BLENDING MARKET-BASED PRINCIPLES WITH TRADITIONAL BUREAUCRATIC MODELS: THE NIGERIA N EXAMPLE

This study is titled Blending Market-Based Principles with Traditional Bureaucratic Models: The Nigerian Example. The paper explores the hybridization of market-based principles and traditional bureaucratic governance in Nigeria’s public sector. It interrogates how neoliberal reforms, especially since the introduction of Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) in the 1980s, have influenced bureaucratic procedures, institutional practices, and service delivery mechanisms. Using public service reform, privatization of state enterprises, and new performance metrics as analytical lenses, the study finds that while market principles have infused some efficiency and flexibility into Nigeria’s bureaucracy, they often conflict with the entrenched Weberian traditions of hierarchy, rules, and political patronage. The paper argues for a context-sensitive hybrid model that reconciles efficiency with equity, accountability with innovation.