The Chairman of the Alumni Association of the National Institute (AANI), Kaduna State Chapter, Professor Muhammad Kabir Aliyu, mni, has urged the Nigerian government to strictly adhere and implement the numerous recommendations and implementation strategies that yearly come out as a result of concrete research from the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS).
He made the statement at the end of the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the association on Saturday, May 24, 2025, at the Ahamadu Bello Foundation in Kaduna.
He went further to state that, “Every year, since 1979 when NIPSS was created by the Nigerian Government, the Institute has tackled themes given to it by the government targeting particular problems bedeviling the country. These themes cut across the problems affecting education, agriculture, security, economy, poverty issues, infrastructure, information technology, gender and cultural issues, etc. There is today virtually no problem that NIPSS has not researched on and provided solutions through recommendations and implementation strategies since 1979”.
The problem, he stressed, “is with the federal government’s negative approach to the strict implementation of the recommendations that were made with the view to solving a particular problem. Sometimes, the government may want to implement the recommendations, but the government agency or parastatal affected may be incompetent or lack the will to implement the recommendations”.
He stressed that over these years, Nigeria has immensely benefitted from NIPSS research outputs, but much to be desired. There is the need for government to aggressively pursue the implementation of NIPSS recommendations on various themes that are locked up at the Institute in order to save Nigeria, especially under the background of the billions of naira being spent to acquire such groundbreaking outputs.
Prof. Aliyu gave an example of the theme that was researched on while he was at NIPSS on “The Strengthening of Institutional Mechanism For Poverty Reduction and Inclusive Development in Nigeria” under Senior Executive Course 38, 2016. The course at the end of the 10 months intensive research period and through intensive lectures from resource persons on the theme; study tours within and outside Nigeria, strategic tours to relevant government agencies and parastatals related to the theme and numerous brainstorming sessions by the participants, came out with recommendations and implementation strategies that if sixty percent is implemented strictly, millions of Nigerians would have been out of poverty by now.
This is because the recommendations were made with patriotic minds and using the best practices around the world that the participants traveled and seen. But the government received it and dumped it and only used few things out of the report. This has been happening since 1979. That is why we are still where we are.
Earlier, the National President of AANI, Ambassador Emmanuel Okafor, mni, urged all stakeholders in the Nigerian project to work alongside the NIPPS products to save Nigeria from its numerous problems. He further implored members of the association to be actual and dedicated for a better society.
In his keynote address, the guest speaker at the meeting, Shuaibu Idris Mikati, mni, urged the leadership of NIPSS to strictly adhere to the tenets of the founding fathers of NIPSS, through the continuation of quality research, staffing, and guard against overblotting of the number of participants in the Institute for quality assurance.
He said if sixty percent of NIPSS recommendations are strictly implemented by the Nigerian government, things will be better for Nigeria.
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