Poor Public Policy Formulation and Its Effect on Policy Sustainability in Nigeria: An Appraisal of Monetization Policy of Obasanjo's Administration

Abstract

Public policy is one of the instruments deployed by the government to realize its objectives; it is supposed to be a process that involves several stages that should be adhered to, as each stage contributes to its acceptance, understanding and eventual implantability and sustainability. This paper is aimed at appraising the relationship between poor policy formulation and its effect on sustainability in Nigeria, with special focus on the Monetization policy of the Obasanjo administration. The paper adopted content analysis as its methodology, where it examined several literatures on the subject matter and drew conclusion based on the findings. Some of the findings are : the formulation of monetization policy was faulted, it was elitist in its approach,The real beneficiaries or the segment of the population it will impact on the most were not carried along in the formulation process. Again, the resumption of construction of residential accommodation for federal civil servants by the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation is an indication of the unsustainability of the monetization policy. Some of the recommendations include: Policy formulation should be backed by serious research and evaluation and Government and policy makers should avoid making unnecessary and frivolous pronouncements or embarking on policies, programmes and projects without proper and adequate feasibility study