Analysis of the Performance of Public Enterprises in Nigeria

Public enterprises are created in all countries of the world to accelerate economic and social development. Yet, increasing evidence indicates that most public enterprises either do not contribute strongly to national development or do not perform their public service functions effectively and efficiently, leading to policy-makers engaging in continuing debates over whether or not state-owned corporations are viable to economic and social development; and why so many of them have failed to deliver the services for which they were created, and how their management can be improved upon to achieve efficient service delivery and engender national development. These issues are more crucial as shortage in public goods have been unprecedented hence the epileptic power supply issue, public water supply that has gone to social services is essential for human and national development. The data for this study were purposely collected through the secondary sources and analysed using content analysis approach. Some schools of thoughts have blamed it on the socio-cultural milieu of the developing nations. Others blamed it on the relationship of the developing nations with the developed nations. This paper examines the Nigerian Public Enterprises and attempts expatiations on the status of its performance from the standpoint of modern organisation theory. Keywords: Public Enterprises, Performance, Privatization, Commercialization, Reform