# I. Introduction he term public policy is often confused by people who could not understand what it is. The public policy means the of legislation as a result of government politically prioritized ideas with that broad policy directives statements directed at civil service and public agencies periodically to enhance adequate socio-economic and market stability aimed at the productivity of output. The lives of individuals and that of business organizations are affected every day by policies instituted by governments, political organizations, social organizations, labour groups, educational institutions, labour groups, service organizations, communities and even religious organizations such as churches. The pronouncements or policies of all these institutions affect man's life in every ramification, especially the economic lives of people. The concept of policy according to Ikeleg be (2014) is central to the activities of governments, private organizations, and communities; and that government commits much time, energy and resources to the development and implementation of the policy. Public statements are common features of every government, and these public statements called public policies are offshoots of successive governments by each peculiar government's priority. Once a particular political or military government decides to continue with an existing public policy of its predecessor, then such public policy subsists and do not change immediately. Changes in government showcase itself in public policy as such existence changes. When a particular public policy does not change when there is a change in government, the resultant effect of such unchanged policy often brings about economic stability. Economic stability is one of one the cardinal functions of the goals of an economy be it traditional or modern economy. This stability is achievable if the policy is such a one that can keep the economy stable, do not change or removed betimes. The steadiness of public policy is vital as its stable existence ensures market stability. Stable economy means so much to business magnets that hold every economy and controls the polity of that nation as it is vital in maintaining good relationships with employers and trade unions, and or between employees and management of organizations. Employees and management of organizations are therefore as dear to an economy of a nation as it is the hob of the economy for producing the goods and services in any economy. It is therefore, important that public opinion on matters like those of trade union government be handled with utmost care. It is the responsibility of every government to ensure that fair play between employers and employees exists. The Government policies concerning employment does not change incessantly, and if at any time changes occur the public should appreciate such changes as its favourable to the. The research question is how public policy comes to the fore, and what is its interface? Having explained public policy, we shall proceed to discuss the emergence of public policy in Nigeria and its interface. The boundary of public policy seems so wide that it touches all the facets of human activities be it social, economic, behavioural, financial, just and name it. We shall concentrate this time on labour policies and that of the economy. # II. Theoretical Framework To do some justice to the theoretical framework, we shall proceed to discuss the main actor of government, public policies in Nigeria especially on those policies that affect Labour and labour laws in Nigeria, and that of economic development and growth. # a) Government The government does not stand as an individual or human being but a legal entity that can sue. It is the body of persons having the authority mandate to govern a state or country or local community or a particular ministry in office. Government is the system by which a state or community is governed. The government refers to the body of persons having the action or authority to control or regulate a state or an organization or people of a particular locality. The government may also mean the political entity having the political direction who exercises power over the actions of the members or citizens or inhabitants or societies, or states, or communities within a particular geographical location. The government actors are proximate actors who occupy formal public positions who are well connected and influential in the policy-making process and having their own perceptions, values, beliefs, attitudes, and interests which they bring on bear on policymaking. The government actors include legislative bodies, the executive, and the judiciary. We also have the non-governmental actors which include political parties, the civil society, the citizenry of a nation, and adversary bodies. # b) Public Policy In Nigeria The public policy came with the colonial masters as they balkanized Africa into many parts before and during the Berlin conference. Public policies so instituted were never in favour of Africans especially the Nigerians which policies continue to destabilise the nation in one way or the other, but this does not mean that there was no goodness in some of these policies. They brought such good public policy like modern-day administrative antiques and qualitative education, oppressive labour laws that instituted trade unionism, etc. Some examples of trade law so instituted are as follows: # i. Labour Policy of Voluntarism This is a by-product of the British labour policy that was practised by them in the Nigerian colonial era. It emphases on voluntary collective bargaining between the management of organizations and their labour unions or associations at times of dispute settlement. Its emphasis is on pay and basic conditions of service of