Vice-President Kashim Shettima says Nigeria urgently needs institutional reforms to solve the majority of its public policy challenges.
Shettima made this known during the presentation of the draft National Public Policy Development and Management Framework at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The Special Adviser to the President on Policy and Coordination, Hadiza Bala Usman, presented the document.
Shettima said strengthening institutional frameworks would address 80 per cent of Nigeria’s policy problems.
He described the draft as a transformative and overdue policy shift in Nigeria’s governance system.
“If we get our institutional frameworks right, we will solve 80 per cent of our public policy challenges.
“This approach is long overdue,” he said.
The Vice-President praised President Bola Tinubu for blending public and private sector experience and embracing bold reforms.
“For the first time, we have a leader who understands the dynamics and speaks the language of economics.
“He has the courage to take far-reaching decisions.
“We cannot but commend President Tinubu for his very promising reforms across all sectors of the national economy,” he said.
Shettima stressed the importance of policy clarity and communication, saying reforms must be understood and consistently implemented nationwide.
He also highlighted the role of e-governance and digitisation in driving data-based policy and real-time monitoring.
He called for clear targets, deliverables, and consequences within the policy framework.
“There must be targets and deliverables; if people fail to perform, they should be made to pay the price.
“Implementation without accountability is another word for lunacy. People must be made to account for their stewardship,” he said.
He also stressed the importance of building institutions over reliance on strong leaders.
Quoting former U.S. President Barack Obama, Shettima said,
“What nations need is not strong characters or leaders, but strong institutions.
“Institutions guided by strong, fair, and acceptable laws.”
Earlier, Usman said the draft was developed after discovering the federal government lacked a document guiding policy creationn.
“At the beginning of this administration, it was quite baffling that the federal government did not have a guiding document which specifies the process by which policies should be conceptualised.
“MDAs had been operating in silos, often producing overlapping and outdated policies.
“This has led to fragmentation, policy inconsistency, duplication of efforts, and ultimately inefficiency in the government’s endeavours.
“These challenges have not only impeded the realisation of government goals, but it has also weakened public trust and discouraged investor confidence.
“Recognising this urgency and the need to address these systemic issues is what enabled us, as a team, to initiate this process,” she said.
Usman expressed confidence that the draft would fix long-standing policy gaps and ensure coherence across MDAs.
She said the framework resulted from collaboration between her office, the Offices of the Vice-President and SGF, NIPSS, and the NESG.
She assured that with the Vice-President’s input, the framework would offer clarity, structure, and coherence to policy development. (NAN)