Policy Coherence and Mandate Overlaps as Sources of Major Challenges in Public Sector Management in Nigeria

Abstract

Policies are management instruments that organizations employ to ensure their stakeholders and others understand their guiding principles. This paper examined the importance and impacts of policy coherence, mandate overlaps and policy management towards achieving policy effectiveness. The authors examined some extant development policies in Nigeria for policy coherence and assessed some agencies that implement these policies for mandate overlaps and mandate clarity/exclusiveness. To reduce policy incoherence and mandate overlaps, the paper recommended that policy makers should consult widely to understand all the issues involved and use multi-sector teams to ensure the development of effective policies that are robust in nature. Finally, it canvassed that policies be reviewed or evaluated from time to time to strengthen identified areas of weaknesses and enhance their effectiveness.

Navigating the Terrain of Digital Transition: Ghana’s Journey of Developing a Digital Land Information System

“…Officers must evaluate the same documents twice; thus, the scanned and physical documents before stamp embossments are examined to determine if the documents match. Scholars have identified that overlaps and duplications are avoided when mandate clarity is achieved [49]; this, however, may not always be the case, as other factors may be at play. In this study, such factors are centred around the system's inability to accommodate all LA activities and the need to manually validate document authenticity due to inadequate trust in the digital form.…”