Building a partnership between the public and private sectors for improved service delivery and sustainable development in Nigeria : a myth or a reality ?

الملخص EN

The Nigerian government has consistently made pronouncements with regards to forging a stronger partnership between the public sector and private sectors of the economy.

Such pronouncements could be found in such reform documents as the Vision 2010 Report which proposed the private sector as an “engine of growth” and the public sector to provide the enabling environment for the private sector-led growth.

However, this vision and whishes seem not to be working despite the federal government’s efforts.

This is the mundane justification for this article.

It traces the different policies of government in this direction such as: (i) Pre-independence policy of “purely regulatory functions”; (ii) Post-independence policy of competing with the private sector over economic growth activities; and (iii) The recent policy somersault of divesting from economic ventures considered most appropriate for the private sector having suffered huge losses as a result of such a misadventure.