The government policy that encourages public corporations to operate profitably is

Step 1: Analyze the question The question asks which government policy pushes public corporations (state-owned enterprises) to run profitably, like private businesses.

Step 2: Explain the concepts

• Liberalization: Removing restrictions on trade, prices, or entry into markets, such as lowering import controls. It is not specific to public corporations.
• Nationalization: The government takes over private businesses and makes them public property. It is the opposite direction.
• Commercialization: The government keeps ownership of public corporations but requires them to operate on commercial principles. They must cover their costs, charge economic prices, and make a profit with less reliance on government subsidies. Examples in Nigeria include NITEL, NEPA (now PHCN) and the Nigerian Ports Authority in the 1980s-90s reforms.
• Indigenization: Transferring ownership of foreign-owned businesses to citizens, as in Nigeria's Indigenization Decrees of 1972 and 1977.

Step 3: Solution The key phrase is "encourages public corporations to operate profitably." Only commercialization keeps the corporations in government hands while making them profit-oriented. Nationalization and indigenization concern a change of ownership, and liberalization concerns market freedom.

Answer: C. Commercialization

Tip: Link the word to its root. Commercial means business and profit, so commercialization = run public enterprises like a business. Compare it with privatization, which transfers ownership to private individuals. Examiners often put the two side by side.