Nigeria is at an important turning point. In recent years, the government has spearheaded significant reforms from fuel subsidy removal and foreign exchange unification to tax administration improvements and digitalisation initiatives. These are bold and necessary steps toward economic stability and long-term development, and the administration must be commended for taking them. However, reforms alone are not enough.
My PhD research recently completed at the University College London titled, Exploring The Role Of Public Sector Dynamic Capabilities For Development In Nigeria highlights a deeper truth: the success of reforms is anchored not just on policy design, but on the strength of the public organisations responsible for implementation. In other words, development is not about what governments plan to do, but how well their institutions are actually able to do it.
I came to this question not as a detached academic but through years of practical engagement. During my time as Chief Executive of the MTN Nigeria Foundation, I worked alongside multiple public agencies. Some delivered remarkable outcomes against all odds. Others, operating under identical constitutional and legal frameworks, produced little more than frustration. The difference, I became convinced, was not in the policies they were asked to implement but in the capabilities they possessed. That conviction became the central question of my research.
This concept which is often overlooked in public sector discourse is known as dynamic capabilities. In the private sector, dynamic capabilities explain how firms allocate resources, innovate, and outperform competitors. In the public sector, they refer to the ability of government institutions to adapt, learn, and respond effectively to changing environments.
My research identifies three core dynamic capabilities that are particularly critical for Nigeria’s public sector effectiveness.
The first is sense-making: the ability of public institutions to understand societal needs using data, technical expertise, and analytical tools, moving beyond assumptions to evidence-based decision-making.
The second is connecting: how effectively public organisations engage with stakeholders across government, the private sector, and civil society through collaboration, co-creation, and trust-building.
The third is shaping: the ability of government institutions to set direction, drive innovation, and influence markets and ecosystems, reflecting a shift from reactive governance to proactive, mission-oriented leadership.
Together, these capabilities determine whether public institutions can not only implement reforms but also ensure they deliver public value sustainably over time.
Where these capabilities are strong, reforms translate into real outcomes and create lasting public value. Where they are weak or non-existent, even well-designed policies fail, resulting in delayed progress and, eventually, non-development.
Evidence from my study of five Nigerian public institutions including the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Bank of Industry (BOI), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), and Lagos State Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget (LSMEPB) shows that these dynamic capabilities are already emerging in practice.
The research revealed that Nigerian public institutions are not starting from zero. There are already pockets of capability that, if strengthened and scaled, can significantly improve reform outcomes and create lasting public value.
In other words, sense-making, connecting, and shaping were evident across the organisations covering areas such as enhanced digitization, stakeholder engagements, training programmes, etc. It is clear that dynamic capabilities do not emerge by accident. They are built and sustained through deliberate investment in what I call “capability enablers.”
These enablers create the conditions under which public institutions can learn, adapt, and deliver value consistently. At the same time, there are structural constraints called “capability inhibitors” which on the flip side, can undermine even the best reform efforts.
Why must Nigeria’s reforms go beyond policy to capability? Because policies alone cannot execute themselves. They require public organisations that can sense what is coming, connect across silos, and shape their actions in real time.
These Nigerian public institutions do not need imported solutions. They need a way to watch themselves honestly, to see where sense making, connecting, and shaping are weak, and to iterate based on that reflection. That is how dynamic capabilities grow, not through compliance but through continuous self-directed learning.
Effective public agencies are not a luxury. They are the difference between policies that transform lives and policies that merely generate headlines. Nigeria has tried countless reform commissions. The missing ingredient is not another blueprint. It is a sustained, systematic commitment to building the capabilities that turn policy into public value.
However, are we willing to invest deliberately in training, technology, performance management, and leadership development that target the very routines that turn policy into results?
Are we ready to adopt a mission oriented, challenge led approach where reforms are designed as part of coordinated efforts to address major societal challenges rather than as isolated interventions?
Are we brave enough to redefine how we assess public sector performance? Will we stop focusing only on budget execution rates and process compliance, and instead measure jobs created, digital skills delivered, infrastructure built, and other forms of public value?
Sustained development will not come from reforms alone, but from building dynamic capabilities within public institutions to enable them to continuously adapt, learn, and deliver value.
Dr Nonny Patricia Ugboma is a corporate leader, board director, and public value advisor with over 25 years of experience spanning finance, corporate social investment, and institutional development. She holds a PhD in Innovation and Public Policy from University College London’s Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP).
