AN APPRAISAL OF THE PERFORMANCE OF PRIVATIZATION POLICY IN NIGERIA .

Abstract –

The precarious socio-economic  situation  of Nigeria in the 1980s coupled with the poor performance and  returns  of  investments  on  the part  of state-owned enterprises  was  adduced  by  the  protagonists  of  this policy  for  the  large  scale  of  privatization  of  public enterprises  in  Nigeria.  The  contradiction  that  later surround the policy of privatization in Nigeria is noted in  radical-Marxist,  classical-liberal  as  well  as  a neoliberal operational framework  in  a mixed economy. Thus, the  main  objectives of this  paper  are to  examine the  Nigeria  privatization  program  on  the  eve  of President  Obasanjo  administration  to  the  exit  of Goodluck  Jonathan  regime  (1999-2015).  The researcher,  having  implored  the  historical  perspective of  this  policy,  uncovered  the  following  contradictions about  the  privatization  program:  that  corruption, inefficiency,  ineffectiveness,  insincerity  among  others that  the  policy  hoped  to  address  hitherto  remain  the same.  The  researcher  afterward  made  the  following recommendations. That  if the  privatization  policy  is  to achieve  its  desired  objectives  that  are  economic development:  that  the  policy  should  be  pro-poor  with the  goals  of  redesigning  public  agencies  to  deliver quality  services  and  the  funds  realized  from  the privatized enterprises should be reinvested in a tangible public  interest  like  education, health,  and  other  social services. Keywords – Privatization,  Public  Enterprises, Globalization, and Nigeria  INTRODUCTION Privatization  as  an  agent of  globalization  that  has taken over  many developing countries at the end of the last century has not left the African continent without its share.  Before  the  advent  of  globalization,  there  was different  political  and  economic  system  in  the  world. Some  countries  practiced  capitalist  system,  some operated  socialist  while  some  operated both  economic systems called mixed economy system. However, at the tale  end  of the  20th  century,  which  also  happens  to  be the  end  of  the  ideological  war  between  West and  the East,  the  market  system  structure  of  the  economy became the only economic system in the world. According  to  Igbuzor  [9],  the  only option  through which government can  adopt  for effective and  efficient means  of  production  that  can  engender  sustainable growth  and  development  is  through  the  market economy.  He  maintained  further  that  the  government has  just  discovered  that  the  only  alternative  for economic  prosperity  is  through  privatization  of  public enterprises. According to Nwoye  [13], the involvement of  Nigerian  government  in  public  enterprises  can  be traced  to  the colonial  days,  when the  government was responsible  for  the  provision  of  social  services  to  the citizenry.    I.e.,  pipe  borne  water,  electricity,  roads, education, health among others