GODWIN OSIFO

Abstract

Public policy implementation remains one of the most critical challenges confronting governance systems in developing countries, with Nigeria serving as a paradigmatic case of the gap between policy formulation and execution. This paper examines the challenges of public policy implementation in Nigeria, drawing on implementation theories and contemporary empirical evidence. The study adopts a qualitative research design based on a systematic documentary review of recent scholarly literature, statutes, government reports, and verified institutional datasets, analysed through thematic content analysis, and is anchored on the Top-Down and Bottom-Up implementation theories, supplemented by the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework and Easton's systems theory. Findings reveal that weak institutional capacity, bureaucratic inefficiencies, political interference, corruption, inadequate funding, poor monitoring and evaluation, and elite capture constitute major barriers to effective implementation. Deploying the 2023 fuel subsidy removal as the anchor case, supplemented by the Student Loan Scheme (2023/2024), the National Security Strategy (2019), and the Climate Change Act (2021), the paper situates Nigeria's experience against practices in Rwanda, Kenya, and South Africa. It concludes with strategies for strengthening implementation capacity, transparency, citizen participation, coordination, monitoring and evaluation, and policy continuity

   

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Published: 2026

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