UNDERDEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA: CAUSES AND EFFECTS

By

ONYECHI CHIALUKA ANITA

Presented To

Department of Political Science

ABSTRACT

Nigeria has experienced serious vicissitudes through its socio-political history. Unfortunately, after almost 50 years of political independence, Nigeria still toddles behind among the comity of nations in terms of development. With the basic development indices lacking in a country, in spite of the abundant human and natural resources by providence, there has been a serialized enquires to unveil the causes, magnitude and dimensions of the paradox of underdevelopment in Nigeria which has left over 140 million people in an enclave of backwardness. This particular concern propelled this research which seeks to uncover the gamut of this ugly trend using systems approach and history as a guide.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title page - - - - - - - - - i

Certification - - - - - - - - - ii

Dedication - - - - - - - - - iii

Acknowledgement - - - - - - - - iv

Abstract - - - - - - - - - v

Table of contents - - - - - - - - vi

Chapter One

1.1Introduction - - - - - - - - 1

1.2 Statement of the Problem - - - - - - 4

1.3 Purpose of Study - - - - - - - - 5

1.4 Limitation of the Study - - - - - - - 6

1.5 Methodology - - - - - - - - 6

1.5 .2 Method of Data Collection - - - - - - 7

1.5.3 Method of Data Analysis - - - - - - 8

1.6 Literature Review - - - - - - - - 8

1.7 Definition of Terms - - - - - - - 14

References - - - - - - - - - - 16

Chapter Two

2.1 Antecedence of Nigeria's Underdevelopment - - - - 17

2.2 Indicators of Underdevelopment - - - - - - 21

2.2.1 Political Indicators - - - - - - - 22

2.2.2 Economic Indicators - - - - - - - 25

2.3 Socio-Cultural Indicators - - - - - - - 27

References - - - - - - - - 29

Chapter Three

The Genesis of Nigeria's Underdevelopment - - - - - 30

3.1 Colonialism - - - - - - - - 30

3.2 Neo-Colonialism - The Last Stage of Imperialism. - - - 37

3.3 Leadership Crisis and Political Instability - - - - 40

3.4 Corruption - - - - - - - - - 43

References - - - - - - - - - 48

Chapter Four

Properties of Underdevelopment in Nigeria - - - - - 49

4.1 High Unemployment and Inflation Rates. - - - - 49

4.2 Collapse of The Educational System - - - - - 51

4.3 Infrastructural Decay - - - - - - - 53

4.4 Mass Poverty - - - - - - - - 62

Chapter Five

5.1 Summary - - - - - - - - - 68

5.2 Conclusions - - - - - - - - 69

5.3 Recommendations. - - - - - - - 70

Bibliography - - - - - - - - - 72

CHAPTER ONE

11 INTRODUCTION

Underdevelopment is a term often used to refer to "Economic Underdevelopment" It is a situation where a country runs an unindustrialized economy with poor capital formation and debased living standards ,meaning underdevelopment takes place when resources are not used to their full "Socio - Economic" Potential, with the result that local or regional development is slower in most cases than the complex interplay of internal and external factors that allow less developed countries only a lop-sided development progression

Just as all hands are not equal, likewise countries of the world in terms of development Some have faced rapid development, while their counterparts still wallow in the painful shells of underdevelopment This is in the sense that while some countries are immensely prosperous, nearly one third of the world's population live under substandard conditions

Underdeveloped nations are characterized by a wide disparity between their rich and poor populations and an unhealthy balance of trade It is usually held that economic development takes place in a series of "capitalist" stages and that today's underdeveloped countries are in a stage of history that developed countries passed long ago

A country's development level can be rated based on how far it has gone as regards providing literacy, housing, Medicare facilities, adequate nutrition, income and productivity, employment, etc, for it's citizenry

Nigeria however, is one of the countries in Africa that would be grouped as "underdeveloped" This is because since her independence in October 1, 1960, it has been quintessentially hungry amidst plenty resources Nigeria manifests underdevelopment all through her length and breath A country where oddities walk on their two legs, the result is the vicious circle of poverty, ignorance, diseases, etc

