Constraints and Challenges of Development Planning in Nigeria

Abstract

Successive regimes and administrations in Nigeria, both military and civilian, have engaged in one form of development planning or the other. Given that poverty reduction and job creation has been the central theme of most of the development plans within the period under study, after several decades of planning, if the rate of poverty and unemployment has increased, then it means either minimal success or outright failure of development plans. This study therefore investigated the major reasons that have made development plans unsuccessful in Nigeria. The study adopted a desk research method, thus data were sourced exclusively from secondary sources. A search through the major literatures on development planning in Nigeria revealed that eleven thematic issues constitute the constraints and challenges of development planning in Nigeria. This study found that of all the constraints and challenges to planning in Nigeria, ‘Dictatorship of Planning’ is the most serious challenge to planning, which previous studies are yet to identify as a challenge. The study thus recommended the ‘Decentralization and Democratization of Planning’ in Nigeria, among other recommendations.