POLICY MAKING AND IMPLEMENTATION AS A TOOL FOR EFFICIENT ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM: A CASE STUDY OF FEDERAL POLYTECHNIC NEKEDE, OWERRI, IMO STATE)

ABSTRACT

This study sets out to identify the key policy actors at the polytechnic level of governance, using Federal polytechnic Nekede, Owerri, and Imo State. The aim is to highlight who or which set of actors dominates the policy formulation and implementation process at the polytechnic level and why. There is also the need to ascertain some of the factors that affected or influenced the policy decision-making process.  Our study revealed that despite the democratic nature of governance at the polytechnic level, the public servants dominated the implementation stage of the policy process. This, we observed is made possible not only because it was traditionally believed to be their assigned role, but also due to certain other pertinent factors which include the need for continuity, their specialized skills, and experience resulting from their training and educational background, the sophistication of policy implementation tools and lack of time as well as political functionaries to participate effectively in this stage.

However, our study also revealed that the inadequacies of the existing bureaucratic structure at the polytechnic level and the need to ensure speedy effectuation of policies, especially by the organs favorably disposed towards it, necessitated the resort to the creation and use of other institutions to implement them.

Arising out of the aforementioned findings, we recommend as follows:

1. The polytechnic system should be structurally consistent with the other tiers of government, the learning period should be elongated and uninterrupted to enable both arms effectively learn the roles and assume their full responsibilities in policy issues.
2. The issue of qualification of those aspiring to elective or appointed positions at this level of government should be raised to prevent a situation when drop-outs or half-baked persons will assume positions of authority at this level.
3. Both arms of the Polytechnic should be made to control their votes to obviate the present situation whereby the legislative arm is dependent on the executive arm for its funding and materials. This makes them subservient and inferior in the partnership and does not allow for equal participation in the policy process.
4. Other agencies or institutions should be seldomly used in the implementation of decided policies at this level of government to avoid unnecessary duplications and conflicts that may arise between competing agencies. What should determine their use are speed, time factor, and certified inadequacies of existing structures in the polytechnic.

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Organization, personnel, and finance are the prerequisites of administrative activity. When they have been duly provided, the stage is set for the commencement of administrative action or operations which produce goods and services for the benefit of the people. The administrative process, in its broad sense, has several distinct phases. Apart from the organization, personnel, and financial management already discussed, they are:

1. Policy making (Policy formulation)
2. Planning
3. Direction
4. Supervision
5. Co-ordination, and
6. Control

These several phases do not necessarily occur, in point of time, in the sequence given above, nor are they mutually exclusive. The policy has to be decided before anything can be attempted to be done, but no policy can be quite complete, exhaustive, or free from moot points at its first formulation. As they proceed with its application, fresh questions as to what should be done or has, may arise at the stage of planning, direction, supervision, and so on. Then the several phases also interpenetrate one another.

Policy formulation is necessary before an action can be initiated in every organization whether it is public or private. It is a prerequisite for all management. The objectives of an organization which is often vague and general are concretized in the policy goals, which set the administrative wheels in motion. The issues involved in a policy may be simple and a few only in which case decisions can be taken easily and quickly or they may be highly complex and numerous requiring considerable research, study, and analysis before a sound policy concerning them can be formulated.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Generally, public policies have been defined as the government’s plan of action or intent to do something or deliberately refuse or fail to do something. Thus, it is a common practice for the government to formulate policies that are intended to guide their intents or set of activities aimed at benefiting the people they are serving. In the same vein, strategies are mapped out on how best to implement these programs for the well-being of these clearly defined and identified targets.

While studies and writings abound on how policies are formulated and implemented concerning the federal and state governments whether, in a civilian or military regime, little or nothing had been done in the case of the polytechnic. The reason for this is not far-fetched. From the colonial period until the late eighties, polytechnic had little or no autonomy. They were regarded as appendages or an extension of the state government. They were also rendered incapable of formulating policies. At best they only implement policies or directives handed down from the state ministry of the polytechnic.

However, with the granting of autonomy to polytechnics in the country in the early nineties or late eighties, the status quo changed. Although they had to take their cues from the federal and state governments in most cases, they became masters of their destinies. Polytechnics now assume control not only in policy formulation as it affects the governance of the people within their areas of jurisdiction, but also evolved strategies for implementing these policies. The implication is that like it is at the federal and state levels, various groups such as the executives, legislators, bureaucrats, pressure groups or interests groups, political parties, and mass media would play important roles in the formulation and implementation of policies at this level. A further implication is that group dynamics will come into play which gives rise to certain basic questions that will form the core of this study.

1. Who dominates the process of policy formulation in Federal polytechnic Nekede, Owerri, Imo State of Imo State?
2. What are the contributions of various interest groups in the area of policy formulation?
3. What roles are being played by bureaucrats in public policy implementation?
4. What strategies are used by the Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Owerri, and Imo State in policy implementation?

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The broad objective of this study is to examine the policy formulation and implementation in polytechnics and especially in Federal polytechnic Nekede, Owerri, and Imo State of Imo State.

But the specific objectives are:

1. To examine the roles played by the various groups or actors within the polytechnic area, that is the legislature, the executive, bureaucrats, mass media, political parties, interest groups, and the people in the decisions that culminated into policies as well as the realization of these policies.
2. To find out the parties in the polytechnic set-up that play a dominant role in policy formulation as well as in the implementation of decided policies.
3. To evaluate the roles of top civil servants in public policy implementation.
4. To highlight the strategies adopted by the Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Owerri, Imo State in policy implementation and the use of such instruments as committees task forces, and agencies and, finally
5. To proffer solutions to the identified problems to correct the perceived imbalance noticed in the polytechnic system.

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

From the colonial period up to the eighties, polytechnics throughout the federation were treated like outposts of the regional or state governments and at best as extensions of the ministry of polytechnics. This gave them no autonomy and thus they were rendered incapable of taking policy decisions or formulating policies to govern the people within their areas of jurisdiction. At best they were mere implementers of policies formulated and handed down to them from above.

However, granting full autonomy to the polytechnics in the federation in 1991 changed the status quo. They then became masters of their destinies. They assumed the responsibility for policy formulation and implementation as it affects the people within their areas of jurisdiction.   Thus this study becomes very significant as it is aimed at not only examining and establishing the processes of public policy formulation and implementation at the polytechnic level but also identifying the roles played by the executive, the council, the bureaucrats, and other interest groups in the realization of these processes.

This study is also particularly necessary since most of the studies on public policy formulation and implementation available in the country have been concentrated on the other two tiers of government, that is federal and state government and their agencies with little or nothing on the polytechnic systems.

Since this study makes use of group theory as its theoretical framework, it is hoped that it will invariably advance the application of this theory to the study of public policy formulation at this level of government. As a corollary to the above, it will also help to draw attention as well as localize the thought of other scholars on this unexplored area in the field of public policy at this level.

Practically and socially, the study will be useful to the next breed of politicians, policymakers and implementations, and public policy experts in the country’s tertiary institutions. It will avail them of a better understanding of the process of policymaking at the polytechnic level and thus help them to fashion out the best or ideal approach to the issue of policy formulation and implementation at this level in the future.

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