I decided to write this because of the recent sale of NITEL, the topic was on front page and I saw so many comments like;
GEJ is working
GEJ till 2019...

I don't blame the people that made those comments, I only blame their ignorance.
If only they knew that NITEL is still very much functional and it breaks my heart to see it sold.
If only they know the disadvantages of privatisation.

I will take my time to state my own view of privatisation based on my knowledge of Economics. ( I didn't study economics though, I studied Accounting)

I have always stood on my opinion that mixed economy system is the best, contrary to the popular believe that capitalist system is the best.

Let me explain the both to you.
A Capitalist system is where means of production are controlled and owned by private individuals.
While in a Mixed economy system the means of production are controlled by both the state and private individuals.

Nigeria practices mixed economy system but gradually shifting to capitalism through privatisation. ( which actually pains me a lot)

I feel some industries are better of owned and controlled by the government like; Electricity, Airports, seaports, logistics, mining, production of essential commodities like; Electricity, water...

The major reason why I hate privatisation is because it makes it things actually more expensive.
Private firms are profit oriented, so they are in the business to make profit
Government is not profit oriented, they are only interested in breaking even or making little profit

Private firms do pay tax, thereby adding to the cost of their services/goods
Government doesn't pay tax, so the cost of their service is relatively low.

Now, where am I driving to?
In a mixed economy system, essential services are meant to be owned/controlled/rendered by the government.
Most industries depend on these essential services like electricity, logistics and others.
If they are owned and controlled by the government, they will come at low cost.
So most industries will be able to operate under low cost of production which will bring about low selling price from these industries.
If electricity and the rest are owned and controlled by private firms, cost of production will be too high leading to high selling price from our industries.

Nigeria should stop privatisation specially now the price of oil has fallen.
To protect our currency, we need to export more products and we can only achieve that if we have comparative cost advantage over other countries

We can only have comparative cost advantage over other countries if cost of production is low in Nigeria.
Let me use a country I admire so much as a case study (China)
China is the country that experienced the fastest development ever.
How did China achieve this?
They found the perfect blend for socialist and capitalist economy, they were formally practicing a socialist economy system and they were among the poorest Nations on earth.
They experienced revolution when they somehow found a way to mix capitalist with the socialist system of government which is mixed economy system (same thing Nigeria is practicing, only that we are not doing it right)
In China, telecommunication, electricity, logistics... Are all owned and controlled by the government. That's one of the reasons they have the lowest cost of production in the world and it's the same reason almost all companies are moving to China (LG, Nike, Apple...)
They moved to China because of the low cost of production.
Have you ever wondered why to send like a 1kg parcel from China (which is not even in Africa) to any state Nigeria via post is cheaper than send the same parcel from Lagos to Anambra (registered mail)?

My Conclusion; if Nigeria wants to be an exporting Nation, the privatisation should stop. Except we want to continue exporting only raw materials.

Forgive and neglect my wrong constructions of sentences and punctuations, I typed all this with a phone

_jayseehe

My major reason for hating PDP led government is because they keep privatising our economy.
Instead of privatisation, why don't they commercialize?

At times when GEJ supporters say GEJ is better than our past leaders I do wonder if it wasn't our past leaders that built all those things he is privatising


But let me not bring politics into this

I will quote comments from the sale of NITEL
thread

chamboy:
Lapses of Privatisation
1. Short-Termism of Firms.
2. Fragmentation of industries.
3. Problem of regulating private monopolies
4. Public Interest
5. Employment
6. Natural Monopoly
7. Government loses out on potential dividends.
8. abandoning of social obligations,
9. Private firms may also provide inferior services because they are driven by their financial objectives
10. Unhealthy Competition can cause lose of asset

Awaja:
Now they are selling everything, which one are they acquiring? why can't this administration proud itself of been d regime that revived our dear M-tel? In a country where its communication industry is booming and d govt has no way of ripping this immense benefits ,selling everything with no replacement is a sign of depreciation::

GlorifiedTunde:
I will keep saying this, I do not know why everything must be privatized. It really pains me. I know how the government can make NITEL work. The problem NITEL had was just one - Corruption!
But total privatization will not benefit us as much. Because of their inability to think about how to make things work, they sell it outrightly. Bunch of Lazy, Corrupt and Myopic leaders. Thieves! That's what they all are.

FYI, if you don't know...

Nigeria needs NITEL as a government outfit because it determines where the telecoms sector will get to. The likes of MTN, GLO, ETISALAT, AIRTEL and others cannot adequately cater for the increasing demands of the users and the development process Nigeria is aiming at.

The national security needs a telecoms outfit that will be owned by the government and security agencies. Take a look at the CIA, MI6, MI7, KGB etc, they all thrive on a communication system that is very secure.

We cannot even launch a satellite that will be up and running for at least ten years...

There's too much involved in this, Nigeria can't get a database of Nigerians filled with forensic identifications, street, shop and other public cameras, etc working without a government outfit like NITEL.

I'm just so MAD at this USELESS, BLIND GOVERNMENT!!!

how much was a phone wen we had only nitel? aw much is a sim card nw? Aw much is call rate nw? Until we stop beliving that goverment will make us (individual) better. China got that nd they better for it. Privitization is not the best but it is better than civil servant who do not do their work nd better than strikes. Together we will get their

unlimitedbosco:
how much was a phone wen we had only nitel? aw much is a sim card nw? Aw much is call rate nw?

The global price of phone, call rate and sim card were high, it was not just a Nigeria thing

unlimitedbosco:
Until we stop beliving that goverment will make us (individual) better. China got that nd they better for it. Privitization is not the best but it is better than civil servant who do not do their work nd better than strikes. Together we will get their

It's the responsibility of the government to control civil servants and make them work efficiently and effectively

@ glorifiedtunde, I can I remember you made a comment a long time ago on the sale of NITEL, you said you will write an article on how NITEL can work out.

Did you later write the article?

jayseehe:
@ glorifiedtunde, I can I remember you made a comment a long time ago on the sale of NITEL, you said you will write an article on how NITEL can work out.

Did you later write the article?

Very true. Been quite busy. I was hoping I could do it before this purchase but it may be late. I'm sad about it though.