Introdution
NIGERIA is going through interesting times. With the election of President Muhammadu Buhari and assumption of office in May 2015, the discourse and expectations in governance has changed completely. Everything now revolves around the expectation and operationalization of the concept of change especially as the governing party; the All Progressives Congress (APC) campaigned on the banner of change.

Change and public administration reform
One area where the expectation of this change is pivotal and will be most visible is in Public Administration. This is because it is through Public Administration that government can manage its activities effectively and efficiently and deliver services to citizens. But in Nigeria, there are huge challenges with public administration. The cost of governance is very high with the federal government spending over 70 percent of its total budget on recurrent expenditure.

There are huge challenges of policy planning and co-ordination. The structures and systems in the public sector are not delivering services efficiently and effectively to the citizens of Nigeria. There is a huge capacity gap in the public sector and the ministries, department and agencies are not working optimally. The budgetary process is not delivering the required outcome. There is therefore the need for change and Public Administration Reform. Indeed, the need for Public Administration Reform is widespread across the world such that the United Nations Development Project (UNDP) supports 380 projects in 112 countries covering various aspects of Public Administration Reform.

Change and strategic plan
Strategic Plan is very important in an era of change. Repositioning and change is imperative in a nation when there is the need to improve performance; clarify the path to development and get the bigger picture that the change is directed.
Governments have great roles to play in developing strategic plans to accelerate the development process of nations. In Nigeria, it has been documented that right from the colonial period, strategic development planning was viewed as a major strategy for achieving economic development and social progress, particularly, in the spheres of socio-economic infrastructures, industralisation, modernization, high rates of economic growth, poverty reduction, and significant improvements in living standards.

Three plans featured in the pre-independence era for the periods 1946-1956, 1951-1955 and 1955-1962. Over the 1962-1995 period, three major phases in the planning experience emerged, namely, the fixed medium-term planning phase (1962-1985), policy oriented planning (1986-1988), and three year rolling plan phase (1990 till date).

The challenge is that since return to civil rule in 1999, there has been a lot of sporadic and adhoc planning without adherence to long term planning. The National Economic Empowerment and National Development Strategy (NEEDS) and the Seven Point Agenda were abandoned after a few years. It is worse at the sub-national levels. Between 2004 and 2007, all the states developed the State Economic Empowerment and Development Strategies (SEEDS). But since 2007, most state governments do not have overarching development strategies.

Scholars have pointed out that the golden period of planning on the African continent, 1960s and 1970s, could not be sustained from the 1980s because of two major factors: failure of development planning to meet the high expectations of rapid growth and development; and the resurgence of liberalism and the implementation of short-term stabilization and structural adjustment programmes which are predicated on liberalization and deregulation. Meanwhile, these programmes that substituted for national development plans are counter plans which have failed to solve Africa’s myriad of economic problems. This is why some scholars have referred to the 1980s and 1990s as the “lost development decades” for Africa.

The challenge is that since return to civil rule in 1999, there has been a lot of sporadic and adhoc planning without adherence to long term planning. The National Economic Empowerment and National Development Strategy (NEEDS) and the Seven Point Agenda were abandoned after a few years. It is worse at the sub-national levels. Between 2004 and 2007, all the states developed the State Economic Empowerment and Development Strategies (SEEDS). But since 2007, most state governments do not have overarching development strategies. In addition, there is no systematic planning framework for the country that ensures adequate data and research, good information system, monitoring and evaluation and tracking of results. The end result is abandonment of projects; poor plan implementation and poor service delivery.

It is therefore not surprising that the mantra of change resonated with Nigerians during the 2015 general elections. On May 2015, a new government was elected in Nigeria under the platform of a new party, an amalgam of four opposition parties. The APC campaigned to bring about change in Nigeria. The party states clearly that its mission is to construct and institute a progressive state anchored on social democracy where the welfare and security of the citizenry is paramount.

Before the election of the APC, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was in power for sixteen years. There are many lessons to learn from the failure of the PDP regime, which led to the victory of APC. These lessons should be taken into cognisance by the APC from the beginning. The first is that the development of a country is a complex issue and is much more than a rendition of activities and projects of Ministry, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). There is also the need to focus on the big issues of political, social and cultural change. Secondly, the voice of the people is important. For instance, the majority of the people cannot be arguing that corruption is a major problem and the political leadership is insisting that corruption is not a problem.

Thirdly, government must learn to put the people at the centre of development. The Nigerian economy has grown. The economic growth rate is high but poverty is increasing at the same time. In the last few months, for the first time in a decade, the economic growth rate is declining. There is the need for policy intervention to deal with this. In addition, any party that operates and portrays itself for the sole purpose of patronage is digging its own grave. According to the former chairman of the PDP, Alh. Bamamga Tukur “PDP is all about patronage. We are going to dole out patronage to all our members who remain in the party….Let me inform you. We are going to give patronage to all our members who have contested elections and lost.

There is enough in the party to go around everyone. There is no need to leave the party.” Political organising needs to be a continuous process involving political education of party leaders and members. The think tank of the party is very important here. Political party should focus on provision of services to the people.

TO BE CONTINUED
• Igbuzor, PhD, is Executive Director, African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development Centre.