Abstract:
One of the functions of government is the formulation and implementation of public policy. Policies are the drivers of development. However, public policy failures in most African states and Nigeria have left the country with a lot of development challenges. This is despite the enormous material resources at her disposal to become a great and prosperous nation. For quite some time, so many policies and programmes, initiated by the federal government, failed to achieve the desired objectives. The paper, therefore, attempts a literature survey on the experiences of some African countries in policy formulation and implementation. Data are obtained from secondary sources and analyzed with content analytical techniques. This paper argues that strengthening the institutional machinery of government is one of the key components of achieving the gains of public policy through development in Africa