PUBLIC POLICY AND PUBLIC SERVICE DELIVERY IN NIGERIA: THE NEXUS

Abstract

Public Policies are made and implemented in order to provide services to the citizens of a country. Public policies are therefore instruments of governments to provide solutions to perceived public problems. It is therefore a governmental action and programmes of action geared towards solving societal problems. The solution of the problems is the provision of services to the people. The public service is very important in the provision of services to the citizens of any country because it is through the public service that government manages its activities. It plays a vital role in delivering and distributing services across the country. This paper seeks to trace the nexus between public policy and public service delivery in Nigeria, and to find out why many policies fail to achieve their objectives and render services to the people. The Total Quality Management (TQM) was adopted as its framework of analysis. The paper recommends among others that there is a strong nexus between public policy and public service deliver, and that policies made for Nigerians must look inward, address our problems and resist those policies made by Britain and other Western powers. Policies yielding positive results should be sustained as administrations come and go, regardless of the policy and ideology of the incoming administration. A radical break from the western powers and colonizers is a sure way of maintaining our sovereignty and taking our destinies in our hands.