Nigeria must urgently review its attitude to the provision of public goods. Currently, the government’s policy on this class of goods and services is fuzzy, and the impact of this situation will hurt the economy in the long run. From security to potable water, education, road networks, medicare and other forms of social infrastructure, the government needs to redefine its approach to their provision for more effectiveness.

The public goods argument for government intervention in social and economic activities rests on the scale and mode of consumption of the goods involved.  First, public goods, once provided for one person, are automatically provided for all. There are no restrictions in their use or consumption, hence, there is no need to seek to duplicate or even multiply its provision in each area. This means that they cannot be consumed exclusively.

Another support for this argument hinges on the size of the provision. To an extent and for most of the cases involved, the size of the service is influenced by the number of users, given that each consumer’s consumption does not affect the supply. There is also the consideration of externalities, which means that once the service benefits one person, it benefits others.

The provision of public goods is the responsibility of governments, with funding, of course, coming from the state’s fiscal activities, which include taxation. In this regard, it is an approach to solving a public problem by pooling resources together under the supervision of the state. You can imagine what a chaotic situation it would be if individuals were to provide their security entirely. So, policy framing in our environment must recognise the conditions that necessitate the need to approach broad problems from this angle.

Ironically, Nigerians have been left with the burden of providing goods that the government would better provide elsewhere for scale benefits. This policy distortion is evident in the nation’s approach to security challenges, including water supply.

As a public good, the provision of security for one person in a certain area would mean its provision for the entire community. This means that a person’s consumption of a public good cannot be isolated from another person’s access to the same good.

Security as a social infrastructure must receive the attention that it deserves in Nigeria. Otherwise, the economy and society cannot perform optimally. As a social infrastructure, security is one of the biggest missing elements in Nigeria’s equation for economic revival.

Right now, most economic and social activities are under threat because of the pervading insecurity in the country. Agricultural production is being abridged because farmers in various sections of the country cannot operate freely. Commuters are not safe on the roads because the highways and local routes have become death traps. Residents are also not safe anymore in their homes. Many have been forcibly taken away from their dwelling places. In other words, there is nowhere that can be said to be safe or immune from the scourge of insecurity right now in the country.

However, the government’s failure to recognise security as a social good has prolonged the resolution of the security challenge. This failure to see security as a public good has led to some measures that contradict the nature of public goods. Some of these measures have a touch of segmentation and, therefore, give the impression of a public good being privatised. On this score, the measures break the basic principles about public goods.

In the area of public water supply, Nigerians have found themselves in a situation where they provide drinking  water by themselves. Public water supply is almost alien to many young Nigerians today. In the absence of such facilities, almost every household now has a water borehole. Despite the capital outlay, families now prefer to dig their boreholes inside their compounds to ensure a regular water supply. Some sell to their neighbours. Geologists warn that this could have severe consequences later.

Nigeria currently ranks very poor on access to clean water. A recent study conducted on Lagos urban slums found that only 15.2 per cent  of the residents had access to potable water. Also, a Nigeria-wide WASHNORM 2022 study by UNICEF found that 23 per cent  of households lack access to basic water, while only 10 per cent have access to complete water, sanitation and hygiene services.

The dearth of infrastructure in Nigeria has contributed in no small measure to the lacklustre performance of the economy and society generally. We have experienced this impact manifest in different ramifications. The citizens struggle to enjoy the benefits of even basic social services. For decades, the provision of a sustainable power supply has eluded Nigerians, despite the various stages of reforms that the power sector has witnessed.

The current fuzziness surrounding the status of public goods in the country dates to the era when access to these critical infrastructure was a distinguishing symbol of social status. In a way, the provision of such goods, including security, was limited to the precincts of the powerful members of society. Thus, initially, it was almost exclusively an urban thing, plus a few centres with visible political significance.