Assessing Development Plans in Nigeria (original) (raw)
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National Development Planning in Nigeria: An Endless Search for Appropriate Development Strategy
Since independence, Nigeria has embarked on series of National Development plans and visions in her endless efforts to search for appropriate development strategy. It is worrisome that these development plans and visions have failed to achieve their expected objectives. This is evident from widespread poverty, dilapidated infrastructure, massive unemployment, high incidence of diseases and excessive debt burden among others. Therefore this study aims to examine critically various development plans in Nigeria and identify those problems that hinder successful implementation of development plans in Nigeria. The study relied on secondary data, as its source of information. Based on the findings that development plans have been accepted as a suitable strategy to address development challenges in Nigeria, this study concludes that the efficacy of our national development plans would be enhanced and serve as a viable instrument of sustainable development if the problems that confront the National Development plans are properly addressed.
NIGERIA'S DEVELOPMENT PLANNING (II)
Over the years, the quest to better the lots of Nigerians have been problematique, owing to the fact that the ability to bridge the gap between our now and the future rests on a well designed development plan designed by the government. Obviously, there are good policy documents in Nigeria, but the implementation has always been contentious. As a country, Nigeria is replete with issues that call for development planning or else the future will remain bleak and uncertain as it has always appeared. As students and future development planners we need to ask ourselves; what has been happening to unemployment, illiteracy, environmental degradation, security challenges like Boko Haram, Niger Delta Avengers, killer-herdsmen, uncontrolled population growth, poor agricultural policies, poor infrastructural development, poor industrial policies and poor economic policies birthing low Gross National Product (GNP), Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and low Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) of our local currency. Most of the problems we encounter today are the results of our inability to plan. The experience of the oil boom in the 1970s and the 1980s introduced the first set of 'squandermanias’ and corrupt leaders whose destructive impacts have lasted till date. They never planned for the future of the unborn Nigerians and that is why we are still tagged an underdeveloped nation.
J Soc Sci, 2009
Planning is one of the basic principles of administration and about the most critical of its functions since it permeates all others. Development planning therefore becomes a necessary tool used by many governments and organizations to set their visions, missions, goals, and effective means of realizing development through effective direction and control. Development planning has been a consistent phenomenon in Nigerian administration since 1946. Experts, (e.g. Obikeze and Obi 2004; Okojie 2002) however, argue that it has not been as successful as expected. Truly, Nigeria remains an underdeveloped nation occupying a low position among the poorest countries of the world in spite of her tremendous natural and human resources endowment. This points to a distorted planning regime and implies two things: either the correct plan had not always been made or correct plans made were not effectively implemented. Both options seem to be true of Nigeria. As Obikeze and Obi (2004:) noted, "a review of the various plan (sic) clearly shows that, the country is still very far from where it was envisaged it will be today. This is simply as a result of either faulty
TRENDS IN DEVELOPMENT PLANNING IN NIGERIA: 1962 TO 2012
Development planning in Nigeria has suffered from lack of coordination and harmonization of programmes/policies both within the tenure of an administration and those succeeding it. In addition, experience show that this critical task which ought to draw input from critical sectors and be a bottom-up process operates in the reverse. These explain the very poor nature of plan articulation which also negatively affects implementation. The paper is subdivided into: Abstract; Introduction;
CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN NIGERIAN NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT: NIGERIA STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT PLAN
The recent Nigerian development plan is the perspective plan called the National Vision 20:2020 which is designed as the most dependable tool for national growth and advancement of Nigeria. A country's ability to rapidly grow, largely depends on the development plan it has adopted; the strategy for implementing the development plan; and the timely evaluation of the strategy for re-strategizing for re-implementation process and sustainable impactful return from the set objectives in the interest of the citizens of the country. Nigeria for the past 67 years has formulated different types of plan to date. Some of the plans include fixed term plan, medium term plan, rolling plan, policy plan, and perspective plan. Considering the series of plans that have been implemented and the one currently running, Nigeria still faces a problem of steering the attainment of the set forecast and objectives of the development plan in different states in Nigeria. This paper adopts secondary sources of information to discuss the following: The Nigeria development plan in the past, major limitations of the past developmental plan, today's strategic development plan, strategic action for achieving strategic thinking; and key approaches to achieve the best results from strategic thinking.