Considering the fact that development is an important factor in the world, so many scholars, through schools of thought have tried to analyze the causes, likewise possible steps for eradication However, this research is geared towards analyzing the causes as well as effects of underdevelopment in Nigeria since her independence

Accordingly, while the first chapter traditionally establishes the preliminary background by providing such basis as; the problem statement, purpose of study, limitations of study, theoretical framework, etc the second chapter would expose the antecedence of Nigeria's underdevelopment based on objective indicators cutting across political, economic and socio-cultural spheres

The third chapter would explore the causes of underdevelopment in Nigeria, based on the impact of colonialism, leadership cum political crises and corrupt practices in the country The fourth chapter would concentrate on the effect of the above indicated indices as evidence in the collapse of social and infrastructural facilities, high unemployment and inflation rates, mass poverty and ignorance

The fifth and final chapter summarize and concludes with programmatic recommendations

12 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Nigeria is one of the largest countries in Africa, which is why she is referred to as "the Giant of Africa" She is with no doubt, blessed with huge and enviable concentration of human and natural resources distributed all over her territory Despite this, the citizens of Nigeria still live in penury Striving hard to survive under unfavourable conditions below poverty line Nigeria has become indisputably, an epitome of underdevelopment arising from socio-economic, political, technological and educational backwardness

Judging historically, it has been revealed that attempts have been made at various degrees by successive governments to fix a shattering state with little meaningful impacts

Both military and civilian administrations in Nigeria have adopted various policy-steps to launch the country on the path of rapid development vis-à-vis her potentials, but things keep moving from worse to worst as days go by

Dependency theory states that the poverty of the countries in the periphery is not because they are not integrated into the world system but because of how they are integrated into the system and this defines Nigeria This could be observed from the way we provide our natural resources, cheap labour etc to developed nations in exchange for technology etc

13 PURPOSE OF STUDY

The purpose of this research is to diagnose Nigeria of all indices of underdevelopment; to ascertain the extent to which Nigeria is underdeveloped; to draw analysis from history to back up assertion and to suggest solutions to the problem

14 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Essentially, this research covers underdevelopment in it's entirety Ranging from it's causes and multifaceted effects on Nigerians to possible solutions

Africa at large was equally in focus as countries in the continent share almost common development challenges However, this work cannot lay claims to exhaustiveness in all pertaining to the concept of underdevelopment

15 METHODOLOGY

THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK

For the purpose of this work, the system theory is apt and appropriate SP verma can be rightly called the chief system theorist and from his postulations, system is basically made up of various interrelated component parts, working together to define the whole

Each component part of the system affects and is affected by the other The character and efficiency of each sub-system determines the efficiency of the whole system

Studying Nigeria based on the system theory, it says that Nigeria is underdeveloped because the sub-components of the social system are ailing and underdeveloped This translates into a cycle of poor standard of living

15 2 METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION

This work got it's facts from secondary sources of data collection like text books, journals, electronic media et c

153 METHOD OF DATA ANALYSIS

The data gathered are analyzed using the content analysis and the chapter by chapter discussion of the issues relating to the subject matter

16 LITERATURE REVIEW

A large number of scholars from different disciplines, had different views and terms for defining underdevelopment They also had different perception of it's causes and effects

The Marxist perspective to the issues of development and underdevelopment did not differ from the views of the preceding scholars However Karl Marx was very particular when he upheld that underdevelopment stemmed from the European imperialism which further underdeveloped the already disadvantaged territories

In the same way, the radical revolutionist writer, "Walter Rodney" in his work, "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa", rightly pointed out that underdevelopment is caused and sustained by persistent colonialism He stated, "Underdevelopment is the sustained account of persistent colonialism" This means that in his own point of view, colonialism is a system of exploitation He concluded that underdevelopment is purely the exploitation of a country by another

Colin leys (1970) in his ideology on the theory of underdevelopment held two extreme aspects (a) Due to the past accumulation of capital in metropolitan countries and (b) the export of capital from the peripheral countries These two aspects he called monopoly in the international markets and the monopoly in industrial technology

