AN ANALYSIS OF PUBLIC ENTERPRISES IN EDO STATE A CASE STUDY OF EDO STATE URBAN WATER BOARD BENIN CITY

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
The important of Public Enterprises in modern society can not be over emphasized and in order for the state to function properly the public enterprises therein must be in good shape, as the all around development of the society especially a developing one depends largely on their survival.

The rationale behind the establishment of public enterprises mainly on the development of the national economy and the betterment of the lives of the citizenry. Also it is pertinent to state that, it is the purpose to be achieved that actually givers birth to the organization Joseph E. Imhanlahimgin recall sharm mp (1985:85) who state that “the purpose must be sufficiently strong or big or dissimilar to be undertaken by any existing department or ministry of Government” that is to say public enterprises are set up by government for various purpose.

For instance, we have public enterprises like Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) which is saddled with the responsibility of ensuring that there is constant power supply. There is also the Edo State Urban Water Board whose major duty is to ensure that portable water is provided for use in the state. there are yet others like the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) and the Nigeria Police.

However, there is almost a general consensus on the belief that the aim of setting up some of these public enterprises has been defeated. This is so because, despite the millions of naira that is invested in them by the government, their performance is constantly on the decline and very much below standard, a situation which has become a major source of concern to both the government and the governed, as the decline in the activities of these public corporations constitute a very high burden on government resources.

As has earlier implied. The confidence originally reposed by the government and the citizenry in these public enterprises has waned tremendously as a result of their inability to live up to expectation. This situation has led to an outery for privatization over the years for research has shown that privatization will lead to better performance, of these enterprises. It will be observed that most of these government owned or public corporations have either folded up or ground to a halt, while others are ailing and on the verge or total collapse. Hence this project work is aimed at taking an analytic look at these public enterprises, so as to ascertain those factors that pose a hindrance to their effective performance. The Edo State Urban Water Board which is the case study used in this project work happens to be one of the ailing public enterprises.

Like every other public enterprises, the effective and efficient performance of the board depend largely on both the human and material resources, and the effective management of these resources including the recruitment motivation of personnel and the provision of standard equipment.

1.2 HISTORY OF THE EDO STATE URBAN WATER BOARD
The Edo State urban water Board, formerly a part of ministry of works and Transport, has its origin in the Bendel State of Nigeria Water Board. The board was established by the Midwestern State of Nigeria Edit No 27 of 1969 with retrospective effect from September, 1968. The Edict entrusted the board with the duties of taking over, establishing and managing water resources in the state.

Prior to the enactment of the Edict of 1969 the water division of the ministry of works and transport was responsible for the provision of water in the state. It is the water division that later metamorphosed into the state urban water board. In May, 1987 the Bendel State of Nigeria water board and the Bendel State public utilities Board. The board became Edo State Public utilities Board following the creation of Edo and Delta States in August, 1991.
Edo State urban water board came into being on 12th September, 1994 following the splitting of the defunct Edo State public utilities Board. The Board which is a parastatal of Edo State Government, is under the supervision of the ministry of Energy and water Resources and it provide social service, and is non profit making. The board’s tariff is regulated by Government policies and government monthly subvention is the board is used to pay staff salaries only head cost. The board is owned and managed solely by the government.

OBJECTIVES OF THE BOARD
The board which came into being on 12th September 1994 has as its major objectives, the generation and distribution of portable water and the supervision of other private firms involved in water supply, so as to ensure that the water they generate is portable and licensed. They perform this function by ensuring that these private water suppliers are duly registered with the water board and are issued certificate of worthinesss, after the water to be supplied has undergone analysis.
Department/division
The Edo State Urban water board consists of six major departments namely.
1. Administrative department
2. Financial department
3. Commercial billing department
4. Marketing department
5. Operation department
6. Water resources department
Under these various department there are about thirty-nine (39) divisions including sub divisions or sub sections headed by divisional or sectional heads.