Objective


The National Institute, amongst other things:

  • Conducts courses for top-level policymakers and executors drawn from different sectors of the country, to expand their outlook and perspectives and stretch their conceptual capacity and qualities of discernment and analyses, thereby helping to improve their overall performance in their different fields.
  • Organizes and carries out on an interdisciplinary basis, indebt research into the social, economic, political, security, scientific, cultural, and other problems facing Nigeria, to contribute to the search for solutions.
  • Conducts seminars, workshops, and other action-oriented programs for leaders and potential leaders in the public service, the private sector, political organizations, professional bodies, and other groups, to promote, define, and enhancing the appreciation for long-range national plans and objectives.
  • Publishes books, journals, monographs, and other materials in the interest of the nation, as a contribution to knowledge and for a better national and international understanding.

POLICY RESEARCH AND THINK-TANK

The role of the National Institute is not limited to the training of high level policy makers and executors. As the nation’s topmost policy think-tank, the Institute, through its Directorate of Research, makes direct and regular contributions to the National Policy Process in terms of initiating and evaluating various policy initiatives and strategies.

Manned by a team of skilled and highly competent research fellows, the Directorate of Research organizes seminars, conferences and workshops, brainstorming sessions and other strategic engagements and collaborations. The Directorate also provides significant support to the Senior Executive Course as well as submits regular policy briefs and reports to the government.

Through these activities and its reports and publications, The National Institute has built up a rich reservoir of knowledge that can be harnessed to drive Nigeria’s national development aspirations. As a contribution to the deepening of democracy in Nigeria and Africa, the Institute also has a Centre known as The Political Parties Leadership and Policy Development Centre, which is specially dedicated to building the capacity of political parties to operate professionally and effectively. Established in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Political Parties Centre is domiciled in the Directorate of Research and is involved in capacity building, training, election monitoring and other activities which enhance democracy in Nigeria and Africa.

PROJECTIONS AND EXPECTATIONS

The National Institute aims to be one of the top three think-tanks in Africa by the Year 2025. Towards realising this important aspiration, Management of the National Institute has put in place measures to strengthen its research, reflection, training and publication endeavours as well as its partnership and collaborative efforts with similar think-tanks in Nigeria and outside the country.

While the National Institute has contributed immensely to national development as Nigeria’s apex policy think-tank, through numerous evidence-based policy recommendations as well as through constant, constructive engagement with policy makers at all levels, the dynamics of changing global environment underscore the need for the Institute to re-imagine its role and reposition itself  for increased relevance in the policy arena.

The National Institute is currently implementing its Strategic Plan, 2019 – 2023. The Plan outlines clear strategies to optimise human capital and physical infrastructure to strengthen the delivery of its Senior Executive Course and other special programmes aimed at providing answers to various developmental challenges in the country. Management has also put in place various initiatives to enhance its online presence and provide open access to research and learning resources as a strategy to enhance visibility of the Institute.  Meanwhile, as a consequence of its repositioning agenda, the National Institute has continued to attract top scholars from the nation’s foremost academic institutions. The Institute also continues to enjoy immense goodwill from the government and other stakeholders in the Nigerian project,  in the collective aspiration towards a better society.