Public Policy Management in Nigeria: The implications of implementation contracting for policy outcome (Published)
This paper examined how public policy implementation contracting affects policy outcomes in Enugu state, Nigeria. It is common knowledge that for the purposes of convenience, cost reduction and a number of other considerations, the implementation of public policies is sometimes contracted to non-governmental bodies. Much as this has some obvious advantages, there are other disadvantages that eventually affect the outcome of such policies. The investigation was carried out using structured questionnaire and interviews in addition to the observations of the researcher. The findings revealed that while there were temporary benefits accruing from policy implementation contracting, the conflict of interest between contracted agencies one hand, and the government and the public on the other often run contrary. Again, the mode of operations of implementation personnel often makes the policies repugnant to the public for which the policy is intended to assist thereby compromising their cooperation in achieving policy objectives. Recommendations included that public policy implementation should not be contracted to nongovernmental institutions whose operational principles and goals is at variance with the tenets of social welfare and public interest upon which public governance is founded.
Keywords: Implementation Process, implementation contracting, policy objectives, policy outcome, public policy implementation