employment, basically on the legal position of the law as it affects the state and judiciary and that of hours of work in an organization. This system enabled employers and workers to settle cases about the terms and conditions of employment via collective bargaining while intervention by the government was seen as the last option when both parties fail in their bid to settle amicably. # ii. Weaknesses of Labour Policy of Voluntarism From all observations, it had been crystal clear that despite all efforts to establish a legal environment for voluntary, non-interventionist and abstentionist principle, inequality in labour-employer relationships still prevails. This weakness is attributable to the attitude of government not putting into practice the policy in its totality in the establishment of the procedures for collective bargaining, especially in the civil service of the nation. Unarguably, the state of the unions and the faith of its members who are the employees of organizations bear torch, and even though unions were made legal institutions in Nigeria, no sufficient provisions was made for their recognition by whoever employed their service, and many of the employers were not free to sue even their unions when they veer. Remember that in an attempt to settle disputes among the unions, agreements reached either at the arbitration tribunals or conciliation processes were not implemented to the least jot. However, when collective agreements were reached, unions had to call back her striking members who are the employees to go back to work. # iii. Labour Policy of Interventionism This principle of interventionism came into existence to replace the voluntarism policy. The policy of Interventionism posits that labour relations could not be controlled by legislation and therefore, government or a third party intervention is necessary. The unions have the right to immunity from legal action once they legally register their unions with the Ministry of Labour and Productivity. By this registration, collective agreements they entered into becomes legally binding contracts or documents even over their members and the other negotiator(s); hence hiding under the cloak of law, and several of bad labour practices were prohibited. This principle was actually introduced in Nigeria in 1968, which led to the introduction of national labour policy by Olusegun Obasanjo administration in 1975. This policy became the system that swept aside the voluntary system of labour relations inherited from the colonial masters and establishes a new system that combines elements of state control and that of voluntarism the same time, i.e., the blending of state control and voluntarism. # iv. Objectives of Interventionism The major objectives of interventionism are as follows: 1. To provide support for the encouragement of international labour organization (ILO) and any other international labour organizations. 2. To provide a new direction to trade unionism movement in Nigeria. 3. To provide education to trade union's officials. 4. To ensure the financial position of labour unions and not to be depended on government. 5. To take away completely external influence on labour unions 6. To provide a legal framework that backs labour unionism 7. To give strength to the labour administration system. 8. To ensure unity among labour unions v. # Areas of Intervention On may be tempted to ask whether there are specific areas for labour policy invention. The answer is in the affirmation as follows: Labour Disputes and Settlement: There were some policies instituted in the name of Decrees and Acts of Parliament that were put in place to assert those areas of intervention possibilities. For instance, we have the Trade Dispute Provision Decree of 1968 and the Trade Dispute Act of 1976. The Trade Dispute Provision Decree of 1968 initiated the transition from voluntarism to intervention by establishing the National Industrial court as an appellate body of arbitration while the Trade Dispute Act of 1976 proscribed strikes in some organizations that carry out essential services in the country such as the Armed Forces comprising the Army, Air force and Navy, and The Nigeria Police (formerly The Nigeria Police Force). # vi. Determination of wages There are so many policies and policy adjustments in terms of increase of minimum wage, which started with the Udoji award in 1975 that increases workers salary that brought inflation into the country. In 1977, Productivity, Prices, and Incomes Board Act was established. This Board provided the machinery put in place to intervene in determining wages via collective bargaining effort. By this public policy, the government allows for an increase in wages yearly. In 1981 minimum wage Act fixed minimum wage at N125.00 per month for the least paid labour, N250.00 in 1991, N750, 00.00 in 1999 and N15,000 in 2011. In 2015, during the Jonathan administration, minimum wage was fixed at Nl8, 000, and presently, as at 2019 the minimum wage has been fixed at N30, 000.00 per month which is yet to be implemented. # vii. Union Affairs This has to do with the internal arrangement in various places of work, whether in the private or government sector. In order to cub the excesses of the Trade Union, the government restructured the activities of labour unions by creating senior staff associations, employers associations, and industrial unions by the stroke of the pen of public policy. This enabled the associations to look into the affairs of members with directives from the government. Squinting modifier # viii. Collective Bargaining This policy gives the government power to enforce terms of the collective agreement reached by employers and employees as they bargain squinting at modifiers until they reach a compromise point of give and take, thereby