Nigeria's Booming Borders: The Drivers and Consequences of Unrecorded Trade (original) (raw)
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African Development Bank (AfDB). Formerly, he was country operations manager for several east, south and north African countries. He has also worked at the World Bank, the University of New Brunswick, Canada, and in the private and public sectors in Nigeria. Also, he has served on the editorial board of the Journal of African Economies, African Development Review, and African Finance Journal. He has served on the board of directors of the East African Development Bank and African Capacity Building Foundation. A Commonwealth Scholar, he holds Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in economics from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario and a B.Sc. (first Class honors) degree in economics from Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria. He is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, England and Nigeria.
NIGERIA'S DEVELOPMENT DEBACLE- OPTIONS TO SELF RE- RELIANT AND AUTOCENTRIC PARADIGMS..pdf
Crawford Journal of Business and Social Sciences Vol. II No. 2, September, 2012
In interrogating Nigeria’s political economy in the face of current hard economic realities, certain facts need be brought to national consciousness in order to address the impediments to autonomous self-reliant and people-focused development. Fundamentally, Nigerian state was incorporated into the capitalist-imperialist international trade long before her independence. In her relationship, her position was marginal and peripheral, as she could not influence trade or market forces, which imposed on her unequal exchange of her goods in the international market. In her bid to strengthen her comparative advantage as a major cash crop producer, and exporter, the discovery of the black gold abruptly put paid to all efforts in that direction, as the country started to export crude oil to the detriment of agricultural produce, which was the mainstay of the nation. The Nigerian situation became tragic, as the leadership (that managed this transitional period) completely missed golden opportunities to invest substantial part of the proceeds from oil to transform the economic base; develop a powerful industrial state; a robust, self-reliant agricultural sector and promote a technologically powerful oil industry. That is a country that is capable of controlling the down, mid and upper streams of oil production. Today, Nigeria is neither an oil producer nor an agricultural exporter, but a providential rent collector and importer of consumer and investment goods. The entire scenario is saddened by corruption which has virtually destroyed the country. This paper, interrogating on the structure of Nigerian economy from political economy perspective, employs qualitative methods drawing on historical cum institutional analysis and comparative approach. The paper posits that, for a veritable development to take place, there must be a paradigm shift from the present state of crude oil export dependence to the path of diversification, self-reliant agricultural production; full scale industrialization and a completely inward looking nation, to be backed by the Nigerian state, initiating an international forum to renegotiate African trade on the international scene; to address unequal exchange syndrome, in order to add value to the continent’s export goods in the world market. Keywords: political economy, industrialization, diversification, self-reliance, international trade, unequal exchange, dependency, colonization, corruption, leadership
Africa and Nigeria's Economic Future Development
This paper analyzes the African and by extension Nigeria"s economic future. The study adopted the dependency theory and the methodology is basically secondary data that were utilized for the analysis. In the findings, the paper found that despite the recovery in the second half of the past decade, economic conditions in Africa remain highly fragile. Only a handful of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have been able to combine relatively rapid growth with rising domestic investment and savings, but even in their case economic performance continues to depend heavily on conditions beyond their control, including commodity prices, capital lows, weather and political stability in their neighborhood. Projections for the region under recent trends with respect to key variables such as capital flows, terms of trade, and investment and savings rates, as well as growth prospects in the rest of the world economy, give around 3 per cent growth per annum for the first decade of the new millennium. Not only is this well below the rate of growth needed to attain the poverty reduction target set by the international community, but it is also considerably less than the growth rates projected for other developed and developing regions, implying further marginalization of Africa in the world economy. Also, the study found the analysis of African economy clearly indicates that without a major reorientation of international and domestic policies it would be almost impossible to change the fortunes of the region. By way of recommendations, the study points that the first area of action relates to aid. For African countries to generate the resources needed to sustain satisfactory growth and development there is need for aid. Also, structural adjustment and macroeconomic policies is important to affect poverty mainly through two channels: growth and income distribution.
