Appraising Nigerian Development: Implications for the Theories of Development

Abstract

"The literature on development has emphasized economic growth almost to the exclusion of all other indicators of social change. Indeed it used to be argued that strong, highly centralised governments were necessary for the prosecution of the goals of economic growth and development in the Third World. Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, provided one of the best illustrations of this kind of reasoning. Competitive party politics in a relatively decentralised federal system led to economic rut and the collapse of the First Republic (1960-1966). On the other hand, strong and hierachically centralised military governance between 1966 and 1979 was reputed to have led to remarkable socioeconomic development. The purpose of this paper is to critically examine these claims both from the points of view of economic, social, and political change in Nigeria and underscore the implications for development theory. The paper will therefore be sub-divided into three major sections as follows: (1) The Development Debate, (2) Appraisal of the Nigerian Development Process, and (3) Towards an Integrated View of Development."