reaching a conclusion. This collective agreement reached by negotiating parties was on how to regulate employment conditions. In a situation where this agreement reached was breached, for instance, by the employer who deliberately declines to abide by the terms of the collective agreement, then the government will come to intervene as that of intervention. This act of intervention by the government is done to protect employees in any organization, and similarly, where the union tries to bridge their negotiated agreement, the government will come into the matter against the union to protect the organization and force the workers to go back to work. The question people always asked is why and what particular interest does the government or state has so as to intervene in labour matters. # ix. Why State Intervene in Labour Matters To have an improved living standard of both labour and citizenry of a state, the government intervenes and looks into the affairs of different subsectors and private organizations to ensure that they don't cheat or exploit employees under their organization which will invariably undermine revenue accruable to government. The government intervenes in labour matters as an arbiter to direct both public and private organizations on what to do to enable them not to cheat or defraud one another and have peace. In most of the developing countries, private businesses are in the hands of expatriates, especially from their past colonial countries. These past colonial countries continue to oppress the labour working in their organizations. In such cases, government steps in to intervene by directing the employers on what to do to remove exploitation from their agenda. (i) Government involvement in labour matters has led to increment in wages of workers at both public and private sector, which also meant revenue to the government. With the exploitative nature of most private businesses, that will not like to increase the wages of workers as at when due. The government therefore, play the role of unbiased umpire. The government's involvement in unbiased umpire has earned more surplus profits to the business organization that will pay more taxes to the government. With the intervention of the government, the employer will be forced to increase the salaries of its staff from time to time. (ii) Most of the private businesses are incapable of getting local and foreign loan facilities from both domestic and international financial institutions to make their private businesses grow. Secondly, the government stands as guarantor for these companies to obtain loans as capital (funds) from both internal and international organizations to enable the private organizations meet up their business obligations. The government being a financial guarantor to a company makes the government to have a say in the affairs of such businesses. (iii) The government also provides other necessary environments for private businesses to grow. They may provide security for private businesses to grow. (iv) Foreign investors are attracted to a country through the intervention of the government in most cases. With the intervention of a local or state or federal government, the corresponding foreign country easily gives out loans which provide the necessary funding needed for take-off by the private business. In most cases, the required fund could be so heavy for an individual or private business to raise. (v) Government interventionism policy in developing countries of the world is part of the system they inherited from their colonial masters which, they continue. These policies had been tested and proven to be an inseparable adjunct of its social and political philosophy and system of government and as such, continued as they were. (vi) Government intervention was to correct the problems of inequality in an organization. Many private business owners enrich themselves at the expense of their workers whom they exploited. Hence, government intervention to help chequered the situation. (vii) The government knows quite well that the private sector affects the GDP of any economy most. The government, therefore, step in to ensure that the levels of productivity and effective utilization of available capital which will affect the GDP are enhanced. (viii) Government intervention in labour matters is to ensure strict compliance and observance to those laws imposed to restrict the production of certain goods and services in the country and also to regulate the inflow of others into the country. # c) Ministry of Labour and Productivity This is a ministry that looks into labour matters. In 1942, the Ministry of Employment, Labour and, Productivity were set up and saddled with the responsibility of formulating, implementing and monitoring public policy as it concerns the employment of labour. There are several changes in the name of the ministry as per the succeeding government. However, these changes in names do not change the major objective of setting up the ministry. The present name is the Ministry of Labour and Productivity having the following departments: Employment Directorate, Inspectorate and Research Department, Industrial Relations Department, Co-operatives Department, and Factories Inspectorate. Every departments is headed by a Director who is the Departmental Head, while a Minister overseers the entire Ministry as Sole Administrator. The Minister of Ministry of Labour and Productivity is a nominee of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and subjected to screening by the National Assembly. After a successful screening, the Minister is then appointed to the position like all other Ministers. # i. Functions of Ministry of Labour and Productivity a. Legislative and Regulatory Functions The ministry is vested with the issues of legislation on labour matters by 1. Initiate labour laws and pass directives to regulate both the institutions and those making up the institutions. 