How well do NEEDS and NPIRD Hang together? – An Essay on Policy Coherence

Abstract

Nigeria is awash with sector development policies. Virtually every sector of national life – culture, arts, language, environment, education, agriculture, water and sanitation – has its own policy document. A rural development policy, The Nigeria Policy on Integrated Rural Development (NPIRD, for short) also exists. Standing at the apex of all of these, is the national Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS, for short), which ideally, should integrate the broad strategic thrusts and orientations of these policies into one coherent national development policy. This study seeks to examine the level of