MM Hoegrezt (1976) said," Causes of underdevelopment is due to a dialectical relationship between development of the west and the underdevelopment of the third world The west developed because it was under developing the third world, while the third world became underdeveloped whilst contributing to the growth of the west

Lars Anel and Birgita (1980) in their own idea of underdevelopment said "the main obvious reason for underdevelopment is the colonial system The colonized regions are constantly subjected to the economic system of the metropolitan countries of the world, which always involved outright prohibitions against the manufactured goods" According to them, the west always referred to as the metropolis, is hell-bent on directing the affairs of the subjected entity either by directly or indirectly throwing their pawns to be groomed in the target country

According to Ragnar Nurke (1953), in his work, problems of capital accumulation in poor countries; "a country is backward and poor simply because it is poor in all other things" This presents a picture of a vicious circle of poverty in these countries which Gerald Meire (1989) said, "runs from low income to low savings to low productivity and then back to low real income"

In the domestic front, scholars have attempted conceiving the nature, causes and manifestations of underdevelopment in Nigeria

Solomon Thomas (1982) was of the view that the problem of underdevelopment lies in the fact that Nigeria is not a self-reliant nation due to overdependence on external factors According to him, until we are able to develop our own socio-economic blueprints, we will remain underdeveloped

Emmanuel Aghiri (1972) came up with a thesis that the underdeveloped countries are exploited through the process of unequal exchange In the realm of international trade, when the developing nations sell their commodities below value and at the same time, buy commodities from the advanced countries above value This provides a veritable means to impoverishment This means that the exchange is unequal between the rich and poor countries due to lower wages as well as lower profit rates in poor countries However, the theory of the unequal exchange as postulated by Emmanuel, has been seriously criticized by subsequent scholars like Samir Amin and Geoffrey Kay

Samir Amin argues that the world capitalist system of division of labour restricts the underdeveloped countries to the production of industrial goods in his words, "the immediate advantage derived from specialization determines the direction of development between two countries in such a way that one who agrees to specialize in the less dynamic branches of production will lose by doing so in the long run"

Geoffrey Kay on his own part contends that it does not explain unequal exchanges in terms of operations of the merchant capital which is crucial to the perpetuation of exploitation, dependence and then, underdevelopment He dismissed Emmanuel's notion as "a formalistic absurdity", noting that it approximates attempting to understand traffic laws without reference to the car Kay while disagreeing with most of the assumptions of Emmanuel Aghiri still believes that unequal exchange forms an undeniable factor in the underdevelopment of peripheral countries

From the examination of the theory of unequal exchanges, it apparently shows that these theories move in different directions, however, what they have in common as rightly observed by Boxborough Ian (1979) is "a proposition that labour is rewarded unequally in different parts of the world" This is to say that similar commodities may embody different amounts of socially necessary labour time The by-product of inequality of exchange is that it works to the great disadvantage of the underdeveloped countries

Conclusively, despite the fact that most development scholars attribute the causes solely to the external factors and the unfair relationship between the domestic front, where the underdeveloped countries have been the perpetuators of poverty and backwardness, it is clear that upon the entrance into Africa, the Europeans destroyed completely African Social organizations, educational system, political structures, hence the original economic values were dispersed

All these added up and further deepened underdevelopment in Africa and Nigeria being one of the colonized African countries was not left out in the aftermath of colonialism

17 DEFINITION OF TERMS

DEVELOPMENT - The gradual growth of a country from poverty to become more advanced socio-economically and even politically

UNDERDEVELOPMENT - A phenomenon which occurs when a country runs an unindustrialized economy with poor capital formation and debased living standards

DEPENDENCY : A situation when a country relies on another for growth and sustenance

COLONIALISM : the practice by which a powerful country controls another, mostly to the advantage of the controller

NEO-COLONIALISM : A new form of control of colonies using cronies and pawns in the target country it is more like indirect colonialism

CAPITALISM : An economic system under which a country's business and industries are controlled and run for profit by private owners rather than the government