Privatization and Firms Performance in Nigeria

This study sets out to appraise the financial and operating performance of some privatized enterprises in Nigeria.The matched pair results though mixed,do provide empirical support that privatization is associated with improved financial and operating performance of firms. It thus validates the theoretical preposition that privatization might improve efficiency, as is suggested both by the property rights and public choice literature. The results show significant improvement in profitability after divestiture in some of the selected firms.For instance, the mean return on sales goes from 3.50 percent before privatization to 9.80 percent at Afribank. The same significant improvement was recorded in Ashaka cement, Allco insurance, Benue cement, Flour mills and Okomu palm in the agro-allied sub sector.On operating efficiency,all the sampled firms witnessed an increase at 5 percent level except for Flour Mills and Allied Bank plc.The results from the analysis for other performance indicators were also mixed.