MANAGING THE CHALLENGES OF PUBLIC ENTERPRISES IN NIGERIA AND THE PRIVATIZATION OPTION

Abstract

One of the motivating factors for establishing public enterprises in Nigeria is to facilitate social and economic development in sectors that are not considered expedient for private sector investment by foreign and local investors. However, the public enterprises established to fill this vacuum have been faced with many challenges that constrained their ability to perform optimally. The privatization of public enterprises has been suggested as a panacea for solving the challenges facing public enterprises in Nigeria. The extent to which this objective has been realized is still subject to controversy. This paper examines the challenges facing public  enterprises in Nigeria with a special focus on the privatization option. The paper concludes that although many of the challenges facing privatized public enterprises in Nigeria have been drastically reduced in the post privatization era much still needs to be done in ensuring that Nigerian consumers enjoy maximum benefits in the services provided by companies that emerged from the privatization exercise.