Policy Outcome and Policy Impact: An Appraisal of Government’s Road Infrastructure Development Policy in Osun State, Nigeria (2020 – 2022)

Abstract

: The standard expectation of citizens is that their governments will make on their behalf, rational choices that will serve the purpose of government. In politics, voters and governments are expected to make choices that will in the minimum, satisfy their best interest. In this regard, when voters elect a government, such governments seek to have broad policies on issues of public interest in order to guide prioritisation of government programmes, since interests of voters are diverse. The decision of the Osun State government to construct a flyover bridge in Osogbo the state capital in 2021, generated strong criticisms immediately it was announced. The flyover bridge was to cost 2.7bn naira and to cover 500 meters of road. Competing pressures for government attention however demands that the State government’s road infrastructural policy be interrogated vis-a-vis general objectives of public policy, so that the decision could be objectively appreciated or condemned. The purpose of this paper is to appraise the infrastructure development policy of Osun State government for the period 2020 to 2022 with a view to determining its road infrastructure development priority. The study relied on quantitative method of data gathering to identify the policy of Osun State Government on road infrastructure development in the period of study, and to identify the policy impact. The study shows that the policy of Osun state Government on road infrastructure development in the period of study was to maintain existing roads, rebuild bad roads, and expand the road network. The findings reveal that the outcome of this policy is to improve transportation system and that in spite of the strident criticism of the decision to construct an expensive fly over bridge over a distance of 500 meters, the subject under study made an impact on members of the public such that the project became an “important” city possession. The study concluded that, for public policy analysis, there is the need to conduct reliable verification of policy impact through the affected population in the assessment of public policies.