An Assessment of the Management Performance of Public Enterprises
Chapter One
Objective of the study
The objectives of the study are;
- To ascertain the management performance of public enterprises in Nigeria
- To determine the evaluation of public enterprises in Nigeria
- To determine the challenges facing public enterprises in Nigeria
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Introduction
Public enterprises
According to Nwoye (2011), a Public Enterprise is viewed as an artificial person, who is authorized by law to carry on particular activities and functions. It essentially has the features of several individuals who act as one. It is described as a corporate body created by the legislature with defined powers and functions and independently having a clear-cut jurisdiction over a specified area of a particular type of commercial activity. It is a part of government apparatus and three implications are hereby highlighted: Public Enterprise, by virtue of its intricate relationship with government, is an instrument of public policy and its primary mission is in connection with governmental objectives and programmes. It is therefore, naturally under government control. Secondly, a Public Enterprise by its nature mostly manages public resources, especially public money and this means that attention must be paid to mechanisms for enforcing accountability. Thirdly, the combination of financial and economic objectives with social and political arms invariably makes it difficult to devise appropriate performance measurement instrument. The definitions of Public Enterprise can vary between countries and can also change over time. The first United Nations (1968) definition of Public Enterprises is thus: industrial, agricultural and commercial concerns, which are owned and controlled by central government (in a Unitary State) or the central government and regional that is set up as a corporate body and as part of the governmental apparatus for entrepreneurial or entrepreneur-like objectives. The United Nations (1971) added to that: Public Enterprise is ‘an incorporated or large unincorporated enterprise in which public authorities hold majority of the shares and/or can exercise control over management decisions’. Some of the problems with this approach are reviewed in the following three classifications. A loose definition of a Public Enterprise might be ‘an enterprise which is controlled by the government’. However, such a definition raises problems of interpretation in specific cases; for example, how can we be sure that the government ‘controls’ a particular firm? It is the essence of our entire approach to see government-industry relationships where one party can rarely be said to ‘control’ the other in a mechanical way. Does ‘the government’ mean just the central government or does it include local governments? For example, statistical information from some countries excludes enterprises run by local governments (Nwoye, 2011). The legal right to appoint and dismiss directors and the right to receive the profits from the operations of an enterprise are important factors, which can be used to establish a definition of Public Enterprise. Where, for example, (i) an enterprise is established as a corporation with no privately exchangeable rights to the profits, and (ii) where directors are appointed by the government, the enterprise is clearly in the public sector. A limited company with 100 percent of the shares owned by the government would be one in which the government would have the power to appoint directors and in which no private individual would receive a share in the profit. It would be virtually the same as a public corporation apart from the fact that the simple sales of shares by the government would be sufficient to transform it into a normal ‘private sector’ company. The sales of less than 50 percent of the shares would still give the government the power to appoint the directors of the company, although the existence of private shareholders would contravene condition (i) above. Even the sales of more than 50 percent of the shares might still put the government in a sufficiently dominant position to influence corporate policy. Thus, in practice, there is a spectrum of types of enterprise, ranging from the ‘purely public’ corporation to the ‘purely private’ corporation in which the government has no equity stake. In between are ‘mixed enterprises’ of different varieties (Ayodele, 2011). The absence of private rights to profits and the power of the government to appoint directors are conditions which are compatible with a wide range of institutional forms. For example, a bureaucracy supplying a social service such as health or education might well satisfy these criteria. The distinction that we have used between a bureaucracy and a public enterprise is that the bureau produces output which is not marketed whereas a Public Enterprise receives most of its revenue from the sale of its products. Once again, these distinctions produce difficulties of interpretation in intermediate cases. Public Enterprises ma receive subsidies from the government if these are required in the interests of wider social objectives, and may offer their services at a low or zero price to certain classes of consumer (for example, cheap rail travel for retried people). Conversely, educational institutions which are otherwise free to the user may at the margin charge fees for certain services.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, we described the research procedure for this study. A research methodology is a research process adopted or employed to systematically and scientifically present the results of a study to the research audience viz. a vis, the study beneficiaries.
RESEARCH DESIGN
Research designs are perceived to be an overall strategy adopted by the researcher whereby different components of the study are integrated in a logical manner to effectively address a research problem. In this study, the researcher employed the survey research design. This is due to the nature of the study whereby the opinion and views of people are sampled. According to Singleton & Straits, (2009), Survey research can use quantitative research strategies (e.g., using questionnaires with numerically rated items), qualitative research strategies (e.g., using open-ended questions), or both strategies (i.e., mixed methods). As it is often used to describe and explore human behaviour, surveys are therefore frequently used in social and psychological research.
POPULATION OF THE STUDY
According to Udoyen (2019), a study population is a group of elements or individuals as the case may be, who share similar characteristics. These similar features can include location, gender, age, sex or specific interest. The emphasis on study population is that it constitutes of individuals or elements that are homogeneous in description.
This study was carried to examine an assessment of the management performance of public enterprises. NITEL in Lagos form the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents the analysis of data derived through the questionnaire and key informant interview administered on the respondents in the study area. The analysis and interpretation were derived from the findings of the study. The data analysis depicts the simple frequency and percentage of the respondents as well as interpretation of the information gathered. A total of eighty (80) questionnaires were administered to respondents of which only seventy-seven (77) were returned and validated. This was due to irregular, incomplete and inappropriate responses to some questionnaire. For this study a total of 77 was validated for the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain an assessment of management performance of the public enterprises. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of an assessment of management performance of the public enterprises
Summary
This study was on an assessment of management performance of the public enterprises. Three objectives were raised which included: To ascertain the management performance of public enterprises in Nigeria, to determine the evaluation of public enterprises in Nigeria and to determine the challenges facing public enterprises in Nigeria. A total of 77 responses were received and validated from the enrolled participants where all respondents were drawn from NITEL in Lagos. Hypothesis was tested using Chi-Square statistical tool (SPSS).
Conclusion
Understanding the performance of Public Enterprises in Nigeria has varied in context as different people give different reasons for their performance rate but what is certain is that their performance has been rated as abysmally low. This is why the federal government of Nigeria has since independence adopted several approaches to ensure the revitalization of the Public Enterprises but all to no avail, necessitating the current trend of privatization and commercialization. Privatization of the Nigerian Public Enterprises as a reform process has evoked controversy as to its essence and justification. The justification of the privatization exercise and the reason for the low performance of the Nigeria Public Enterprises have led to the exploration of the understanding of the performance of the Nigeria Public Enterprises within the framework of modern organisation theory. The justification also explained categorically and differently the reasons for the abysmal performance of the Nigerian Public Enterprises
Recommendation
That the reason for the poor performance of the Nigerian Public Enterprises is embedded in the people’s attitude to work as they perceive work in the Nigerian Public Enterprises as no man’s work and therefore tend to look it and display high level of lackadaisical tendencies towards work and thereby reducing the efficiency of work and the performance of the entire enterprises. Therefore, the people need to be re-oriented on the essence of job commitment and proficiency at work.
- That politicization of the policies in Nigeria has been identified as the core of the problems of Nigeria and that same also applied to the Nigerian Public Enterprises and as such if depoliticized will also ensure efficiency and better performance of the public enterprises.
- The demands for high quality management of Public Enterprises have become too complex to be understood without prior planning and analysis. Government should discard the idea of planning for, funding and management of these enterprises and allow them to run as socio-economic services and be so accountable
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