Enhancing the Effectiveness of Government Policies on Youth Empowerment in Nigeria

The prevalence of youth unemployment and poverty in Nigeria is alarming. Successive governments have initiated several youth empowerment policies targeted at addressing the problems but these programmes have failed to achieve expected outcomes as poverty and unemployment rates are increasing unabated. The failure of these youth empowerment programmes may be associated with the bottleneck in policy formulation processes hence the study proposes a design thinking model (user-centric approach) to be adopted to enhance the effectiveness of youth empowerment policies. Content analysis method was employed. Juxtaposing design thinking with traditional policy design; this study demonstrates the application of design thinking to policymaking and the need for adoption. Drawing from relevant literature on design thinking and public sector innovation, we argue that design thinking holds the promise of assisting policymakers to create social intervention policies and services that improve the users’ experience and enhance public value. If implemented well, it will help improve decision-making, contribute to a more comprehensive problem definition; reduced risks of duplications, inconsistencies, or overlaps; minimized unintended consequences and better appreciate the behavioral dynamics of public sector design, and support effective social problem-solving. We therefore recommend that the establishment of Public Service Innovation (PSI) Labs and design centers will help to foster innovation, turnaround policy initiatives in different public institutions and all levels of governments.