TERM PAPER: GLOBALIZATION A CURSE OR A BLESSING
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Unlike the millennium, the notion of globalization captures what could be called the essential character of the age.
Francis (2013) describes globalization as the great economic event of our era. It is also because; it is now bringing unprecedented opportunities to billions of people throughout the world. The rapid growth of information technology and the increased global integration of trade and capital which have had profound consequence for the world economy are resulting into significant shift in the world economy.
This is because, increasingly, major decisions around the world are given by global competitive pressure.
The speed at which the effect globalization is spreading is fast day by day and no nation can afford to be behind if such a nation is to maintain acceptable rate of growth and development (Peter; 2014).
It is also observed by Francis (2013) that the growing impact of two major distinct global trends, which has profound implication on the world economy, are rapid growth of information technology and the increased global trade integration. He notes that these trends are resulting in a significant shift in the world economy. Probably this is why Edward (2010) notes that the people of the planet of the earth have become one large family.
To him, information technology has advanced to a level of rendering distance irrelevant.
Further more, he observed that the new epoch offers new challenges and new global problems, such environmental catastrophes, extinction of resources, blood conflict and poverty.
The events in the last decade in the global economy suggest a challenge; the utilization of the opportunity engineered by globalization while at the same time managing the problem and tension it poses, for developing countries particularly Nigeria. While some individuals such as Dani (2014) and Francis (2013) opine that globalization opens opportunities, others such as Awake (2014) and Garry (1998) express fear about globalization. Probably it is fear anticipated by the people of the world that in December 1999, a meeting of the World Treaty Organization, held in Seattle, U.S.A was interrupted by riot.
The demonstrators feared the effects of globalization on the people and on the planet. Since that time anti-globalization movements have spread across the globe. It is however observed that advocates of globalization hail it has the panacea for the most world problems.
According to Dani (2014) globalization creates global market place, which, with 5the development in communication technology, can be accessed by virtually any one from any location. Thus, opens up a world of opportunities for business and also link them to market, which was hitherto unknown to them. In this process, there is decrease the possibility of wars among nations.
Dani (2014) noted that interaction among people has the potential for improving global solidarity. It notes that some human right organizations have been able to tap the resources of the people to promote their effectiveness. For instance, in 1997 international treaty banning land mines was achieved through mobilization of the people of the world through Internet.
It is in the light of this that this paper concentrates effort on Globalization As a Blessing Not a Curse and identify the opportunities for wealth creation provided by globalization.
CHAPTER TWO
THE CONCEPT AND FEATURES OF GLOBALIZATION
Globalization is the term used to describe the growing worldwide integration of the people and countries.
According to Dani (2014) the process of increasing global integration has accelerated dramatically in the technology. Edward (2010) views globalization as a process of integrating economic decision-making such as consumption, investment and saving all across the world.
This means that globalization is a process of creating global market place in which increasingly, all nations are forced to participate.
Among the features that characterize globalization include interconnection of sovereign countries through trade and capital flow; harmonization of the economic rules that govern the interaction or relationship between these sovereign nations; creating structures to support and facilitate dependence and inter connection; and creation of a global market place Edward (2010).
The process of globalization is not restricted to the economic sphere only. The advancement in information technology has resulted in the opening and exposure of the people of the world to more than ever before, different and alternative views and as a consequence influences almost all aspects of human life.
This may influence the stand of Salimono (2015) in Edward (2010) maintains that globalization is a process of harmonization of different culture and beliefs of the world in to one. In the like manner, Garry (1998) in Dani (2014) views globalization as the harmonization of political system and enthronement of the culture of west.
It is observed that decisions taken by countries operating under separate, sovereign and autonomous environment has bearing on others.
The emergence of global market is increasingly weakening these autonomous units. Globalization is a multi-dimensional concept with political, socio-economic transnational and business undertones. It is simply the integration of national economics leading to near free movement of goods, services, capital, skill among companies which regards everywhere as their “home” market and serving customer with “globalized” tastes and preferences, using the same or slightly different projects and strategies (O.B.E (2012).In other words, globalization is a process of increased integration of national economy with the rest of the world to create a more coherent global economy.
