THE IMPACT OF PRIVATIZATION AND COMMERCIALIZATION ON THE NIGERIAN ECONOMY

Abstract
To be able to transform into an industrialized economy an underdeveloped economy has to privately and commercially develop.
The importance of establishing public enterprises or corporations began during the 19th century with the British Telecom in 1884 under the telecommunication act and gained a worldwide support in Britain. Thereafter several nations particularly those in Africa, have come to embrace the principle as a way of eliminating low performance and inefficiency in the public sector.
Following the trend, the Nigerian economy has come to embrace privatization as a cardinal principle of the state‟s economic policy. Over the years, the Nigerian government has encouraged the development of the public sector since independence in 1960 and particularly 1970s but has not been successful because government owned industries and establishments remain citadels of corruption, studies in inefficiency and consequently a heavy drain on the economy. As a means of combating this menace, the (IMF) international monetary fund and World Bank have advocated the twin policies of privatization and commercialization. Incidentally, Nigerian has fully adopted this policy and is embarking on it with freazy, for example, Nigeria Brewery change from the most inefficient and less making company before privatization to one of the most profitable businesses in Nigeria.