Privatisation of Public Enterprises in Nigeria: Challenges and Prospects on Economic Development

Abstract

Privatisation plays key roles in restructuring economic and social attributes of developing countries. The performance of any economy in terms of growth rate and per capita income have always been based on and associated with active involvement and participation of the private sector. It is apt to note that public enterprises in Nigeria have failed to demonstrate strong desire and ability to promote economic growth perhaps due to ineptitude of the managers and inadequate clear-cut operational guidelines establishing such enterprises. This effort attempts to evaluate the importance and implications of privatisation of government’s companies with respect to economic development. The analytical tool adopted in this paper is descriptive that focussed on review and evaluation of privatisation exercise in Nigeria. Findings indicate that corruption, indiscipline, suspicion, transparency and national sovereignty among others were the major challenges of privatisation in Nigeria. Aligning with the new order of moving poor resource utilization to more innovative and creative initiatives orchestrated the call for privatisation in Nigeria in addition to productivity improvement, increase in revenue, reduction in budget deficits as well as elimination of wastes and improvement of efficiency. The paper concludes by advocating for appropriate reform policies of all inclusiveness and transparency that offer full information about the company slated for privatisation and the attributes of core investors to quell misinformed ideas and suspicion.