CHALLENGES OF THE PUBLIC POLICY EVALUATION IN NIGERIA

Public policy performance is vital to effective service delivery. However, weak government's performances in Nigeria are an indication of ineffective policy evaluation. Therefore, the paper examines the challenges constraining the effectiveness of policy evaluation in Nigeria. The objectives are; to examine the relevance of evaluation to the policy performance, identify challenges to effective evaluation, and determine ways to improve evaluation processes for effective policy outcomes. The study adopts descriptive analysis method to review the findings on case study of selected three public policies in Nigeria; Universal Basic Education (UBE), National Rural Electrification (NRE), and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH). It relies on the secondary data by the supervisory agencies on evaluation of each programme. The scope of the review is the effectiveness in achieving main goal/objectives of each programme. However, the review of secondary data from the case studies indicates neglect of policy evaluation exercise by the supervisory agencies. The paper identifies inadequate availability of quality data, political interference, corruption, and inadequate funding as challenges. However, it recommends enhancing capacity-building, investing in data management, strengthening collaborations, and the establishment of an independent evaluation agency to enhance the effectiveness of evaluation, for efficient policy performance and service delivery in Nigeria.