Economic Development In Nigeria

INTRODUCTION

Nigeria became a nation state in 1914 by the Act of Amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorate by the British Colonial Administration. Before then there were separate cultural, ethic and linguistic groups span across both the Northern and Southern part of the land such as the Oyo, Benin, Nupe, Jukun, Kanem-Borun, Hausa Fulani, Igbo, Ibibio and TIV empires, some of these groups are large while others are relatively small.

The British established a crown colony administration bringing these group

1.2 What is development : Definition

The desire to increase GDP, the objectives of development as perceived over time have broadened to include improvement in the welfare of citizens; eradication of poverty; elimination of inequalities in income distribution; providing access to basic needs such as shelter, food, clothing, health and education, creation of employment opportunities; and popular participation in formulation and implementation of policies and programmes. All these objectives have to be achieved within the context of growth of national income.

In order to achieved rapid growth, in the last few decades, several developing countries engaged in development planning. Initially viewed with suspicion and regarded as unsuitable for democratic societies, planning became acceptable and was seen as part of the instruments of independence.

1.3 How does Management Affect Development

The classical economist laid down the basic principles of a free enterprise economy. The concept of the “invisible hand” theorized by Adam Smith provided an explanation for resources allocation in the economy. The emergence of socialist ideas which saw the invisible hand as exploitative, the two World Wars, the Great Depression, and the granting of independence to Asia and Africa countries in the 1950s and 1960s, led to critical view of the free enterprise system. It was believed that the invisible hand could not cope adequately with the development problems of poor, newly independent countries. The invisible hand was gradually replaced by development planning. Several factors made planning popular in developing countries. In these, economies, there were various bottlenecks to production and distribution as well as outdated land tenure systems. The government machinery was often weak or unstable. The domestic private sector tended to concentrate in commerce and trade, and was reluctant to engage in productive activities. Foreign investment was limited mainly to selected sectors. Various other socio-cultural constraints such as customs, traditions and ignorance hindered development. These conditions explain why many developing countries resorted to development planning in order to achieve rapid growth and transformation of their economies. The process of planning essentially involves setting goals and targets which have to be pursued through policy and programme formulation as well as mobilization of financial, human and material resources for effective utilization.

In the 1980s, many developing countries accumulated huge external debts in order to accelerate development. Several of them had to borrow from the IMF and World Bank. One of the condition for such borrowing was a greater role for markets and lesser role for government in economic management

Nigeria joined the bandwagon of countries which adopted planning for reasons mentioned earlier. Some form of planning started before independence. The size of the country, the apparent political stability, the diversity and enterprise of her people, all made outside world to express the optimistic hopes for Nigeria’s political and economic future . However the civil war of the late 1960s, and several coups have shown that the confidence in Nigeria’s political stability was shaky. After more than fourty years of planning, the state of the economy and the living conditions of majority of Nigerians suggest that confidence in Nigeria’s economic potential was also unattainable. The emphasis of this book is on the evaluation of planning strategies, the planning machinery, achievements of planning, and constraints on planning in Nigeria.

I.4 Development Planning Process.

Nigeria’s experience of development planning dates back to the colonial period. At the end of the second World War, the British Parliament set up plans for the economic and social advancement of her colonies. At the request of the Colonial Office, a Ten year Plan of Development and Welfare for Nigeria was issued.

The Ten Year Plan could not be called a plan in any serious sense as it was merely a list of projects from constituent departments of government which were collated to form a plan. However the revised edition recorded some achievement, including the expansion of public health and education services as well as facilities such as roads, ports and water supplies. The productive capacity of the economy also increased as the people keyed in to the plan.

The Ten-year Plan terminated in 1954 with the introduction of a federal system of government in Nigeria by the Richardson Constitution. Based on the Report of the World Bank mission which visited Nigeria in 1954, each of the regional government as well as the Federal Government prepared its own development plan for the five-year period of 1955-1960.There were thus separate plans for each of the three regions (North, East and West) and one for the Federal government. There was no effort made of integration, coordinating or aligning the plans. Given that rival parties controlled the regions, the Plans depicted more duplication and competition than cohesion. They made little attempt to accelerate economics growth by laying down national goals and objectives. Despite the inadequacies of planning in the colonial period, the economy showed capacity for self-sustainable growth.

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Economic Development In Nigeria

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