PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION POLICIES AND EFFECTS ON NIGERIAN ECONOMY

Abstract

The study appraises the effects of selected public administration policies on Nigerian economy. The study uses both descriptive and exfacto design. The techniques adopted include the Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) test, and Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model for the data analysis. The study uses an ex post facto research design and collected data from the World Bank Development Indicators, Central Bank of Nigeria, Transparency International and National Bureau of Statistics of various years. The study finds that selected public administration policies in this study proxied by effective governance index, corruption control index, quality budgetary and financial management index and public administration index, has not significantly impacted GDP growth rate to enhance economic growth and hence development in Nigeria. It is equally revealed in the study that some of the policies have a non-significant impact on economic growth in Nigeria. The study adopted Keynes General Equilibrium and Rent-seeking Theories as its framework. The study further reveals that corruption has significantly impeded economic growth in Nigeria though with a weak transmission effect through foreign direct investment, domestic investment, and government spending in Nigeria. Base on the above findings, the study recommends that sound micro and macroeconomic policies should be provided in Nigeria and these policies will direct both fiscal and monetary policies positively, as this is noted to have positive impact on government expenditures and hence on economic growth. This the study also recommends that government should reduce the influence of external forces in the formulation of its public policies as such external directives may not work in Nigerian environment due to the differences in Nigerian socio-cultural background. The study further recommends that for corruption to be reduced, good, discipline and moral driven leaders who are honest with integrity should be appointed or elected to hold sensitive offices. The government should encourage and upgrade the anti-corruption agencies such as the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to properly investigate corrupt practices, dispense appropriate sanctions on corrupt Nigerians, strengthen and reward institutions with good pedigree.