfortunately, the social contract between the government and citizens seems broken. This has created mutual distrust, unrealistic expectations, and communication breaches, impacting effective policies and programmes implementation in Nigeria. In addition, the 42.5% unemployment/underemployment rate among the youth (NBS, 2021) has induced them into various types of criminality, including banditry, kidnapping, drug/human trafficking, and cybercrime. Consequently, resources meant to empower the youth are now channelled to combat these crimes. For the revenue mobilisation and utilisation aspect of financing policy and programmes implementation, there seems to be a perennial effect of sustained years of running a deficit budget and the high cost of servicing debts. For instance, the vast revenue deficit of N6.22 trillion and a high debt cost of 84.89% of revenue in 2020 have hindered policy implementation and programmes. Recurrent expenditure takes the bulk of budgeting while the tax revenue is constrained by non-remittance from the large informal sector. In addition, obsolete national assets such as Ajaokuta Steel Company and the national refineries constantly gulp the nation’s finance. Furthermore, sub-national governments do not have viable financial records to leverage the capital markets for significant infrastructure development. These and many more hinder the financing of policies and programmes and ultimately undermine government capacity to get things done. Policy and programme implementation in Nigeria is also affected by the problem of inter-governmental coordination and synergy towards getting things done. There is no centrally harmonised national and sub-national database for policy coordination and financing. Also, the mechanism for Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) at horizontal and vertical levels of government does not exist. The planned digital economy, which would have provided the opportunity to integrate data and process, is at infancy. The opportunity provided by the National Planning Commission (NPC) to pool efforts of the sub-national governments into one and coordinate national objectives seems grossly underutilised. Hence, policy and programmes implementation at horizontal and vertical levels of government is yet to engender national development. A priority obligation of the government to get things done is securing the nation. This requires effective interagency coordination and synergy between national security and internal security. Internal security is typically the purview of the Nigerian Police, Nigerian Security, and Civil Defence Corps, and Nigerian Correctional Service. In contrast, national security is provided by the Nigeria Customs Service, Nigeria Immigration Service, NDLEA, and the Armed Forces of Nigeria. However, what obtains is that agencies better suited for national security are now involved in internal security with unclear command directives on inter-agency cooperation. As a result, national security activities, including economic security, food security, energy security, border security, cybersecurity, environmental security, and political security, suffer. All these have made policy and programmes implementation for securing the nation challenging to get things done. To proffer solutions to these problems, the study aimed to evaluate the strategies for policy and programme implementation for getting things done in Nigeria. To achieve this aim, the objectives were to examine the nature of the strategic environment for policy and programme implementation to getting things done in Nigeria; appraise the existing frameworks for policy and programme implementation to get things done in Nigeria; identify the issues and challenges of policy and programme implementation to get things done in Nigeria; determine the lessons that could be learnt from the comparative analysis of policy and programme implementation in Nigeria compared with countries of study; evaluate the policy options for policy and programme implementation to get things done in Nigeria; and proffer recommendations and implementation strategies for getting things done in Nigeria. Consequently, the study revealed some important findings which informed these strategies proffered to enhance policy and programme implementation to get things done in Nigeria. Summary of Key Findings These findings are summarised as follows: i There is no exclusive statutory platform for regular interface between the President and State governors to coordinate and harmonise policy and programme implementation. ii The National Planning Commission does not have the autonomy and powers to carry out its mandate. iii The power-sharing arrangement under Part 1 of the Second Schedule of the 1999 Constitution is disproportionate to the disadvantage of sub-national government. iv Sub-national capacity to optimise internally generated revenue through mineral resources within their jurisdiction is constrained by the constitutional provisions of the exclusive list. v The absence of a National Security Policy does not provide the necessary link between the National Security Agencies Act and the National Security Strategy. vi The uncertainty among security agencies on the role of the National Security Adviser as coordinator of all agencies involved in national security is a drawback to effective interagency coordination and synergy, amongst others.