Policies are vital to the success of all human endeavours. They guide the actions and activities of government; elucidate existing consideration and target, and also provide pertinent actions and strategies to achieve the desired goals. Policies involve taking necessary actions, evaluating the outcomes and impacts and drawing lessons to guide the future conducts and performance to the benefit of the public. The essence of public policy is geared at; addressing public needs and issues of great importance to government. Every good policy is a guide towards development. Policy is the key of every administration, because every organization has an objective mapped out to be achieved, the achievement of the objective or objectives depends on the policy formulated and its method of implementation. Policy failure corresponds to worsening of living conditions. Nigeria’s poor socio-economic conditions since the attainment of independence can be ascribed and traced to policy failure which have adverse effect on the living condition of the people and have negatively affected the economic and political system of the country. Policy formulation and implementation are related to each other features of the policy process. Except when we develop this complement, and take a holistic perspective of the policy process, it will be difficult to ensure the wanted policy results. (Ogunsola, 2008). Nigeria’s policy suffers greatly when it gets to implementation. Huge resources and funds are provided annually in the budget for socio-economic policies (Atinuke, 2008). Despite this provision, when it comes to the implementation of policies. There exist a number of setbacks. Due to lack of political will to execute policies, and Corruption. Policies are intended to reduce or enhance the sufferings of the general population however as it is presently, the converse is the situation. The question now is what then can be the cause of poor policy making/implementation in Nigeria? According to the statement above, Nigeria has no difficulties with planning and formulating policy, but the problems are usually with implementation. Ogunsola, (2008) state that "an isolator tolerable execution in territory without interchange makes an understanding of perpetually to universal let-down". It proved that arrangement making and bad execution add up to aggregate let-down, both procedures must supplement one another. Public policy being an activity of government that stipulates government obligation in giving satisfactory fund to policy making and execution includes sufficient policy research. In Nigeria, the government pays lukewarm attitude towards research, forgetting the fact that adequate information and data gathering are the bedrock for every good policy making and implementation. This is where the issue of adequate library facilities comes in, as government’s failure in funding research programmes has also affected government interest in the area of well-equipped libraries in our institutions of learning. Policy formulation involves data gathering which can only be made available through well-equipped libraries, sound electronics equipment, Information Communication Technology (lCT) Computer and Internet facilities, where policy makers can research and source for relevant information that will aid policy making. Research should be adequately funded as this will encourage members of the public to cultivate the habit of reading and making available relevant data, providing outright information that will aid the formulation implementation of policies to address social problems. Those involved in the policy making process, who framed the issues to be addressed with the policy exert enormous amount of influence over the entire process by their political ties or association, identities, individual benefit, etc. Besides, due to the fact that the players involved in policy making process include groups and politicians, policies are prone to change manipulations and also waste of resources and sometimes outright abandonment/cancellation. According to Ogunsola (2008), implementation problems of policy transverse a wide range of issues including corruption, lack of will to execute, emergence of unforeseen execution challenges getting from insufficient difficulties analysis, unfavourable internal and external shocks and sabotage. It is clear that corruption has been a major problem in the political system of Nigeria. Combating corruption has been a difficult task in the nation. The fact that policies are formulated, and it has become difficult for policy makers to gather adequate data for the formulation of policies, has been the bane of our socio-economic development. Again, the will to execute policies has been a major problem for the government because they formulate policies, but implementation and execution still remains the problem.
Niger Delta region is regarded as the goose that lays the golden eggs for the nation. A region that is endowed with enough mineral resources, that is a blessing to the nation has been neglected, marginalized, deprived, and largely underdeveloped as a result of lack of comprehensive plan and policy framework. This has forced the youths in the region to engage in illegal mode of agitation, to fight for their rights. Militancy and other criminal acts have affected activities in the region and also affected the economic activities of the nation and have created security problems in the region. Niger Delta crisis assumed “frightening dimensions with the emergence of social movements and militants youths that began to challenge not only the Nigerian state but also its policies, attitudes and activities of multinational oil companies in the region (Eregha, 2010). The activities of multinational companies have affected and destroyed the ecology of the Niger Delta region. Certain fundamental issues led to the crisis in the region. The agitations include: their avoidance or marginalization regarding of right to oil revenue; struggle for greater access to resource sharing (resource control), environmental degradation and human rights violations (Eregha, 2010). This has fuelled the crisis in the region; the crisis was not a domestic affair but a national and international issue. The militants illegal actions/activities such as pipeline vandalisation, attack on oil installations and multinational companies facilities or equipment, kidnapping, killing of security personnel etc. affected the economy of Nigeria, by reducing oil production, collapsing of economic activities and causing unemployment.
A declaration was made by Nigeria President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua on 2009, June 25, for 60days Amnesty Programme for militants in the Niger Delta region.. The aim was to disarm, demobilize and reintegrate militants who responded to the call. According to Eregha (2010), the activities of militants in May 2009 and subsequent attack by the militants in Gbaramatu Kingdom in Warri- South Local Government Area in Delta State, resulted to the death of over eleven soldiers led to the adoption of the Amnesty Programme as a solution to the perennial conflict in the region. The Amnesty Programme was a call on militants who have committed a particular crime against the state to drop their arms and embrace peace. Amnesty was a period of time in which people could give up something illegal such as weapons to someone in authority or admit that they had been involved in something illegal without being punished. The most celebrated achievement of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua,- the Amnesty Programme, saw thousands of youths or former militants surrendering large caches of arms. The programme has been described as a stepping stone to end the crisis in the Niger Delta. The question is, has the Amnesty Programme achieved sustainable peace in the Niger Delta region? Has the programme been effectively managed by the Presidential Amnesty Committee? There has been series of threat by ex-combatant “Tompolo,” the leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), who warned ‘that his fighters would resume attacks if government failed to make good its pledge to develop the region. He added that if government failed to develop the region he and this fighter would go back to the creeks (Eregha, 2010) Militants have surrendered by dropping caches of arms, but the truth is that the Amnesty Programme could not address the problem in the region, it only succeeded in disarming ex-militants. There is need for government to develop the region, provide employment by empowering the people and provide their basic needs such as constant source of energy supply, medical care, water supply, reconstruction of school buildings, and provision of soft loans to traders etc.