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Augustus N. Gbosi: Department of Economics, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria
Background to the study
The two extremes from which state policy can take in matters relating to labour-management relations are complete laissez-faire and total state direct control of the condition of labour. According to Rynolds (1974) unions everywhere operate in an environment of legal and political controls. Specifically through statute, through administrative regulation, and through judicial decisions, the larger community enforces its will in public policy. A review of Nigeria's labour history shows that the country has undergone two phases (Gbosi, 1985a). These are the periods of regulation and deregulation respectively.
Regulation, in its broader sense, means the imposition of restrictions on the various sectors of an economy. For example, prior to the introduction of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in July 1986, regulatory controls were the main approach to macroeconomic management in Nigeria. The term "deregulation" found its place in the vocabulary of Western economists several thousand years ago. However, it became more popular among (Nigerian) policy makers and economists in 1986 with the introduction of the World Bank - IMF SAP. Since 1986, economic deregulation had been the central framework of macroeconomic management in Nigeria. Economic deregulation means different things to different people. In the view of Odozi (1991), deregulation does not mean the absence of regulation. Rather, it means the deliberate informed process of removal or mitigation of restrictions which are obstacles or non-deterministic and tend to reduce efficiency or competitive equities.
However, Ojo (1991) has defined economic deregulation as the deliberate and systematic removal of regulation controls, structures and operational subsidies which may have mitigated growth, operations and efficient allocation of resources in an economy. Thus, the deregulation of an economy or its component segments is the belief that the factors of production, goods and services are optimally priced and allocated where other prices are freely determined in a competitive environment. Consequently, the factor that usually calls for deregulation is the imbalance between demand and supply in the product and factor markets. No matter how one defines deregulation, the underlying philosophy is that it tends to promote competition and efficiency in the allocation of resources in the economy.
With these conceptualizations at the back of our minds, this paper seeks...