Public Policies and the Crisis of Underdevelopment in Nigeria: A Critical Reconsideration of the Privatization Programme (1999-2010)
Ugumanim Bassey Obo, Ekpenyong Bassey Obo

Abstract
This paper examines the role of public policies in deepening the crisis of underdevelopment in Nigeria with specific attention on the privatization policy as implemented by the Obasanjo-led regime. It discusses the importance of public enterprises, and argues that privatization has only produced two main outcomes: enlarging the pool of wealth of government officials and their friends and relations who took over the public enterprises, and increasing the already high level of impoverishment of the majority of the people. Furthermore, it is contended that any policy that promotes the concentration of national wealth in the hands of few persons in a society (like Nigeria) which is characterized by mass poverty should not be called public policy.

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