This can be achieved through the creation of a global market place in which free markets; investment flows, trade and information are integrated.
According to Awake (2002) globalization will heighten the level of interconnectedness between and among nations through a systematic integration of autonomous economies into a global system of production and distribution. It should be noted that globalization seek to eliminate trade barriers through unfitted integration and interaction of global capital and labour thereby leading to an unhindered exchange of goods and service across border.
The key elements of globalization involve the inter connection of sovereign nations through trade and capital flows; harmonization of economic rules governing relationship between these nation; creating structures to support and facilities dependence and interconnection; global configuration and co-ordination of business activities with local responsiveness; and creating a global market place (O.B.E (2012).
FEATURES OF GLOBALIZATION
Increased relevance of intercontinental and international bodies and processes like ECOWAS, AU, UN, EU, NEPAD, African peer review mechanism and many other trade, social and political blocs and bodies
· Increased democracy and globalization of the good governance concept
· National boundaries are not too relevant because of regional blocs.
· Technological advancement especially in internet technology, microchips, mobile
· Telephony, cyber products, space time are now compressed.
Far away Australia is
· Crime such as cyber terrorism, computer hacking bank frauds are also faster and globalize for fraud from the comfort of his home a cyber criminal can hack, infiltrate or infect any computer system even countries away.
· Privatization is increasing while government involvement in business ventures is becoming obsolete.
· A free flow of trade across borders. Trade restrictions are becoming outdated.
· Information for business/economic decision is now more accessible through the
· intranet, internet and extranet.
· Business competition is fierce, for example, First Bank Nigeria is also competing against foreign banks because Nigerians can easily bank abroad.
· Increased technology, productivity and largely unrestricted trade have made many products more accessible and cheaper.
· Through the World Bank, ILO and IMF many countries now have common economic, business and labour policies.
CHAPTER THREE
GLOBALIZATION AS A BLESSING NOT A CURSE
Bayo (2014) and Francis (2013) observe that globalization offers developing countries like Nigeria the opportunities to create wealth through the export-led growth, to expand international trade in goods and services and to gain access to new ideas, technologies and institutional designed.
This means that globalization affects all aspects of Nigeria development including her economy. In essence, globalization offers many opportunities to Nigeria and other developing countries as well as other actors in the global economy.
According to Salimono (1999), globalization has reduced barrier existing in international trade. The reduction in those barriers has opened the door for export led growth. For instance, Phillips (1991) notes that Nigerian economy has been mono-cultural since independence and has so much depended on the western countries for its survival. Bayo (2000) and Evbuomwan (1996) observed that in the 60s, Nigeria depended on agriculture for her revenue, which in turn, was used to provide life sustaining goods for the citizen. Then, Nigeria and other less developed economies exported raw-materials in form of cash crop such as Cocoa, Coffee, palm-produce Groundnut etc.
The discovery of petroleum by Nigeria marked the turning point of Nigeria and by the turn of 1970, agriculture has been pushed to a distant background. Onwioduokit and Francis (2013) observed that it was in the 70s when Nigeria witnessed oil boom that brought about major shift from agriculture to petroleum. The bulk of the revenue of Nigeria now comes from petroleum.
Since then, Nigeria has depended heavily on crude oil and this has cause instability in the economy due to fluctuation in the price of crude oil in the world market. O.B.E (2012) state that since globalization entails trade liberalization, it is therefore imperative that there is free and unrestricted movement of trade, finance and investment across the international border. The advantage here is that globalization allows Nigeria to export and import goods, capital and investment without restriction.
It is probably because of this advantage that Francis (2013) asserts that for small and medium-size economic with limited internal market, the possibilities of economic growth lie, to a large extent, in production oriented towards international market. To buttress his point, he states, that the experience of the last three decades shows that countries like China, Chile, Ivory coast, Botswana that have managed to grow at very rapid 7%, 8% or more per year, have relied on strong export growth, with export expanding at a faster rate than Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Nigeria can and should borrow a leave from these countries experience. Globalization promotes the rapid output growth that will increase national income and as a consequence enhance higher standard of living of developing countries including Nigeria.
