hello and welcome to the mexo channel my name is Angela and in this video we're going to continue the government topic by topic video Lesson so we're moving on to a new topic titled public corporations so we're going to talk about government organizations that provide essential services to the public so please stay with us don't go anywhere we'll be right back [Music] welcome back to the my school Channel like I said earlier we're moving on to public corporation so let's dive right into it all right so here a list of things we're going to be discussing in this video Lesson we'll discuss definition characteristics reasons for setting of public operations the functions the structure of public operations the differences between public operations and the Civil Service the control of public operations and various Concepts such as private ization commercialization and deregulation so let's dive right into it all right we're going to begin with the definition of public corporations public corporations are government owned entities established by an act of parliament to provide essential services to the public so there are three things important in this definition the first is that they are government-owned entities that means that they are owned by the government then it is established by an act of parliament so we talked about how there are certain acts that help to bring certain organizations into into being so public operations are brought into being by Act of parliament a decision made by the legislature then another thing to note in this definition is the fact that they provide essential services to the public things that the public need in order to carry out their day-to-day activities in the society the public corporations are responsible for that so let's move on to the next slide all right this corporations operate as legal entities often with a degree of autonomy but are funded by the government so they are legal entities that means they can sue and be so they operate with a degree of autonomy they usually independent of the government but in spite of that they are still funded by the government they aim to serve the public interest rather than generate profits although some may operate commercially so some of these public corporations they generate profits but that is not their primary aim their primary aim is to provide essential services to the public examples of public corporations in Nigeria include the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation or nnpc the federal radio Corporation of Nigeria and the Nigerian Ports Authority now let's move on to the next slide all right what are the characteristics of public corporation one of them is that they are owned by the government public operations are fully or partially owned by the government which maintains control over their activities and management their primary goal is to provide services rather than maximize profits and any revenue generated is reinvested into the organization or the public sector so they are owned by the government since they are owned by the government they do not primarily generate profits because the government is responsible for providing essential services to the people to make life easier for the people so that is their primary aim they do generate profits sometimes but this is not their primary aim they generate profit and whatever profit they generate they reinvest into the corporation or into other public sectors of the economy now let's move on to the next slide all right and another characteris is that they provide essential Services they established to provide essential services that are considered critical for National development and public welfare such as electricity water supply transportation and communication so these are the essential services that they provide we need electricity we need water supply we need transportation and we need radio and television stations that help to broadcast information to us so these are very essential services and the government provide them examples of corporations that provide this essential Services include the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and the Nigerian Railway Corporation the Nigerian Railway Corporation is responsible for providing Railway transportation for the citizens let's move on to another characteristic they are also created by special act act of parliament public corporations are created through specific legislation or government decrees which outline their purpose power structure and scope of operation So within that act that have been created by the legislature you see all of these things what they they do what are the powers that they have within the society what is the structure the hierarchy within the corporation and what is the scope of operation what do they essentially do right they Define what they do so that they do not go beyond that Scope when they performing their duties so the ACT provides them with a legal framework and defines their relationship with the government and the public now let's move on to another characteristic so they also have legal standing these corporations are legal entities meaning that they can sue or be in their own capacity they have their own legal identity separate from the government which allows them to enter contracts own property and manage their own Affairs so they work like an independent organization they can sue other organizations and they can be sued when they do not perform their responsibility ethically or in the right manner now let's move on to another characteristic they also have board of directors public corporations are typically governed by a board of director appointed by the government the board oversees the corporation's policies strategies and financial decisions they ensure that the organization operates efficiently and aligns with the public with its public mandates so they have a board of director that make executive decisions for the corporation let's move on to another one okay they also make independent decisions so although government owned public corporations often have operational Independence they freid to make decisions regarding their daily operations financial management and Service delivery without direct political interference all the political heads involved in the public corporation what they do is that they provide policy guidelines they do not tell them what to do they just tell them to align with the objectives of the government in power but they make their own financial decisions and all other decisions that has to do with the operation of the corporation now let's move on to the next one all right there are also public servants employees of public corporations are considered public servants as they work for government-owned entities they enjoy benefits similar to those of other public sector workers and are governed by Public Service rules depending on the nature of the corporation so they are public servants just like the Nigerian police force the Civil Service Etc now let's move on to the next slide all right we're going to discuss the reasons for setting up public corporations why are public operations set up first of all they provide essential Services Public operations are established to deliver critical services like electricity water transportation and health here which are fundamental to the well-being of citizens so these services are considered Soo important to be left to the private sector where profit motives May reduce accessibility so some of these public corporations are formed in order to ensure that these services are provided without that need to produce profits that usually guides private sector you know most of the private um companies we have in a country their primary motive is to generate profits and sometimes they do that at the detriment of providing essential Serv services to the common people and that reason for setting up public corporation is to prevent exploitation so by creating public corporations the government can prevent exploitation of consumers by private companies essential Services provided by the government are often subsidized to allow access for all citizens including the underprivileged in the society so it helps to prevent exploitation again that profit motive can prevent the private companies from from seeing how important the services are to the people within the soci society and that reason for setting up public operations is huge Capital involvement so many essential Industries such as power generation transportation and telecommunication require significant Investments that the private sector may be reluctant to undertake due to the high risks or long-term returns so the government true public corporations