To do policy advocacy you need to come with very clear, sound arguments
Dapo Oyewole
Read the transcript:
My career began as an assistant to what is Africa’s largest and one of the most impactful think tanks, The Institute for Security Studies.
Think tanks work with the government and the more you do research, the more you write policy briefs, the more you provide policy advice, the more you begin to see different ways in which you can actually help to implement that change from within the system. After a few a decades of writing policy papers and advising government officials, it was a natural progression to start working from the inside to engineer change from within the government, but still using the same policy tools, approach and the ethical underpinnings from my work in think tanks.
The role of parliament in promoting evidence-based policy
Apart from the judiciary, the parliament is exactly where evidence matters because this is where the laws of the country are made. These are laws that affect livelihoods, the history and the future of the nation. This is an area where you cannot make mistakes.
Laws are based on the constitution, they can’t just be based on emotions and political expediency. If there’s any major arm of government that has a cardinal responsibility for evidence-based policy, it is definitely the parliament. This is why I think it is the responsibility of all parliaments- in Nigeria and internationally- to ensure that evidence-based policy is at the very heart of the legislative process.
How do parliaments engage with think tanks, and what are the benefits of this engagement?
On one hand, there are different components: there are think tanks within the government itself and there are think tanks who engage through civil society.
Let me start with the ones in civil society. In a country like Nigeria, where we had decades of military rule, civil society was a bit more combative in fighting for democracy. We had a lot of pro-democracy funded and geared NGOs and civil society organisations.
But, as we returned to civilian rule and we began to build that democracy, it became very clear that we could not just be combative against the government, we had to come to the table with good ideas that could help the government do what it needed to do in a democratic setting.
We began to see an evolution of civil society organisations or NGOs, not necessarily moving away from advocacy, but doing a bit more policy advocacy. And to do policy advocacy you need to come with very clear sound arguments. And for you to have clear, sound arguments, you need to come with statistics and facts, and analysis that can be defended and argued in a credible and legitimate manner.
I think an evolution of think tanks becoming much more a part of the policy discourse has taken place. But it is not a perfect marriage as of now. I still believe there’s a high level of mistrust between the government and civil society in some spaces. At the same time, we see areas where a lot of the remarkable think tanks here in Nigeria are able to come with evidence-based policy ideas and are able to engage in a constructive and effective manner with parliamentarians. That actually leads to the making of laws that are in the country’s and the people’s interests.
In a nutshell the benefit for the whole country and for the parliament is that it enables parliamentarians to know that when they go to represent their people, they’re putting forth motions, bills, and arguments that are based on facts and evidence.
They say the truth always stands the test of time. That is the thing about facts and evidence: you have to make sure that you come to the table clear-headed with the facts and the statistics. And for that basis people are more inclined, both within the house where you have many parties who will argue for and against, and also within the people that you represent to ensure that you are representing them more credibly. If anything at all, the role of think tanks helps to strengthen the parliament and strengthen democracy.
The challenges, and how to overcome them
Like any other marriage, you have challenges every now and then. And in many cases it’s around communication, isn’t it?
People come from different backgrounds and you find that when you have government and you have think tanks, they at times are driven by different imperatives.
On one hand you have government. And to be in government you have to win votes. This means you have to do the politics for you to even be in the seat, to be able to make any laws or make any policy at all. If you’re in government, someone is always trying to take your seat every few years. On one hand, the politician is thinking ‘how do I keep my seat?’, ‘how do I keep my authority?’ and ‘what kind of evidence supports my capability and ability to do that?’.
On the other hand you have think tanks that will come and engage you with stats and facts that at times may actually undermine your political security. You find that on both sides there’s a high level of mistrust. Even the politicians will wonder, ‘Why are the think tanks being funded?’, ‘Who’s funding them?’, ‘Are they being funded by foreign agents?’ and ‘Do these foreign agents have their own devices and their own objectives?’. So it can be a bit of a murky, convoluted relationship.
I find that, for the more mature think tanks and the more advanced politicians, it’s very very clear that the relationship between think tanks, policy research institutes, and government entities are almost like Siamese twins: you need them to work together.
The politician cannot be an economist, a climate change expert and a biochemist at the same time. You need institutions and institutes that are able to help you to think through some of the issues and the challenges that you’re representing people on their behalf. And any smart politician will open a door to as many ideas as possible to be able to represent the people positively.
On the flip side, think tanks also need to appreciate that. I used to run the think tank, and one of the things I have learned is that it’s one thing for you to do your armchair research and analysis and it’s another thing for you to be in the trenches, in the front line of politics. Even the think tanks themselves need to appreciate that while you may have the international best practice, and you may have been able to do your policy research and analysis using the latest tools and frameworks, it may mean absolutely nothing when you’re on the political front line. There has to be a balance.
Lastly, there has to be a clear language. One of the things that happens is that think tanks use very academic language which at times will completely miss the local politician, who may be very popular at home but may not be so advanced academically. It doesn’t mean that politician is not effective or knowledgeable, his language or her language is just different. There is the issue of ensuring that the politicians, the decision makers, the law-makers, the policy makers, as well as those who run think tanks or represent think tanks are able to engage with a language that they both understand and that helps to build trust and not mistrust.
The question that determines what happens between now and the next 10 years is: ‘To what extent do we find the work of think tanks feeding directly into policy in a meaningful, tangible and impacting manner?’ And that really is the question. It is not just how many do we have, but what kind of impact are they making in helping to shape the policies of the country. As we begin to mature further as a democracy, the demand from the electorate to have more policy, more evidence-based policy from the political class will now create a greater demand and appetite for think tanks, for the kind of work they do and how they’re able to infuse the policy debate with a bit more evidence. And, in many ways, also challenging the political class to be able to come up with more innovative and more evidence-based policies that are sustainable and that can stand the test of time.
I do think that we will see think tanks in Nigeria continue to grow. I do think they will continue to find new ways to remain relevant. But their relevance will depend on how they can make a direct impact to the policy landscape. Of course the challenge many of them face across the world is also the challenge of funding, because since COVID-19 the kind of funding that was available for this ‘good pie in the sky’ thinking has been moved to some of the more humanitarian concerns that we have globally. The sustainability of think tanks up financially is what I think may be a challenge going forward, but for as long as a democracy continues to grow, and for as long as the electorate continue to demand evidence-based policy, I do believe that think tanks in Nigeria and beyond will continue to play a very important role in our democracy.
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