Institutional Determinants of Policy Implementation Failure in Nigeria’s National Social Investment Programme

This study provides an empirical investigation into the institutional determinants of policy implementation failure in Nigeria's National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), which encompasses the N-Power scheme, TraderMoni, and the Home-Grown School Feeding Programme. Drawing on cases from Lagos (South West), Kano (North West), and Benue (North Central), the study addresses a significant gap in the literature concerning the micro-level institutional mechanisms that explain why well-funded social programmes fail to reach their intended beneficiaries at scale. A mixed-methods design is employed, combining quantitative surveys of 380 programme administrators and beneficiaries with qualitative interviews of 45 policy stakeholders and independent evaluators. The data are analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM) and interpretive thematic analysis. The study applies the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) Framework by Ostrom, which directs attention to how formal rules, norms, and the physical attributes of action situations interact to produce policy outcomes. Findings reveal that implementation failures are systematically associated with institutional incongruence between federal programme design assumptions and state-level administrative realities. Specifically, the assumption of standardised beneficiary targeting systems, functional inter-agency data-sharing, and reliable last-mile distribution networks was not met in most study states. Political capture of beneficiary lists and inadequate administrative infrastructure further compounded failures. The study contributes an empirically grounded institutional model of social programme failure applicable to developing country contexts. Keywords: policy implementation, social investment programme, N-Power, institutional analysis, Nigeria.