Nigerian government-owned organizations: A phenomenological study of privatization, leadership, efficiency, effectiveness, accountability, and productivity

The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to explore the factors that hindered government-owned organizations in Nigeria from achieving operational efficiency, effectiveness, accountability, and productivity. The purpose of the study was to explore whether privatization of Nigerian Telecommunications (NITEL) has helped or would help the country overcome these problems. The conceptual foundation that framed the study is general systems theory. The location of the study is the NITEL regional office in Enugu, Nigeria. The study participants were 20 NITEL employees selected purposively. The study used one-on-one, semi-structured, open-ended interviews; the study explored the relationship between privatization, leadership, efficiency, effectiveness, accountability, and productivity. The study revealed themes related to organizational leadership, performance management systems, implementation of best practices strategies, overcoming performance gaps, employment of ethical measures, and staff training and development. Findings from the study revealed that lack of leadership, performance measures, implementation of best practice strategies, and performance management systems accounted for the failure of Nigerian government-owned organizations from achieving operational efficiency, effectiveness, accountability, and productivity.