Policy and governance issues impacting on Nigeria's globalization initiatives

Abstract

This research examines the role of the Government of Nigeria in the implementation of the new Globalization Policy Program the new world order is embracing. It is worthy to note that the democratic government has eluded Nigeria over the decades and that the advent of a new democratic government on May 29th 1999, led by President Olusegun Obasanjo, has prompted a creative and strategic view on how the government should deal with the policy issues that Globalization may bring (Nigerian Economic Policy, 1999-2003:3). The governance of Nigeria, as provided for in the 1999 Constitution, requires that it should be democratic, flexible, complementary, transparent, and accountable and development oriented. These criteria point towards sustainable, self-reliant and people-centered economic development. Thus, a new approach to the governance of this country in the context of globalization, must conform with the government’s objectives that are aimed at legitimizing the initiatives of grass-roots economic development. There is no room for promoting a vulnerable posture that would make economic activities more dependent on foreign economies than on the locally driven economy. Similarly, a broad view on sustainable and self-reliant local policy initiatives is suggested as a capable alternative to counter-balance any negative trend, which might emerge in the new global order.