can afford to invest in these Capital intensive projects for the public good so when we're talking about power generation we're talking about the powering company of Nigeria for example transportation the Nigerian Railway Corporation telecommunications the radio and television stations owned by Nigeria for example the Nigerian television Authority so some of these organizations they are not undertaken by private by private sector because of the amount of money they have to invest in creating these companies they may be reluctant to start these companies and because of that the government has to take it upon themselves they can use taxpayer money to generate these companies so that they can provide essential services that that the citizens of the country need another another reason for setting up public corporation is the provision of employment public operations create jobs for Citizens reducing unemployment rates and contributing to economic stability so this employment extends Beyond direct staff to other related sectors supporting livelihoods and improving the overall economy so one of the duties of the government is to provide employment to the citizens of the country and they can do that through the creation of public corporations people can be employed under these corporations now let's move on to the next slide okay and that reason for setting up public operations is Raising people's standard of living so the services provided by public corporations like affordable housing education and healthare improve the quality of life for the general population access to essential Services ensures that people can lead healthier more productive lives so generation of power electricity generation of water communication Services Transportation Etc all of these things help to raise the people standard of living when transportation is cheaper when the ability to generate power is also cheaper for the citizens it helps to raise their standard of living they don't have to pay a lot of money um for electricity for water and their basic necessities so they can use their money for other important things so it helps to raise the people's standard of living and that reason for setting up public operation is for economic growth so by investing in strategic sectors public operations Drive National development they stimulate economic activity support infrastructure development and facilitate the growth of Industries which in turn boost the country's GDP so sometimes there are certain sectors that the government need to invest in in order to improve economic growth for example the oil sector they created in Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation in order to ensure that the oil sector continues to create economic growth within the country so this is one of the reasons for setting up public operations they we also have strategic projects some projects such as National Defense maintain of currency arms production energy security Etc are considered too vital to National interest to be left to private Enterprises so public operations are established to manage and control such strategic Assets in the nation's best interest for example the Central Bank of Nigeria is responsible for mainting of currency no other private organization is allowed to do that so they also take charge of National Defense the production of arms weapons and energy security for example with the powering company of Nigeria and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation they're responsible for providing energy so all of these things are too vital for National interest to be left to the private sector so they control some of these sectors and that reason for setting up public operations is revenue generation so in addition to providing Services Public operations generate revenue for the governments true fees tariff and other charges for services rendered so this Revenue can be reinvested into public infrastructure and services so it is not their primary aim but they also generate Revenue so this revenue generated can be reinvested into the public sector to create more infrastructure more roads electricity water supply Etc so it is one of the reasons for setting up public operations let's move on to the next slide all right we're going to discuss the structure of public corporation so they have a hierarchy within the public corporation so so it begins with the political head the political head which is the minister is responsible for offering policy guidelines for the board of directors to follow and ensuring that the cooperation aligns with government objectives so they do not guide the activities of the public corporation what they do is offer policy guidelines remember ministers are part of the executive arm of government the executive arm is responsible for creating and implementing policies so the minister just makes the public corporations aware of the fact that there are certain policies that have been created by the government in power and they need to implement these policies within their corporation so they just guide them in terms of policy they're not um invested in the day-to-day operation of the public operation the set of people that are interested in the day-to-day operation are the chairman and the board of directors so the chairman is the leader of the board of directors and plays a crucial role in the governance of the public corporation is appointed by the government and Prides over board meetings and ensures effective discussion so just like other appointees they appointed by the president and ratified by the legislature so what it does is he Prides over the board meetings and ensures that they discuss how to implement those policies that have been given to them by the minister and also to ensure that certain financial decisions operation decisions are made to suit the corporation to ensure that they continue to perform their activities appropriately so the board of directors is a group of appointed individual responsible for overseeing the corporation and making high level decisions they approv budgets policies and major projects so the chairman is the chairman of the board so the chairman along with the board of director are responsible for making those decisions that help to ensure that the public operation run smoothly then we have the managing director the managing director is the senior executive responsible for the day-to-day operations of the corporation so they implement the strategies and policies that have been set by the board of directors the of directors make the decision the managing director implements the decisions that have been made then we have Key Senior officers so this senior officers are individuals in charge of specific departments within the corporation such as Finance marketing operations and Human Resources then we have middle management so this middle management oversee the work of lower level employees and coordinates activities among different departments they ensure that tasks are completed in line with the corporation's goal then we have staff and employees so they include all the Personnel who carry out the daily activities of the corporation they work under the guidance of middle management and essential for the implementation of operational tasks so this is the chain of authority begins with the political head remember the political head is not responsible for making important decisions they just make the cooperation aware of the policies that are meant to be and followed by the corporation the policy of the government in power the chairman is the head is the one here along with the board of directors are responsible for implementing certain policies or making certain decisions within the corporation it is the managing director who Implement those policies those decisions that have been made by the chairman and board of directors then we have Key Senior officers midle management and then staff and employees within the corporation so we've come to the end of this segment of the video Lesson I believe it just educative and enlightening if you would like to continue with us please go down to the link in the description below this text is in my school website where you can subscribe for the government's topic by topic video Lesson then you can continue this journey with us so we're going to move on to control of the civil service and then we're going to discuss three important Concepts the concept of privatization commercialization and deregulation so I hope to see you there I believe you're enjoying this content if yes please do not forget to hit the like button click on the Subscribe button and lastly tap on the notification Bell to get informed as soon as we release the next videos