Empirical Research and Public Policy for National Development in Nigeria.

Abstract

Experts all over the world have highlighted the pivotal role of research in designing and implementingeffective public policies framed for achieving sustainable national development goals. The prime functionof such research efforts is to discover answers to meaningful questions, which are aimed at remedyingcritical societal problems. Thus, this study investigated the place of empirical research in Nigeria’s policyprocess, using the secondary source of data. The indicators employed for analysis revealed that most times, policy-makers and other stakeholders are unable to establish relevant and effective policies, because of the gap between the research sector and the policymakers in Nigeria. Public policy efforts are burdened withpaucity of high-quality policy-relevant research, poor co-operation between the researchers and the policymakers, low political will and value for empirical research and inadequate research funding. In the light of these, some recommendations were made towards ameliorating the problem. These include more commitment to the research/policy link by the relevant stakeholders, increased funding for quality research and the strengthening of research institutions in Nigeria