Lalong: Many brilliant policies are gathering dust on shelves

Simon Lalong, governor of Plateau state, says Nigeria incurs “enormous” waste from abysmally implemented policies. 

The governor spoke on Monday at the inauguration of senior executives course 43 of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Plateau state.

Lalong said that while numerous brilliant policies have been formulated in different sectors and by different administrations, only a fraction of them have been implemented, adding that it has led to “distortions in the process of nation-building”.

“We must look at the larger picture in implementing policies that impact the lives of our people today and in the future. Examples are all over the world for us to learn from,” he said.

“It is an incontestable fact that over the years in Nigeria, numerous brilliant policies have been formulated in different sectors and by different administrations.

“However, the paradox is that only a fraction of these numerous policies are implemented with many of them either jettisoned, abysmally carried out or left to gather dust on shelves.

“This has led to a lot of distortions in the process of nation-building where many policies have to be re-casted all over again, implemented half-way or entirely abandoned.

“In the process, the nation incurs enormous losses in terms of wasted resources, manpower and valuable time.”

The governor blamed corruption, lack of continuity in government policies, inadequate human and material resources, poor leadership programmes, sectionalism and ethnic biases and lack of political will for the poor implementation of policies in Nigeria.

Lalong said policies formulated to administer forests and their resources were scrapped, making the forests become ungoverned spaces for criminals.

The governor added that “the same story is replicated in various sectors of the economy”.