Education Policy Instability in Nigeria and Implications for Educational Development in Nigeria

Abstract

Changes in educational policies are one of the major attributes of the Nigerian educational system. This paper examined the causes of educational policy instability in Nigeria and its implications on educational development. The paper employed quantitative and qualitative data. The data were collected from both print and published papers from online publications. The paper concluded that the causes for educational policy instability in the Nigerian educational sector include; capital intensive, poor consultation, political instability, poor coordination and cooperation of policy formulation (lack of synergy between bodies that develop policies), the appointment of Non-professionals as heads of educational institutions, dynamics in educational system and practices and poor formulation of educational policies. The paper also identified wastage in educational resources, low space of development in education and increment of administrative and management expenditure as effects of educational policy instability in the Nigerian educational system. Based on these problems identified, the paper hereby recommended that the government should ensure adequate budgetary allocation to the educational sector for the implementation of educational policies and professionals should be employed in the formulation of educational policies to avoid poor formulation of education policies.