Public policy and internal security sector governance challenges: A situational study of some economic development indicators

Abstract

Lately, public policy as a major political instrument has failed terribly in ensuring desirable internal security sector administration in Nigeria. This paper investigates the Nigerian public policy and internal security governance challenges using poverty, unemployment, gross domestic product (GDP), and foreign direct investment (FDI) as the baseline. The incident of poverty in Nigeria in 2020 reveals that the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria experience a severe rate of poverty, owing largely to an unprecedented rate of internal security problems (Olurounbi, 2021). The paper explores secondary research methods, secondary sources of data, and secondary data analysis (SDA) techniques. The paper reveals that Nigeria’s crucial economic metrics, such as poverty, unemployment, GDP, and FDI, have been significantly aggravated by the country’s poor internal security situation. As a result, residents are now experiencing significant economic hardship, negatively impacting Nigeria’s current internal security governance situation. The paper concludes that Nigeria’s internal security sector governance, particularly in the last ten years of democratic administration, has failed reasonably to meet Nigerians’ expectations. Following the findings, the paper advocates, among others, for a genuine electoral process capable of bringing in skilled people to public policy decision-making and program execution in Nigeria.