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ECONOMIC LIBERALISATION THROUGH COMMERCIALISATION OF PUBLIC ENTERPRISES

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1    BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Universally, government’s motivation to go into business aims at serving public good. Equally, it is being accepted that the private sector, and not the public sector, should be the engine of economic growth. For a large part of the twentieth century, there were countries in the world (Eastern bloc) that promoted state ownership of the means of production while others (Western bloc) promoted private ownership of the means of production. A good number of countries practiced what was termed a mixed economy i.e. a combination of public and private ownership of the means of production. However, at the end of the twentieth century with the end of cold war between the eastern and western blocs, private ownership of means of production took ascendancy. Today, the received wisdom is that the state should recede and that private ownership of the means of production is the only viable approach to efficient production of goods and services, economic growth and development. Consequently, there is a move all over the world to privatize erstwhile public enterprises. With what is happening today to champions of free market in Europe and the United States of America, and the relative wellbeing of a centrally-planned economy in China, the debate of what sector should drive the economy is obviously not yet over. The issue of privatization has been a subject of intense global debate in recent years in Africa. It has remained highly controversial and politically risky. Privatization in Nigeria has not been a popular reform programme even though some other schools of thoughts argue otherwise. It has received so much criticism from organized labour, academia, civil society and individuals. There have been numerous strikes against proposed sell-offs by unions fearing loss of jobs, while proponents of privatization see that aspect of economic reform as an instrument of efficient resource management for rapid economic development and poverty reduction, the critics argue that privatization inflicts damage on the poor through loss of employment, reduction in income, and reduced access to basic social services or increases in prices.

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