Pedagogical Insights into the Teaching of Public Administration in Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria

Abstract

The crux of this paper was to have a pedagogical insight in the teaching of Public Administration in Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria. It is a credo that the supra discipline Public Administration hold the sway for anchoring the policy and programmes of both federal, States and local government. It is in this breath, that curriculum planners included Public Administration as a course of study, either as elective or full discipline in our universities, polytechnics and colleges of education across the nation. The rai-son d’etre for the latter sentence is based on the premise that Public Administration will provide the leeway for capacity building of graduates of the discipline, to enable them acquire both physical and intellectual skills (cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains) in order to be useful to the nation. For effective teaching of public administration, ingredients of pedagogical insights must be involved, utilized or adopted by lecturers/teachers, handling various courses in Public Administration. It is in this breath, that public administration can effective provide the much desired linkages between tertiary institution, development and growth of the Nigeria economy. Consequently, this paper defined the concept of Public Administration. The paper is explicated with the aid of the system theory. It discussed the variegate strategies of teaching Public Administration. The attributes of Public Administration were orchestrated. Finally, the authors concluded that lecturers/teachers of Public Administration must adopt and utilize pedagogical insights in the process of teaching of the course. It is the desiderata for graduates of Public Administration to effectively acquire the skills necessary for them to contribute their quota to Nigeria development and growth.