2. Prescribed minimum standard of employment relationships that bind on employees, employers, and institutions. 3. Review periodically labour laws that pertain to wages and conditions of employment. # b. Adjudication and Mediation Function The ministry performs adjudication or mediation functions when employers disagree with their employees regarding the condition of service, and being there available as a last resort to mediate. The Ministry of Labour and Productivity is the arm of government, which performs this function in intervening in the settlement of disputes. The department looks at the areas of the laws that are violated by any party and call them to order. # d. Education and Training Function The Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity organises and run short term courses for the training of her labour force. They also organize seminars and conferences on issues concerning trade unionism. # d) The Existence of Labour Laws (Policies) In Nigeria Nigeria made up of thirty-six (36) states operates the same old colonial master's legal system (British system of law). The continual the Federal Government of Nigeria means that the volunteerism policy is not discarded which permits both labour and management to meet and decide on the kind of system to be used so work in unionism to enhance peaceful coexistence. In recent years, several changes have been made in labour law by different administrations. These changes are carried out to ensure better working conditions of workers and produce greater productivity to assist the management. It should be noted that up till 1966, some of the colonial labour laws were still in vogue in Nigeria. The laws made the government implement the voluntarism agreement made by the labour unions and management, which they present to the government for accentuation and passing into law. The government did not have to come with force in the area of industrial relations but to rather make suggestions to the labour and management. These suggestions were subject to an adoption, rejection, and or amendment. The existence of Labour laws enhances industrial peace. This period where the government did not have to use force in approaching labour and management agreement was called "Lainez -fair policy period" in the history of Nigeria. However, as the nation grows, changes creep into the Nigerian labour law, and government started getting involved in matters of industrial relations and this period of the government intervention is referred to as "interventionist policy period" After the world war in 1968, a new decree is known as "Trade Dispute Decree of 1968" was put in place to replace the "Trade Disputes Act of 1965." This change was to provide voluntary methods of settling disputes. Nevertheless, these changes did not stop industrial actions in the country and hence the promulgation of the amendment policy of the Trade Disputes Amendment decree of 1986; which was followed by the "Trade Dispute Emergency Provisions (amended) Decree 'of 1996". This amended decree banned strike and lock-outs and made provision for changes in wages and salaries. # i. Laws Relating To Labour Act There are several laws in Nigeria as it relates to labour. We have the Labour Act of 1971, Wages Board and Industrial Council Act of 1974, the National Minimum Wages Act of 1981, and Incomes and wages Commission Decree of 1993, etc. Others labour laws shall be mentioned as we go on to explain them sequentially. # a. The Labour Act of 1971 This act came into existence in 1971, replacing the already existing Labour Code Act of 1958. This Act was put in place to protect wages, contract of employment, and their conditions, which were hitherto silent in the 1958 labour code Act. The Labour Act of 1971 discussed issues on wages, advances, deductions, terms, and conditions of employment, etc. # i) Wage The labour Act provided for wages of a worker to be paid in a legal tender, which medium of exchange is generally accepted and recognized by the law of Nigeria that set up Naira as a legal tender. A section of the Act reads any contract which provides otherwise whether in whole or in part shall be termed illegal, null and void..." In the same vein, any contract that works outside these provisions will not be considered as a legal tender and non-binding. # ii) Deductions The Act stipulated that no deductions shall be made without the consent of the worker meaning that, an employer or union can only make deductions from the salary of the worker at source for payment of whatsoever as was agreed with the concerned worker. # iii) Advances The Act states that no salary advance granted staff should not be more than one month's salary. Salary Advances granted should be recovered by the employer within a minimum period of three months. The Act also states that advances shall not be granted to a worker who still repaying any part of advance earlier is granted him by his employer. # iv) Term and conditions of employment The Act stipulates that hours of work shall be fixed by collective agreement of management and the labour union. The Act explains that the hours where the worker shall work outside the official working hour should be regarded as overtime and shall be paid for a subject to a maximum of his one month's salary. The Act aimed at fixing minimum wage to be paid to Nigerian workers; and States that an employer shall pay nothing less than the National Minimum Wage of N125.00 after necessary deductions. This minimum wage payment excludes workers that are employed on part-time basis in an establishment that has less than 50 f) The Economy According to Jhingan (2004;46), an economy