Abstract

Government agencies carry out public functions by exercising discretionary powers to formulate and implement policies, manage and regulate social and economic life. However, administrative rules cannot with certainty, prescribe outcomes for envisaged circumstances. The doctrine of legitimate expectation operates so that any government agency which adopts a policy should be required to follow and apply the policy. It advocates consistency and fairness in government actions, protected by external administrative mechanisms, the courts and tribunals, and through rules of internalisation in administrative laws for guidance of public agencies. The paper focuses on the adoption of this doctrine in United Kingdom, South Africa and India.  The adoption in these jurisdictions, provide lessons to establish certainty in the conduct and action of government agencies in Nigeria. The paper recommends the legal accountability introduced in these climes, to ensure consistency and fairness in public law in Nigeria to protect the legitimate expectations of the citizenry.