Public and Private Sector Performance in Nigeria: Problems, Challenges and Strategies for Improved Performance

Abstract:

The historical background of Privatization dated back to 1970 when the Nigerian economy began to experience economic depression. The adverse impact of this economic cum development crisis became monumental in the early part of 1980, as the nation witnessed a dramatic decline in economic performance. There were no available record to show the number of public enterprises in the country today, though conflicting estimates have been given by analysts, Udoji, Ani and Onosode Panels of inquiries, whose panels recommended Privatization and Commercialization of the Public Enterprises as a way out of the quagmire and a step towards achieving faster sustainable development for the country. The analysis that follows tries to discuss privatization experiences and developments in the Nigerian economy. The objective of the study is to examine and analyze the challenges confronting privatization programme in Nigeria. The assumptions of the study are that Nigeria cannot be proposing of becoming one of the leading twenty economies in the world by 2020, (vision20:20) when there is poor performance of her public enterprises and even the performance of the private sector does not absolutely guarantee sustainable development. The study recommended that government has no business being in business, government should address the problem of infrastructural decay in the country, provide adequate and stable power supply, provide other enabling environment for high output performance of the industries in Nigeria and put restrictions on the activities of touts, double taxation and imported goods etc.