The National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) is Nigeria’s highest policy institute. It was established some 40 years ago to help the government in making policies aimed at moving the nation forward. However, there are divergent views as to whether the policy brain box has lived up to its mandate and what need to be done to reposition the institute. TONY AKOWE reports.
When the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) was set up about 40 years ago, it was to serve as the nation’s apex think tank and serve as a high-level centre of reflection, research, and dialogue. Over the years, it has continued to attract academics of intellectual excellence, policy initiators and executors and other accomplished citizens with a high level of practical experience from different sectors of national life. It has been a melting pot where informed minds meet to reflect and exchange ideas on the great issues of society, particularly as they relate to Nigeria and Africa. It was assigned the role of staying abreast of the dynamics of a constantly changing world.
The institute has a mandate to identify, assemble, and deploy to the best national advantage, the country’s intellectual talents and experienced policy analysts in cutting-edge examination of pertinent issues of national, regional and international concerns through research, seminars, workshops and other action-oriented programmes. However, 40 years after the establishment of the institute, the question being ask is whether NIPSS, as it is being called, has been able to achieve the purpose for which it was established.
Speaking at a recent event to mark its 40th anniversary, Osinbajo said the institute has made immense contributions to national development since it was established. “Apart from providing top-level capacity building for policymakers and executors from both the public and private sectors, the Institute also regularly makes valuable input to government policies”, he said.
NIPSS should be no place for pretentious half-baked academic pretenders and charlatans, nor for religious bigots, ethnic jingoists and sexist male chauvinists. Members of staff must be disciplined, hard-working and competent without exception
The Vice President argued that some of “the biggest ideas of the twentieth century; the creation of the United Nations, nuclear non-proliferation and arms control among others, were articulated by leading minds-similar to those whom we have at NIPSS. These ideas have changed public life for the better and, in the most profound ways, have defined the world order and established settled norms.”
The Vice-President believed that research for its own sake will not move the society forward. He rather said research undertaken at NIPSS must always address priority areas which are rooted in the Nigerian reality and required ideas that can propel the nation forward.
Osinbajo said, “Some of these areas should address our national target of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years, the impact of climate change on our communities across the country, the complex and varied security challenges and Nigeria’s place in the global arena. To be relevant and useful, research should be rooted in practical contexts. Without this, there will be little impact or improvement in our communities or way of life.”
Like many others, Prof. Osinbajo raised several questions for the institute.
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He asked: “How well has the National Institute lived up to its lofty mandate? What has been the contribution of the National Institute to policy development in the last 40 years? What are the essential things we must do now to improve the quality, relevance and efficiency of the Institute’s output?”.
Responding to the Vice-President’s posers, Director-General of the Institute, Habu Galadima said the environment of the National Institute has become much more volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous, adding that the current environment is beginning to challenge the capability of the Institute to achieve its mandate. Galadima is seeking a review of a number of activities in the institute, including a systematic review of the NIPSS Strategic Plan and develop a clear vision.
He called for a repeal and re-enactment of the NIPSS establishment Act, (Cap. N51), Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, which has been in the statute books since its promulgation into law in 1979.
He said: “As the apex think tank of Nigeria, the think tank of the National Institute is almost drained into reserve. Some Departments in the Directorate of Research are without a single member of staff. The whole of the National Institute has no single Economist.
The Directorate of Studies has been with only two Directing staff, who are on contract. The rest are either on posting by the military and the Nigeria Police Force or are seconded from the Directorate of Research that has just 15 Fellows.
He restated the vision of the National Institute, which is to be among the top three institutions for research, training, dialogue and reflection in policy and strategy in Africa by 2025.
The Chief of Defence Staff and Acting Chairman of the Institute’s Board of Governors, General Abayomi Olonisakin, said as part of its mandate, NIPSS was expected to develop a crop of top-class technocrats of high intellectual capacity who will conceptualise and anchor the implementation of innovative and dynamic policy initiatives and strategies critical to national development.
He said: “Since 1979 when it was established, NIPSS has produced a total of 2,046 top-level policy and strategy experts whose contributions to various aspects of our national life cannot be quantified. NIPSS has also made vital contributions in the policy arena through policy recommendations to government.
Yakubu Sankey, a former Acting Director-General of NIPSS, said the institute was set up to research and produce actionable policy and strategy recommendations with options to cover the social, economic, political, security, scientific and cultural realms and any other problems facing the country.
He stated that the Institute has not lived up its expectations, lamenting that, “NIPSS does not feature in the Think Tank map of Africa let alone in the world.”
He said: “NIPSS should be no place for pretentious half-baked academic pretenders and charlatans, nor for religious bigots, ethnic jingoists and sexist male chauvinists. “Members of staff must be disciplined, hard-working and competent without exception.”
He stressed that for the institute to achieve its assigned mandate, remain relevant and respected, it must be reformed to be the think tank which its founding fathers envisioned.
NIPSS, he insisted, must reform itself into a proper Think Tank and not the casual one-year holiday resort it has been for top public and private sector officials over the years.
He said: “The annual pilgrimages to Aso Rock (the Presidential Villa), ostensibly to brief the President, have yielded little or no tangible outcomes. This is because these briefings are not interactive, neither do they qualify as dialogue sessions.
“One of the most important roles which Think Tanks in the USA, Europe, Japan, China and elsewhere have played and which has been critical in determining the quality of their leaders, is provision of platforms upon which present leaders, as well as aspiring and potential leaders present their ideas, policies and programmes on various aspects of national life. The National Institute must now begin to play this role which is mandated by its enabling law.”
The ex-D-G suggested that the institute sets up a Peace and Reconciliation Dialogue Round Table which should either interface with, or take over the duties of the Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar-led National Peace Committee.
He said: “The fears of disruptive reactions that prompted Abubakar and his committee were justified, given the widespread violence that erupted in 2011 when Buhari lost at the presidential polls.
“In the prevailing atmosphere of discontent and insecurity, there are rumblings across the land hinting at possible break up of Nigeria. Socio-cultural and ethnic associations, including Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Ijaw National Congress, Middle Belt Forum and Afenifere are all speaking along these lines.
Activities of insurgent groups such as Boko Haram, ISIS, Niger Delta militias, and IPOB and marauding bandits in the Northwest are also tearing at Nigeria’s fabric and threatening national integrity and causing instability.
“This underscores the need for a credible, proactive and sustainable peace and reconciliation mechanism not limited in scope and action. In my opinion, the National Institute is a suitable location that has the image, credibility, visibility and goodwill both within and outside the country to take on this task and discharge it creditably.”
Inspector-General of Police Mohammed Adamu argued that it was time the institute is allowed to have its permanent member of staff rather than rely on secondment as a way of meeting its challenges.
The internal structure of the institute, he said, also needs to change to reflect the changing realities in the world today. Adamu said the Research Department needs to change to meet the research dictates as practised the world over. Of particular concern to the IGP is the fact that outcomes of research presented to government are kept on the shelves unimplemented, a development that he wants the institute to take another look at.
Adamu canvased the establishment of a community radio where such recommendations are brought to public knowledge and discussed always.