Public Sector Performance in the Nigerian Downstream Oil Sector: A Critical Reflection

Abstract

Despite successive attempts to effectively manage Nigeria’s downstream oil sector by strengthening the country’s institutional capacity, the Nigerian public institutions remain ineffective, inefficient, wasteful, incapacitated, inept, unprofessional and uninspired to drive the reform in the downstream oil sector. Public institutions have failed to successively oversee management of the downstream oil sector. This paper draws on the new public management theory and unstructured interviews to assess the role of public institutions in the distribution and marketing segments of the oil sector. It concludes that poor public sector performance is responsible for the crisis in the oil industry that led to subsidy cuts and efforts to deregulate the downstream oil sector.

Nigerian State and the Crisis of Governance: A Critical Exposition

“…Incursion of the military into politics greatly distorted the Nigerian federal arrangements and laid the foundation for the promotion of individuals above state's institutions. Indeed, the political leadership exploited the structural weakness of Nigeria's federalism and of its institutions (Akinola & Wissink, 2018). The emerging political leadership, after the collapse of the First Republic (1960)(1961)(1962)(1963)(1964)(1965)(1966), became self-serving, inexperienced, and driven by ethnicity and patron-client politics (Akinola, 2009).…”

“…Its unsuccessful socioeconomic reform, like the oil sector reform, becomes a point to note. Therefore, the failure to maintain the productivity of the refineries, weakness of oil governance machineries, and inept leadership led to the continued importation of finished petroleum products and a "criminally dubious fuel subsidy regime," which stopped in 2015 (Akinola, 2014;Akinola & Wissink, 2018;"Swallowing the Bitter Pill of Fuel Deregulation," 2016, p. 22). Furthermore, the article raises different questions in relation to the leadership crisis in the country: Why did successive leadership in the country abandon agriculture and agro-allied manufacturing that were not only more reliable but also contributed so immensely to the good living conditions before the discovery of oil, for the latter whose economic values are largely determined by highly volatile factors?…”

“…Its unsuccessful socioeconomic reform, like the oil sector reform, becomes a point to note. Therefore, the failure to maintain the productivity of the refineries, weakness of oil governance machineries, and inept leadership led to the continued importation of finished petroleum products and a "criminally dubious fuel subsidy regime," which stopped in 2015 (Akinola, 2014;Akinola & Wissink, 2018;"Swallowing the Bitter Pill of Fuel Deregulation," 2016, p. 22).…”

Politics and University Administration in Nigeria

“…The political leadership can, to a significant extent, determine the quality of the leadership of public service and parastatals including tertiary institutions, through the appointment that they make regarding the heads (Yagboyaju and Akinola, 2019). Nigerian political leadership exploited the structural weakness of the country's federalism and its institutions especially tertiary institutions (Akinola and Wissink, 2018). According to Mbah, Nwangwu and Ugwu (2019), political inclusion and national integration have become elusive.…”

Interpersonal Relationships and Organizational Performance: The Nigerian Public Sector in Perspective

“…As (Drucker 1993) Taking a look at the balanced scorecard model developed by (Robert Kaplan and David Norton 1996) and the EFQM excellence model, this section examples other factors, (a part from interpersonal relationships) that may affect the performance of the Nigerian public sector. Studies on enhancing the strategic performance of the Nigerian public sector has been on the increase because of the strategic role of the sector in the socioeconomic development of the country (Akinola & Wissink, 2017); (Okeke-Uzodike & Chilakunye, 2014); (Inua & Maduabum, 2014); (Onah, Agba & Agba, 2009); (Agba, Ushie, Agba, 2009). Essentially, with regards to performance, the Nigerian public sector is come to be associated with inefficiency, poor social service delivery, lack of vision and direction, corruption and beriberization; unproductive reform measures and poor orientation and commitment to the sectoral goals.…”