Individuals,
organizations and the society at large are often faced with educational, socio-economic
or political problems. In the face of such problems, decisions are taken to
find solutions to the problems, so that they will not degenerate into
uncontrollable stages which will make them difficult to solve. Public policies
are made in order to solve a given problem affecting the masses in the society.
A policy is, therefore, a decision as to what shall be done and how, where and
when it shall be done.
A
policy option made by an individual is known as private policy because it
affects the individual alone and not other person. However, if a policy
emanates from the public sector, such as from the institutions of the
government and state created agencies, it is referred to as public policy. The
term policy is often confused with decisions and rules. However, the term
policy has a different meaning. Policy making may involve decision-making, but
a decision may not constitute a policy. Decision-making, on the other hand, is
the selection of one alternative from two or more possible alternatives. The
Webster’s Collegiate dictionary defines policy as a definite course of action
selected from among alternatives and in the light of given conditions to guide
and determine present and future decisions.
Policies
are general directives or guiding principles issued by the legislature to
direct a given course of action or the main line of action to be followed. A
public policy is one formulated and implemented by the government for the use
of the people.
There
is lack of consensus over the meaning of public policy. Thomas (1984:1) defines
public policy as whatever the government chooses to do or not to do. On the
other hand, Ikelegbe (1996:4) defined public policy as government actions or
course of actions or proposed actions or course of proposed actions directed at
achieving certain goals. Similarly, Leslie (1997) views public policy as a
course of action or inaction chosen by public authorities to address a given
problem or a set of inter-related problems.
In
any case, public policy refers to a proposed course of action, which the
government intends to implement in response to a given problem or situation
confronting it. This means that public policy can be regarded as general rules,
regulations, guiding practices or actions in a particular activity or problem
area. Public policies are usually formulated by the authorities in apolitical
system such as the executives, the legislators, the judges and the
administrators.
Generally
speaking, public policy is defined as the authoritative decisions and actions
of the government designed to solve a given problem or a chain of problems in a
given society. The implication of this definition is that public policy is
derived from constituted authority whose responsibility is to formulate
policies through inputs of various policy actors.
Public
policy making is a political activity which involves every active member of the
political system. This is not to suggest that public policy-making is an affray
for all-comers. To streamline the actors
in the policy-making process, James Anderson (1988) distinguished between
official and unofficial policy-makers.
Those referred to as official policy-makers are those who possess legal
authority to engage in the formulation of public policies. Public policy makers
are authorized by the law to formulate, execute and evaluate public policies. In
this category will include the legislators, executives, administrators, and
judges.
Unofficial
policy-makers refer to those who do not usually possess legal authority to make
binding policy decisions, though they participate in the policy-making process
and play important roles. The unofficial participants in the policy process
include political parties, interest groups, and individual citizens.
Public
policy usually involves the interaction of the civil society such as
professional bodies, non-governmental organizations, and socio-cultural
organizations that respond to the impact of policies.
Public
policy is widely implemented in a state bureaucracy. This distinguishes public
policy from private sector policies. The civil and public servants are, by
their employment, responsible for executing public policies. This role is
enhanced by their technical knowledge and experience in the service.
In
addition, public policy involves the use of coercive agencies to ensure
compliance. For instance, the government
policy restricting the use of motorcycles on dual carriage roads within
Abakaliki Metropolis is enforced by a task force. The task force was
established mainly to achieve the policy objective. The role of such agencies is
essential to avoid sabotage.
Allocation
of adequate resources is essential for efficient implementation of public
policies. This brings into focus the importance of budgetary allocations, which
makes the implementation of public policies possible. Non-availability of
resources can lead to ineffectiveness of public policies. As a matter of fact,
any public policy that fails to receive adequate financial, material and
personnel resources for its implementation can hardly be effective.