refers to the economic system of an area, region, or country. It is a system by which people get a living by using themselves to get goods because of production and services or sell these goods and services so produced abroad to be able to buy imported goods and services needed. In essence, an economy is a system of parts which are interrelated and interdependent like the cells of an animal or plant. Irrespective of its complexities, it is a system of mutual exchanges between producers and consumers. To Sir John Hicks (1972; pp an economy consists of nothing else but the cooperation of workers or producers to make things and do things which consumers want. Suffice me to say that an economy is a closed system that has the enabling conducive environment that makes it possible for the interface between demand and supply of output and consumption of goods and services as well as money stock. The enabling conducive environment to be created must bring about Technical and allocative efficiency. # i. Economic Efficiency And Functions Of An Economy Abomaye-Nimenibo (2013) stated that since economic resources are scarce, they We to goods and services as we can, and in the process of production, consideration has to be made concerning Technical and Allocative efficiency. Technical Efficiency means making use of available resources of capital and land and labour to achieve "full employment" or the "natural level of output" and not to allow any resources lay waste or fallow, especially in the long run. Getting maximum output is also equivalent to producing at the lowest possible cost. Allocative Efficiency means producing goods and services in the best relative amounts to maximize the economic wellbeing of society. What constitutes "best" is a source of intense debate and even leads to armed conflict. The great wars and revolutions of the past century have, in large part, been over this question. There are five functions an economic system performs in producing goods and services for consumption. These functions are: 1) How much to produce is concerned with the technical efficiency in maximum level, so that unemployed and unused resources do not exist in the satisfaction of human wants with the best and suitable merchandises in a sizeable output in demand. # 2) What to produce function is important as it reflects the question of allocative efficiency to direct the production of merchandises for home consumption or trade. Global Journal of Human Social Science workers as well as workers who are engaged on commission basis. # v) Factories Act of 1987 Factories Act of 1987was passed into law in June 1987. The Act came into law for the registration of factories operating in Nigeria. This Act regulated the safety of workers and other professionals exposed to hazardous work in the factories. It brings into existence safety legislation in conjunction with the requirements of modern industrial settings. The worker's injury compensation was also considered by the Act. Any injured worker who incurred injury in the course of his/her duty shall be compensated according to the condition of service as was given to the worker at the start of work in the factory. The Act also made it compulsory for an employer to give compulsory insurance cover to all workers. The insurance cover policy shall be made known to the employer, and the deductions/contribution toward the scheme shall be communicated to him. # vi) Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund Decree of 1992 The Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund was signed as a decree in 1992 to provide comprehensive social security scheme for all workers who are employed by the private sector. # vii) National Housing Fund Decree of 1992 This was promulgated in January 1992, and was aimed to establish National Housing Funds for Nigeria workers. It was designed to provide shelter for every worker in Nigeria but did not up to this time to achieve its aim of being published. # e) Economic Development When we talk of economic development, we are referring to the system through which the welfare of the citizens of a nation are improved economically, so that their present state of well-being should be better than their former state. It may also mean the economic development of the economic wealth of countries, regions or communities for the well-being of its citizenry with the view of improving the economic well-being and quality of life for the citizenry and creating jobs for them. Economic development is also the improvement of the economic, political, and social well-being of the people of a state within its geographical expanse. It is a concept widely used every day. It is also known as the process by which emerging economies become advanced economies whereby those nations with low living standards become nations with a high living standard. It was also akin to the overall improvement in health, socio-economic wellbeing, and academic level with a constant increase in income per capita, etc. technical efficiency and maximization of output, using the lowest production cost in all economic activities. 4) Who consumes. The bottom line, as the Little Red Hen observed, is who gets to eat the cake, being the subject of determination of the right persons to whom production is targeted. The core persons of determination in production forms the basis for the question of allocative efficiency and equity concerns. 