Economic reforms and a developing economy

Economic reforms describe the collection of policies to re-orientate economic activities in an attempt to re-direct the desired course of evolution of an economy. They are therefore aimed at altering the structure of an economic system in order to enable the generation of high growth with little or no hindrance. Economic reforms in Nigeria had their genesis in the structural adjustment programme instituted in 1986 in order to stem the tide of the dwindling economic fortunes that resulted from the glut in the market for the country’s main export resource and the management oversight of the booming era. Economic regulation had been the general management philosophy in the period before and during the oil boom of the 1970s. Several other reform programs had succeeded the 1986 trail blazer. Mostly, the reforms were directed at eliminating distortions in the various markets and placing market forces at the center of resource allocation and general macroeconomic decisions. Partly therefore, the state was expected to become smaller while the private sector expands. This study shows that, the far-reaching commercialization and privatization programs of the early-mid decade of 2000-2010 gave remarkable effects to this expectation. In addition, it is shown that beneficial expansion in the telecommunications and educational sectors were gains of deregulation. Whereas, the unprecedented growth recorded in the telecommunications sector appeared to have been propelled by new technologies, that of education appeared to have been strictly demand driven.  However, owing to low technical changes and little innovations, the improvement to the output performance of the other activity sectors could at best be described as marginal. This drawback to the reforms clearly presents a major challenge to the policy authorities.