Development Plan in Nigeria: The Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP
2020
Planning helps in the setting of priorities to ensure an all-encompassing development. Every society has evolved from crude to modern sophisticated pathway of development through meticulous planning. This study through the usage of secondary sources of data gathering examines the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan of the Muhammadu Buhari administration with a view to revealing its reasons for establishment, its targets and objectives and implementations and the challenges facing ERGP in Nigeria with subsequent recommendations. Literature Review Development planning can be properly understood by separately explaining the concepts of "planning" and "development". Planning has been simply defined as "deciding in advance what to do, how to do it, when to do it and who is to do it" (Ujo 1994). Invancevich, Lorenzi, Skinner with Crosby (1994) see planning as embracing all the activities that lead to the determination of objectives and the appropriate courses of action that lead to their achievements. For Cole, "planning is an activity which involves decisions about ends as well as means and about conduct as well as result" (Cole 1993). This paper sees, planning is the outline of desirable ends and the means of actualising them.
Wukari Journal of Public Sector Management, 2017
This research paper examines the nexus between national development planning and sustainable development in Nigeria from 1962-2017. The aim of the study is to x-ray the factors militating against successive implementation of several development plans in Nigeria over the years under review. To obtain the data for the study, secondary data analysis design method was employed. From the data collected and analysed, the following findings were made: (a) weak institutions and governance system; (b) dearth of reliable statistics; (c) gaps between policy formulation and implementation; (d) inconsistency in plans formulations and implementations; (e) unstable governments and polity; (f) over ambitious nature of most plans; (g) financial corruption and other related offences; (h) poor project evaluation and monitoring; and inadequate skilled but disciplined personnel; these collectively inhibited national development planning and sustainable development in the country. In conclusion, we recommend that in addition to other solutions proffered, significant attention must be given to the option of incremental policy and its implementation strategy as evidences from the US and Europe, as contained in empirical literature show positive results. The idea of development planning enjoys considerable currency among virtually all sovereign nations of the world. It is a widely held tradition among national policymakers and development planners to roll out development plans in order to direct the socioeconomic activities of states towards the desired end. Nigeria, therefore, is not an exception in this regard. However, the history of development planning in Nigeria shows that the process dated back to the era of colonial rule; consequently, between 1946 and 1955 a Ten Year Development and Welfare Plan was rolled out by the colonial administrators so as to put the colonial Nigeria on the part of development. This plan was considered the first ever attempt by the colonial authority to chart a comprehensive path to the prosperity of Nigeria and its citizenry. The plan was intended to meet the colonial welfare and development needs; it was estimated to cost $184 million (Akoche & Oono, 2007, p. 74). As argued by the authors of the 1962-68 national development plans, the colonial plan was not a plan in the true sense of the word… but a series of projects which has not been coordinated or related to any overall economic target (Library of Congress, n.d; FRN, 1960). Between 1951 and 1960 there were policy revisions as the plans were reformulated due to
Nigeria returned to democratic rule in 1999 with the enthusiasm to chat new political and socioeconomic dispensation. The introduction of National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) as a medium term planning strategy was a blueprint for new order. It contains all the envisaged policies and programmes of the federal government for the period 2003-2007 and far beyond, and serves as the fountain of the much-touted Obasanjo’s reforms. NEEDS is not only a macro-economic plan document, but also a comprehensive vision, goals and principles of a new Nigeria that would be made possible through four key policies of wealth creation, employment generation, poverty eradication and value reorientation. This paper is a reflection on NEEDS. Using historical and content analysis methods, the paper explores common indices of development planning in the country. It reveals that NEEDS is not different from previous development plans in Nigeria, despite the claims to the contrary. While claiming to be a home-grown plan, it is very much in line with the wishes of the international agents of developed capitalist economies; there is lack of commitment of the leadership in pursing plan objectives; corruption is still rife and priority in selecting plan projects is still poor. The paper recommends among others, the need for committed leadership, continuity with NEEDS II document, drawing adequate scale of preference in choosing policies and programmes, and determined efforts to break from the crutches of neo imperialist and neo colonial tendencies of the developed countries.