The government cannot be the only producer, distributor and seller of essential commodities. If this happens it means that the government is moving towards fascism where almost all the sectors of the state are under strict control of the government. If you look closely at some of the sound economies of the world you will see that their economy is driven by private businesses. The government responsibilities in those developed nations are just supervisory. These regulatory bodies supervise businesses to ensure that they are abiding by the laws that control them.

You gave an example of Nigeria and advised the government to go into the production of essential goods and services. But in the history of the country, the government has never been a good business entity. The refineries, telecom, railway, airport and other businesses that were controlled by the government have all been mismanaged because of corruption. Out of four refineries that the nation has none is functioning today due to mismangement. The telecom sector is currently effective in the country because it was privatised.

In summary, the government should make laws to control the private sector to avoid monopoly and exploitation. They can also subsidise some essential commodities to cushion the effect of some negative economic conditions. However, the private sector is the major driver of the economic development of any country.



The establishment of price regulatory boards is essential to check the excesses of greedy businessmen, but the solution to the economic hardship of most developing nations is the eradication of bribery and corruption. My reason is that these price regulatory boards are useless if they are headed by corrupt officials. In my country, the officials of these boards connive with businesses to exploit the people.