5) Adaptability. How flexible is the economic system in responding to changes? Can the system adapt and survive economic and challenges? Can the economy continue technical and allocative efficiency? Different societies have performed these economic functions with the view of seeking ways to achieve technical and allocative efficiency either in the traditional or industrial economy in different ways. ii. Growth a. Output Growth Economic growth is measured in quantitative terms of national income per head, output per worker, gross domestic product, etc. In a situation where the salary per head rises from say N150, 000.00 to N200, 000.00, we refer to such increase as an of economic growth. Also, an increase in the total gross domestic product (GDP) is an indication of economic growth. This increase should not be taken to mean an increase in the welfare of the person since an increase in output or income per head may not necessarily improve the welfare of the people which will be termed as economic development. Growth also means an increase in national income, which is an increase in the total output of goods and services of a nation. Increase in per capita income means that total output during a particular period must be rising than the rise in production. Economic growth means the process whereby more goods and services are available to satisfy the needs of society. It also means the expansion of an economy's capability to produce the goods and services the citizenry want in a given time period. The productive economy depends on the quantity and quality of resources as inputs as well as on the level of technological development of a nation. Nigeria is an agro-based country. The predominant occupation is agriculture and its allied activities like farming, poultry, cattle rearing, fishing, animal husbandry, etc. which has in its employment according to recent statistics, about 23 percent of the labour force in Nigeria. They are producing about 22 percent of the country's GDP (Gross Domestic Product). However, due to defective planning and improper implementation of policies, the productivity of Nigeria's agriculture is very meagre compared to foreign countries. Improper land tenure, inadequate credit system, primitive technology still in vogue and old ways of cultivation and irrigation, urban migration, the quest for white collar jobs, etc. being the reasons for low productivity of agriculture in Nigeria. To overcome all these difficulties, the government adopts several measures, including land reforms, School to land, the green revolution; Operation feed the nation, etc. for the growth of per hectare agricultural production but the results are not too encouraging. # b. Industrial Growth In all the various developmental plans of the Government of Nigeria towards industrialization does not yield adequate success as long as there is no lasting or enduring development of small and heavy industries like steel, iron, cement, power, etc. Although businesses producing consumer goods are on the increase, the capital goods industries are not increasing at the same pace. To solve this problem, the government decided to privatize and commercialize the government own companies and are giving licenses to the private sectors for developing consumer goods industries along with few engineering goods companies. Reactivation and revamping of small and medium scales industries like defence ammunitions, railway, power, and energy sectors. Proper credit facilities and adequate subsidies with soft loans are also being provided to industrialists to increase their scale of production. Even though there has been slow growth in wholesale and retail trade, transportation, there has been tremendous growth in communication, financial intermediation, education, health, and social work sectors as well as in hotel and restaurants business. The export and import business has been stifled, and domestic industries are finding it difficult to stand especially in the face of an embargo on the importation of raw materials. # iii. Public Policy Analysis and the Prospects of the Nigerian Economy The economy of Nigeria is the second largest economy, having the biggest market and is the second leading stock exchange market in Africa. Being a regional clout, the Nigerian economy represents about 55% of West Africa's GDP (African Development Bank 2013:8) and accounts for 64% of GDP based on PPP valuation of the ECOWAS sub-region of 15 member countries (IGNITE 2013) which records subsists. Its population of over 167 million is regarded as very enterprising. The country has vast potentials as reflected in its natural resources which include about 80 million hectares of arable land, 33 solid minerals, and enormous oil and gas reserves (12 leading oil and 8 th major gas producers in the world respectively) (Osagie 2011). The ADB (2013:7) regards Nigeria as a middle income mixed economy, and emerging market with expanding financial, service, telecommunications, and entertainment sectors. Nigeria's economic growth rate is described as healthy and among the fastest growing in Africa, as reported by ADP, (2013:1). Recent assessments of the Nigerian economy raise some questions. Has Nigeria acquired the substantive potential and capacity for growth? How stable is the prospect for growth? What kind of growth is being embraced? What is the economic outlook for the next few years? What is the nature of management, and what policy and reform frame work under gird it? What are the challenges that faced her? These are pertinent questions that needed investigations. The GDP grew at 6.39% in 2012, 6.56% in the first quarter of 2013 and 6.18% in the second quarter. The GDP growth rate for the year was fixed at 6.39 in 2012. After a decade of strong economic performance, real GDP growth weakened considerably to as low as 2.97 percent in 2015 compared to 6.22 percent in 2014, and due to the structural collapse in the price of crude oil, which contributed about 90 per cent of foreign exchange earnings and about 70 per cent of Government's revenue within the same period. The Government, in its Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), 2016-2019, envisages