By Emmanuel Elebeke

_Weak policy formulation has serious implications on the quality of decision-making as well as implementation of programmes and projects in the economy, said stakeholders.

The stakeholders made this observation at the just concluded one day workshop organised by the National Planning Commission with the Federal Public Administration Reform Programme, FEPAR, on policy development in federal ministries, departments and agencies.

They said “To avert this situation, efforts must be made to close all identified policy gaps in all facets of the Nigerian economy to achieve the Vision 20 2020 goals.”

The purpose of the workshop was for Permanent Secretaries, Directors and other senior officials who are directly involved in policy formulation and implementation at the Federal and sub-national levels to brainstorm on the way forward in closing the identified policy gaps in the country.

Declaring the workshop open, the Secretary to the Commission, Ntufam Ugbo, said there is need to close every policy gap identified by government because every public policy has the potential of altering and influencing society or economy outside the government, whether the policy involves development interventions, taxation, regulation, expenditures, information, statements, legal requirements, legal prohibitions and enforcement.

He noted that there is a close correlation between policies and effective implementation of medium and long term strategic plans, adding that effective policy-making promotes government policy planning and implementation of strategic plans for enhanced results and service delivery in the country.