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Nigeria,thelargestsingleblacknationintheworldisalsotheAfrica’srichest,mostpopulous,mostheterogeneousandcomplexstate.Itseconomy/resources,geography,strategiclocation,domesticandforeignleadershipqualities,commitmentsandsacrificeshavemadeherfeaturemorethananyotherAfricanstateandmostdisposedtospearheadtheAfricanandeventheblackworldaffairs.DespiteherdomesticchallengesandmuchrhetoricbyotherAfricanstates,NigeriaarguablyleadsAfricaandhasbeendominantinthecontinentalaffairssinceherindependencein1960.theleadership,impactandNigeria’sdominance/hegemonyresultsfromitsdeploymentofitseveryresource(humanandmaterial)towardsthedevelopment,cohesion,stabilityoftheAfricancontinent.Owingtoherresourcespower,commitment,extensiveandversatilemilitary,economicandothersacrifices,NigeriawouldcontinuetoleadanddominateAfricaanditsaffairsforithasthewherewithalandcommitmenttomakeAfricagreat.Theseareenshrinedinherforeignpolicyobjectiveswhicharebasedona‘concentric’approach–immediateneighbours/theWestAfricansub-region,Africa,andtheworld.Inchangingtimes,Nigeriahasthepotentialitiestomaintainherimageanddominance/hegemonyusingherenormoussoftpowerpotentialities,amongothers.
NIGERIA'S REGIONAL AMBITIONS: CHANNELS AND CHALLENGES
Nigeria's Regional Ambitions: Channels and Challenges, 2019
Nigeria is the most populous black nation in the world, member of the UN Security Council and largest economy of Africa. In addition to its globally acknowledged qualitative oil, it also has large deposits of mineral resources including tin, coal and gypsum, gold and lead. The country is not only engaged in a passionate competition with South Africa to attain the position of a continental superpower preparatory towards becoming a globally acknowledge giant but also comfortably playing a big-brother role among Africa nations. This paper uses documentary analysis to examine Nigeria's social, economic and global potentials of fulfilling its dreams visa -vis the potentials of its competitor(s). The paper found out that Nigeria faces multidimensional challenges on its path towards continental leadership ranging from domestic problems of rising crime, incessant insurgency, dilapidated infrastructure, growing unemployment, over-reliance on dwindling oil income and leadership crises among others to intense competition from other strong African countries like South Africa, Egypt and Ethiopia. The paper concludes that the country's goal of a regional superpower status is achievable but Nigeria must address its domestic challenges to win the race of attaining continental hegemony.
Nigeria and Africa in the 21st Century
The study critically appraises the redeemer posture of Nigeria in Africa’s plethora of dire straits in the 21st century. Like the United States once regarded it a manifest destiny to protect and exercise influence over its “backyard” in the Western Hemisphere, so does Nigeria assumes a role of salvaging Africa and repositioning it, which has manifested in its Afrocentric or Africa-centered policy. The continent’s problems include a debilitating economic strangulation, civil wars, religious conflict, poverty, bad government, HIV-AIDS, underdevelopment, which continually plague the continent. Hence, a supposed promise land encounters dashed hopes because it is lost in multifaceted crises. However, Nigeria’s competence to be the “Giant” redeemer of Africa that it claims to be, is drastically impaired or eroded by a number of forces within the internal context. The paper, considers the social, political, international, and historical forces in the coloring and shaping of Nigeria’s foreign policy that make it imperative to assume a forerunner in African situation; and also seeks reasons for the “Giant’s” wasted opportunities to redeem Africa, and finds answers to these.
Nigeria as Africa's Great Power: Constraints and Prospects for the 1990s
International Journal, 1991
Our country is the largest single unit in Africa ... we are not going to abdicate the position [in] which God Almighty has placed us ... The whole black continent is looking up to this country to liberate it from thraldom.' Vast size, and population, and abundance of resources do not guarantee in any automatic way the leadership of this continent. Until we are able to establish a stable political order at home, industrialise, and takeoff technologically, and improve the quality of life of our people, no country within and outside Africa will accept our claim to leadership in Africa seriously except to flatter us. 2 These contrasting views reflect the debates in Nigeria about the aspirations of the country for regional power and for successes in the field of foreign policy as well as the constraints on the development of a consistent, credible, and dynamic foreign policy. On the one hand, there are the public officials, politicians,