Nigeria: The Languishing African Giant

Development is a pressing issue as well as a “buzzword” among political organizations, policymakers as well as the common people. Underdevelopment as a term during the 60s and 70s became synonymous with Capitalist exploitation in the Third World. One of the prime proponents of this is Andre Gunder Frank’s “The Development of the Underdevelopment” and Immanuel Wallerstein’s “World Systems Theory”. Concerns over development are central to most African nations including Nigeria, as they are the woes of war, terrorism, poverty, disease, corruption and ethnic strife. Nigeria, being the most populous country of Africa, rich in natural resources and human capital has still remained one of the hardest developmental puzzles in Africa.

Nigeria is one of the most populous countries in the world with detailed contributions towards peacekeeping operations, decolonization in Africa, and regional diplomacy. An African country on the Gulf of Guinea, Nigeria is an abode of valuable natural reserves, it is a landscape where all human activities i.e. agricultural, architectural and industrial, required for sustainable living standards can be accommodated. Nigeria is the sixth-largest of crude oil in the world, and is recognized as the finest quality crude oil by the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries. It is the biggest oil exporter in the continent, well it does not propel development in the country. As of 2020, Nigeria, being the most populated has an estimated population of over 206.14 million, ranking 7th in the world. Nigeria became independent in1960, and after a long reign of military power and a civil war the country became democratized in 1999, though dominated by a single party, it claims to be a multiparty democracy.

Nigeria, though rich in physical aspects, is one of the poorest countries in the world, ranked 152 out of 157 in Human Capital Index, 158 out 189 in Human Development Index and 93 out of 117 in Global Hunger Index. Thus, the developmental patterns of Nigeria are negative, paradoxical, and unsatisfying. Agriculture, oil, healthcare and proper education are the solid foundations of a healthy economy, which propel employment generation, poverty reduction, lower crime rates, proper health and sanitation and the growth of industrialization. Due to lower trends of growth and development in Nigeria, many industries have even shifted to Ghana and beyond. Despite an increase in GDP growth rate of up to 7.6% in 2003 and 2010, poverty and unemployment are stagnant, with unemployment reaching as high as 21%. The national level of inflation has sky-rocketed and approximately 10 million poverty-stricken children are out of school, doing odd jobs and engaging in hazardous child labour. Income distribution is highly skewed such that only a small percentage of the populations are benefited by GDP growth, whereas, the rest of the population are below poverty line. The situation rather than improving is worsening over time.

Nigeria’s urbanization rate is one of the highest in the world leading to migration of virile labour force to urban areas in search of jobs, doubling the level of poverty in urban areas and reducing their contribution to agriculture. Besides, the inadequate growth of employment in the urban areas are unable to fulfil the expectations of the migrants. This combined with an education system which is inefficient in creating the efficient manpower required to support the robust growth that has led to high levels of unemployment and underemployment. The weakness of the economy of Nigeria is also attributable to their dependency on oil production. Oil generated about 90% of foreign exchange and 75% of government revenues, it contributes about 30% of GDP but employs only about 3% of the labour force. The failure of the political leaders to diversify the economy which has left the economy in its downtrodden position.

Several government policies were invented to promote development, however the attempts to increase industrial development needed huge investment, which later turned out to be “white elephants”. These schemes failed because the capacity to execute/design these projects were lacking, insufficient soft funds to carry on the projects and too much corruption among political leaders and government officials. Due to such reasons many try to illegally migrate to developed

countries for a better life, yet live a precarious life there also. Good governance and fair politics are required for the development of a country, yet realizing their positions, the politicians pretend not to realize and therefore assume public office for personal enrichment and exploit the economy for personal aggrandizement. People stuck in the vicious cycle of poverty are stuck forever.

In many developing countries, on one hand, there exists “dualism” or coexistence of two separate economic subsystems: on one hand, there exists in the economy a small but highly modern and developed urban subsector, which absorbs most of the material, financial and educated and talented manpower resources. On the other hand, there is a very large but traditional and underdeveloped rural subsector, characterised by widespread poverty, unemployment and low productivity, which forms the majority of the population mainly in Nigeria. The rural population depends for their livelihood on agriculture and allied activities which makes them highly vulnerable to climate shocks and weather events. Numerous constraints bar them from progress such as insufficient access to basic infrastructure and public services. Extreme poverty goes hand in hand with hunger, poor sanitation, malnutrition, and worse health conditions. Lack of proper education gives rise to communal and ethnographic conflicts where corrupt politicians play their cards. Extreme poverty is also characterized by social marginalization and exclusion. UNICEF, has reported of widespread pneumonia in Nigeria recently, affecting newborn and malnourished. The unhygienic conditions in which they live have given rise to epidemics and widespread diseases.

Around 43% of women are married off at an age less than the legal age of 18, and around 23% of them suffer from early pregnancy as well their children are born malnourished. Children born into extreme poor families are eight times more likely to succumb to fatal illness. Almost half of Nigeria’s children are deprived of proper nutrition, with devastating consequences for health and cognitive development. Proper government intervention is required, including investment in education, converting its economic wealth into human capital and keep a check on child marriage, and development of the rural subsector which will eventually drive the economy towards growth and development.

Debarati Ganguly

Intern (AGA)