Saturday, July 7, 2012

REGULATORY CAPTURE: Nigeria's Oil Subsidy Probe


Nigerian Lawyer- Richard Nwankwo discusses issues brought to the fore by the Nigeria Oil Subsidy Probe- which has now gone sour. Is Nigeria experiencing REGULATORY CAPTURE??? According to Adam Thierer: “Regulatory capture” occurs when special interests co-opt policymakers or political bodies — regulatory agencies, in particular — to further their own ends. Capture theory is closely related to the “rent-seeking” and “political failure” theories developed by the public choice school of economics. Another term for regulatory capture is “client politics,” which according to James Q. Wilson, “occurs when most or all of the benefits of a program go to some single, reasonably small interest (and industry, profession, or locality) but most or all of the costs will be borne by a large number of people (for example, all taxpayers).” (James Q. Wilson,Bureaucracy, 1989, at 76). How does Nigeria's Oil Industry shake off the negative externalities- if indeed we can establish that this subsidy probe conundrum is a clear signal of Regulatory Capture? The 2012 PIB?

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