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| Collaborative Public Management and the Challenge of Leadership in Nigeria's Response to Covid-19 Crisis
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Christopher Onyemaechi Ugwuibe, Ph.D
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Abstract:
One unique feature of COVID-19 pandemic is that it is creating terrifyingly pervasive social, economic, technological, political and administrative effects. This "firing-from-all-fronts" mode of attack has jolted all walks of life into instinctive reaction, thus prompting institutions and organization's into all manner of defensive responses. In this type of situation, the leadership role of the state is inexorably called into action. Spectacularly, Kogi and Cross River States had openly repudiated their governmental responsibilities for managing the pandemic thereby running into collision course with the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19. This, speak to sloppy institutional contexts for collaborative administrative response to COVID-19 crisis. Relying on the heuristic insight of the theory of structural functionalism, this paper sets out to investigate the institutional context of the apparently wobbling efforts of the Federal Government of Nigeria to forge synergistic platforms for inter-agency and inter-sectoral collaboration for tackling the incipient social challenges of COVID-19. Data for the study were drawn from participant observation and authentic secondary sources. Data were analyzed through qualitative review of literature on the subject matter. The findings indicates that within the ambient of Nigeria government, collaborative public management was not adequately implemented in managing the new normal. The study recommended among others a deliberate policy action that would ensure seem less synergy among all stakeholders in managing COVID-19 infections in Nigeria.
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