For a woman who earned a PhD at the age of 60 in 2008, and went on to become a Professor, her Inaugural Lecture on September 12 provided a stage for philosophical reflection and scholarly thinking. Prof Juliana Taiwo Makinde said: “I feel proud and highly honoured to say that I am the first female Professor of Public Administration in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, and also the first female Professor to give an Inaugural Lecture in the Department of Public Administration, OAU, Ile-Ife.”
She added: “I never dreamt in my wildest imagination of becoming a university lecturer, let alone a professor. My standing here before you today to present my Inaugural Lecture is, therefore, a special privilege from God who has used my husband, Professor Moses Akinola Makinde, as His instrument of positive change in my life.”
After completing her secondary education in the mid-60s, she worked as a confidential secretary. Her life took another course in 1983 when her husband “went on Fulbright Fellowship to Ohio University, USA,” and he persuaded her to enroll for a degree programme. “My own intention was to work and make money with which I planned to get some gadgets for our home back in Nigeria,” she recalled.
As an Education/English student in the Faculty of Education at the Ohio University, her performance got her a place on the Dean’s list in her first year, after which she continued her degree programme at the Faculty of Education, University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) in 1984.
Her narrative continued: “By 1987, I completed my first degree programme with First Class Honours in Education/English. My husband was excited and very happy. He then persuaded me to go for a higher degree in order not to waste the first class degree that I had, always telling me that with my first class degree, I was a professorial material. I agreed to go ahead on the condition that he would give me N200 a month throughout the programme. This was just to discourage him from persuading me from going further. To my disappointment, he agreed.”
Indeed, this journey took her to a professorial height. When she delivered the 307th Inaugural Lecture of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, she focused on “Policy Somersaults, Poverty of Policy Implementation and Corruption: Obstacles to Development in Nigeria.” Expectedly, her lecture was informed by her research into policy matters, “especially the problems militating against the successful implementation of policies in Nigeria.”
Makinde’s topic was well-timed. Considering that policy making is a major function of government, and a major factor in governance, it is a reflection of her attention to fundamentals that she chose to talk about policy. She observed: “Various studies have shown that most government policies have failed, at the implementation stage, to achieve the desired results…This problem is what I refer to as poverty of policy implementation, resulting in policy somersaults and which has constituted a big obstacle to development in Nigeria.”
Obviously, there is a concrete connection between development based on social service delivery by government and proper policy making. Makinde illustrated how “government has failed in many areas in the provision of social amenities to the citizens,” using examples in two critical areas, the health and education sectors. She said: “It is an open secret that education in Nigeria has been witnessing gradual but steady decline in quality in the last few decades resulting in parents sending their children out of the country for their proper education, as well as in pupils learning under trees and dilapidated buildings.”
Quoting Africa Recovery (2017), she noted: “Healthcare also suffers from inadequate funding. Most health institutions lack basic facilities such as medicines and dressings while government health spending averaged just 4.5% of the budget.”
Makinde’s list of areas where policy failure has resulted in arrested development includes shelter, employment, security, electricity and water supply. It is difficult to fault her observations because they are observable.
She argued: “The role of public servants as the implementors of the various policies of government makes them part of the success or failure of public policies made towards ensuring development.” On the causes of policy somersaults and poverty of policy implementation, Makinde identified problems at the Policy Formulation Stage, the Implementation Stage and the Evaluation Stage.
Inevitably, she mentioned corruption: “Another critical cause of policy somersault is corruption.” Political corruption is so pervasive in Nigeria, and it may well be the most potent force against policy making and successful policy implementation.
This list of “some of the policies that appear to have suffered somersaults” is thought-provoking: “They include policy on poverty alleviation, and policy on education. Starting with policy on poverty alleviation, it is on record that since independence, many programmes, which include Operation Feed the Nation (OFN: 1979), the National Directorate of Employment (NDE: 1986), the Better Life Programme (BLP: 1987), People’s Bank (1989), Community Bank (1990), and the National Poverty Alleviation Programme (NAPEP, 2001), had been established by various governments at one time or the other to tackle the problem of poverty and food insecurity…in spite of all the above-mentioned programmes, poverty is still very visible among Nigerians.”
When a policy fails because it is poorly implemented, it raises questions about the intention of the policy and the intention of the policy makers, which may not be the same. Policy making without successful policy implementation amounts to daydreaming.
Among Makinde’s recommendations, those concerning corruption demonstrate the gravity of the problem as well as the gravity of the solution required. She proposed: “No plea bargain should be allowed. Plea bargain only encourages looters to steal more so that at the end of it all, they will still have something substantial to fall back on after paying the bargained amount. For instance, if the plea bargain is calculated on percentage of total money stolen, then the bigger the money stolen the bigger the percentage to be kept by the plea bargainer.”
Her final words deserve public attention: “You and I contribute to these problems in one form or the other. How? You may ask… When we encourage corrupt politicians by honouring them with chieftaincy titles in our community, or giving them honorary doctorate degrees in our universities, we contribute to corrupt practices… Policy success is the sum total of the commitment of the government and the citizens towards prevention of implementation gap arising from corruption and poverty of implementation of policies.”
It was a thinking lecture by a thinking lecturer for thinking members of the public.
