INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This study is geared towards the examination of the effect of institutional framework on sustainable development in Nigeria with the focus on public policy implementation, institutional capacity and regulatory quality. The study is anchored on Institutional Theory, Good Governance Theory and Systems Theory to explain how governance structures influence sustainability outcomes in the economic, social and environmental dimensions. The paper adopts a conceptual and empirical review approach to synthesize evidence from the academic literature, policy documents, government reports and recent empirical studies on governance and development in Nigeria. The results indicate that the problems of development of the country are not mainly caused by the lack of institutions but rather by weak implementation mechanisms, poor institutional capacity and poor enforcement of regulations. Poor policy implementation, lack of technical and financial resources, corruption, overlapping institutional mandates and weak accountability systems continue to hinder progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The study also finds that these institutional dimensions are interlinked to each other, creating a positive feedback loop in which deficiencies in one aspect negatively impact the other aspects and hinder sustainable development. The paper argues that there is a need to improve the effectiveness of institutions through better policy execution, increased capacity building, more robust regulatory systems, transparency, accountability and collaborative governance reforms so as to enable sustainable development in Nigeria. Thus, sustained institutional reforms and political commitment are critical to improving development outcomes and accelerating progress towards the SDGs.