in generating a real GDP growth rate of about 4.4 percent in 2016, with a gradual increase to 5.1 percent by 2019; while keeping the inflation level under control at slightly above 9 percent annually. More specifically, the Federal Government fiscal deficits increased to an average of 6.1 percent of nominal GDP annually in 1975-79, GDP growth slowed from 10.3 percent in 1970-1974 to 6.4 per cent in 1975-1979 while the inflation rate accelerated from 10.40 per cent to 20.3 percent during the same period (Sanusi, 2002). As for the GDP Purchasing Power Parity, being a better measure of per capita welfare, living conditions, and the use of resources was estimated at $391.9 billion in 2010, $420.8b in 2011 and $450.5b in 2012. The real GDP per capita PPP was $2,500 in 2010, $2,600 in 2011 and $2,700 in 2013. Going by the GDP's PPP, the economic outlook seems to be bright. The economic growth in Nigeria has been quite stout and encouraging for over a decade, with GDP growth rate averaging about 7.5% annually (ADP 2013:13). Foreign trade in the second quarter (Q2) of 2013 grew by 4.8% to N5.341 trillion as compared to the preceding quarter, reflecting an 8.4% increase in exports to N 3.74 trillion and a 2.9% decrease in imports to N 1.59 trillion. The value of total volume of trade was N 20,885.4 # III. An Assessment of the Effectiveness of Public Policy Our analyses of result centres on how effective are these labour laws. If all these laws are effective and are cogent, then; the economy will grow. 1. The public policies or laws are not effective. Otherwise, there shall be no more room to enact or promulgate a fresh new policy to repeal the first. 2. Where these public policies are efficient and dynamic, then there would be no need for enacting so many public policies and laws that keep on amending or being repealed as oft. 3. Actors opinionated acts and actions are at variance with the reality and so the need to revisit these public policy statements, repealing and amending constantly. 4. In these public policies, we see the immaturity of our public policy makers whose personal interest keep on fluctuating and always at variance with each other and that of the good intention of the elderly statesmen in the nation. 5. We see that our policy architects are not proactive in the pronouncements of these public policies. 6. Personal interest is always and at all times being against the interest of the nation as constantly exhibited in the lives of our national public policy makers. 7. Nigerian public policy fabricators are found to be self-opinionated and do not have the nation at heart. # IV. Conclusion The future of Nigeria's economy and that of many other developing countries to a large extent depends on the development of good public policy statement in meeting the economic challenges and job creation opportunities in the 21 st century. Consequently, all parties involved in the promotion of good public policy making, i.e., the government, private sector, and the financial system must jointly work together to ensure that the economy of Nigeria is given all necessary support it needs to make it grow, and play its role effectively. # V. Recommendations In with the findings of this study, the following recommendations are postulated as follows: 1. The government should formulate economic policies that encourage and favour entrepreneurship developments in Nigeria. 2. Nigeria youths should be encouraged to venture into a business through the provision of enabling environment with good public policy to encourage them. 3. The government should provide all necessary infrastructure especially the constant provision of electricity through her public policy statements that will promote entrepreneurial development that will reduce the cost of doing business in Nigeria. 4. Government macro-economic public policies should be such that will promote entrepreneurship development. 5. Our Politicians seeking political positions should be seasoned administrators and not young School leavers who have no stake in the economy but are rather money conscious looking for ways to dupe or embezzle government funds. 6. Actors should not place their opinions above that of the nation and face reality in making public policy statements that will match the present day technological challenges. 7. The labour laws need to be revisited and discard those that do not stand the test of time. 8. Hoodlums and miscreants should not be elected into parliament and should not be given political appointments to curb their chances in making obnoxious public policies and statements. 9. Only well-educated citizens should occupy high positions in the government in both political and administrative positions. 10. Policies that will enhance economic development and growth be pursued with vigorously by our political leaders. 11. Policymakers should formulate policies that will make the economy to be robust as well as developmental strides through proper planning and policy implementation. 12. The development and training of personnel at all categories should be vigorously pursued. 13. Basic Needs Approach in making man the centre and focus of development, through better planning, and concentrated efforts in good public policy making be pursued. Therefore, all focus be placed on welfare, health, education, living conditions, and necessities of life of man be a top priority in making public policy. 14. Citizen Participatory Approach should be adopted so that the citizenry be involved in all planning of development and Policy Making. 15. Professional, trained, and competent personnel be engaged in public policy making. 16. All obnoxious policies that do not bring about economic development and growth should be repealed. 17. 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