CORPORATIONS AND PUBLIC POLICY: A REVIEW OF EXPANDING RESPONSIBILITIES OF PRIVATE ORGANISATIONS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This paper reviews the growing involvement of the private corporations in the development of public policy in Nigeria with regard to the telecommunications, banking and energy industries. It examines how companies like MTN Nigeria, Access Bank, and Oando PLC have become a force to reckon with in the policy making process especially under their corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs and their participation in the policy making process. The paper takes a critical stance, and it uses the stakeholder theory and corporate governance framework that seek to identify the ethical, political, and social consequences of corporate involvement in national governance. The results show that CSR can also lead to the development of the community, but it is commonly used in a strategic way by companies to lobby for favourable policies that can suit their interests, facilitate regulatory capture and corporate hegemony in policy making. The study also revealed the dilemma of asymmetric power relations between corporations and labour especially regarding casualization, outsourcing and erosion of trade union power. These forces advances labour exploitation and further institutionalize the corporate power in policy making process. The paper concludes by recommending the strengthening of regulatory frameworks, corporate accountability and empowerment of labour unions to make corporate involvement in the policymaking process consistent with the common good and beneficial to social equity in Nigeria.