Globalization, according to Awake (2002) has enriched the world economically, scientifically and culturally. This is because, globalization opens the economies to a wide variety of consumption of goods, new technology and knowledge. Salimono (1999) opines that globalization offers economies with potentials of eradicating poverty.
The reason for this belief may not be unconnected with the dramatic increase in prosperity that globalization has brought in its wake especially in South Korea, India and South Africa. To buttress this reason, Awake (2012) notes that family’s income has increased three times more than it did 50years ago .However, the situation is different in Nigeria where real income is decreasing.
Through the Internet, globalization allows the access to ideas on new things and best practices in all areas of human endeavour. For instance, new design, production technology, new managerial practice etc are made available you people, thereby enabling them to change their old practices.
These may lead to acquisition or imitation of foreign products, technologies and cultural practices, which would have been made impossible without globalization. This means that Nigeria now has access to opportunities to acquire new things, ideas and technologies.
The distribution of global wealth has never been fair. But economic globalisation has widened the gap between the rich and poor nation. However, some developing counties, as observed by Dani (2014), has benefited form their integration into the global economy. For example, India and Asia as a whole have seen improvement. He noted that, only 15% of the East Asian population lives on $1 a day compared with 27% ten years earlier. However the story is different in Africa and particularly Nigeria where
income has actually decrease community allows nearly 3 billion people-almost half of all humanity-to subsist $2 or less per day in a world of unprecedented wealth.
Such gross unfairness – in the global neighbourhood clearly show many seeds of unrest and frustration.
In an interdependent world economy, any adverse global shock affects other countries. For example, the oil glut of 1982 and 1998 according to Salimono (1999) is more rapidly propagated. The propagation mechanism at work can be a decline in the import volume and change in the real price of commodities (oil) Nigeria depends heavily on crude oil as the main source of income or foreign exchange earning.
Her revenue is always hit hard by these shocks (Doguwa and Englana, 2002).
Furthermore, highly integrated financial market tends to transmit global, regional national or local shock much more rapidly than in past decades when financial markets were less integrated. It has been observed by CBN (2002) that portfolio shift affect the exchange and interest rates including other economic activities. As a consequence, the volumes of financial intermediation and currency transactions are enormous nowadays.
The shocks are greatly amplified in more or less synchronized fashion with destabilizing effects on Nigeria economy. This financial volatility was largely unknown in the 1950s, 1960s early 1970s when multilateral lending aids and foreign direct investment dominated global capital investment (CBN, 2000).
The effect of globalization is the fear of uncertainty and volatility on capital formation and productivity growth with its negative consequence on economic growth. CBN (2000) viewed the instability on the economy as tax on growth and prosperity. It should be noted that this problem of uncertainty is not from within but external generated.
Nigeria as a developing country has not evolved a mechanism that can absorb the shocks generated by the effects of globalization. The types of domestic policy response put in place by the government have increased the negative impact of these shocks in Nigeria and the people are worse off. The income of the people of Nigeria is low and they are living below poverty line.
The social effect of globalization is another fear entertained by Annan, (2012), when he states that since globalization is associated with instability of output and employment, the effects among other things job security. Majority of the people in Nigeria derived their income from labour in Nigeria anything that affects their job is socially disrupted and thus bring tension to the fabric of the society.
This may create industrial conflicts.
Furthermore, it is observed that the unskilled and the uneducated workers as well as the marginalised agrarian population benefit less than the people with sophisticated skills and high level of education. As noted by Annan, (2012), the highly educated people and people with sophisticated skills are better and more equipped to meet challenges of the competitive world.
One other area of globalization is that it tends to transmit the cultural pattern of developed countries to the rest of the world. For instance, Nigeria Youth have been culturally colonized. This is because they now imitate the European’s consumption patterns, modes of transport, method of communication including their music, without regard for the local culture. Though, it is noticed that this problem does not affect Nigerians only. It is a worldwide phenomenon.
This trend would, eventually, lead to homogenization of economic values, thereby eliminating or reducing Nigerian economy to nothing.
THE BLESSINGS BROUGHT BY
The Advantages of Globalization to the World Economy can be summarized as follows:
1. Education
Due to globalization, the rate of education is getting even higher.
