Abstract: | For about three decades, the Nigerian government has been involved in the promotion of development through State-owned enterprises. State intervention has been fostered largely through five-year development plans. One of the primary justifications for the involvement of the State was the expectation that the rate of growth might be accelerated. However, since State intervention has not yielded the expected outcomes, the government has turned its attention to possible alternatives. One such alternative is selective privatization. This paper discusses the context in which the policy option of privatization can be justified and presents five criteria for selective privatization. A systematic categorization of State-owned enterprises is presented, indicating the level of participation of the government in banks, insurance companies, petroleum prospecting, refinery and marketing, and in service industries. Ref. |