Federalism and Public Policy Making: A Critical Assessment of Nigerian Fourth Republic

Abstract

Federalism in Nigeria involves the division of authority and responsibility among different levels of government, including the Federal, the state and the Local governments. Public policy is the instrument through which government achieves its goals for the citizenry. Effective public policy is a product of a complex and dynamic process drawing efforts and contributions from different groups and agencies. This paper is to investigate why there seems to be no consultation with various tiers and organs of governments before policies are made and not adhering to the principles of federalism in policy making. The primary interest of this study is to identify the cases of cooperation and conflict among the various organs and tiers of governments in policy making process. The research methodology was qualitative in nature where data was drawn from archive and content analyzed. It was discovered that the process of policy making in Nigeria is determined by the environment under which such policies are made. The paper found that Nigeria’s problem in the area of policy formulation is the non-adherence to federal principles including the lack of due consultation with those affected by the policies as well as inaccurate and accurate implementation. The paper recommends among other things that there should be co-operation among the three levels of government and the need to adhere to the full tenets of Federalism in making and implementing public policies.

Keywords: Federalism; Policy Environment, Policy Making, Public Policy