Almost 99 percent of people today have finished their studies and achieved decent jobs. They also learn lots of things which guide them to live in a wealthy or simple lifestyle.
2. Employment
Globalization generates employment opportunities for those people who still don’t have a job. Most companies today move to a well civilized country in order to give a chance to unemployed workers to gain a job that suits their abilities and expertise.
3. Cheaper Price
Most products in the market are offered in a cheaper price due to competition.
4. Quality of Product
Through the machines that were produced because of globalization, the products offered to the people come with great quality.
5. Communication
The technology today allows the people to achieve clear and continuous communication with their family or the VIP’s in different countries.
Globalization is characterized by integration of economies as a result of expansion, diversification and deepening of commerce and financial links, technology and information exchange, and free movement of people. From the lense of globalization, the entire world is conceived as a single market – one large and unified market, free for all comers and competitors. This is the premise of liberal economic policies currently eulogized in Nigeria, and elsewhere.
No doubt, such system afford players – consumers and producers greater opportunity for choices, and low cost. This is because the system is driven by high competition. It is the unrestricted market policies and forces that have eroded the spirit of African socialism, and communal values. The values that are concomitants of globalization are capitalism and competition, with the revolution in information technology as its main driver.
The appreciable impacts in information technology – innovations and transfer, blow the wave of globalization phenomenon across the world.
CHAPTER FOUR
POSITIVE IMPACTS OF GLOBALIZATION ON NIGERIAN ECONOMY
Globalisation increased specialisation and efficiency, better quality products at reduced price, economies of scale in production, competitiveness and increased output, technological improvement and increased managerial capabilities. Trade and investment can aid efforts at restructuring an economy to make it more competitive and better able to contribute to the globalisation process. Communication and mass media have the traditional function of multiplying mobility and facilitating exchange of information about goods and services. Exhibition, trade fair and media advertising, for example, help in the marketing of goods and services and provide a multiplicity of choices to consumers even if they also trigger unhealthy commercialization.
According to Noah Samara, founder of world space-Africa satellite broadcasting system. “If you look behind wealth of nations, you find information and if you look behind poverty of nations, you find lack of information’’. For sustainable development civil society and intellectual production information is truly the need for every need. Integrating global economic and communication systems are shrinking space and time and making the global village a global shopping mall. Apart from general improvements in global communication through radio and satellite television, innovative telephone through satellite and cell phones, access to the internet in many cases, is enhancing what is generally referred to as e-commence or e-trade. The world has become a true market place of commodities and ideas.
The modern banking system through electronic banking (e-banking) and automated teller machines facilitates fast and easy movement of cash (24/7) and even cashless operations.
The development of communication gadgets for instance, cell phones, and notes pad etc had made communication easier and effective over long distances within a short period of time. Swiftly e-mail, text messages, and other social networks have replaced posting of letters which has reduced travelling and its attendant costs and risks. Registration of exams, checking of results for example, WAEC and NECO are done one line. The development of DSTV enables Nigerians to watch programmes in far away countries – sports Loyalists to Man-U, Arsenal, Chelsea etc. can attest to this: Manpower training and development can be more easily done by a variety of information technology tools using live or video trainers, from any place in the world. Globalization calls for innovative, dynamic and committed management.
In travel and tourism, we equally observe the impact of globalization. People now travel with ease. There are ready information and immigration guide of different parts of the world. Many people travel for business purposes, others for leisure, health or for other sundry reasons.
Some countries’ main economic base is even on tourism. This is the case of Egypt, etc.
Labour migration equally account for significant impact of globalization and human transformation. In its inbound and outbound dimensions, it brings about changes in society and human development. Consider the numerical strength, and the globalization implication of people, especially the young, who crave for visa lottery of different countries of the world. The trend of movement from the less developed nations to the developed is another teething problem of globalization. Globalization has led to the influx of migrants into political entities, including illegal migrants – choking up political systems to the point of inability to control and manage.
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This paper deals with the topic Globalization As A Blessing Not A Curse. It cut across the opportunities opened by globalization to Nigeria and identifies and further discussed globalisation as a blessing not a curse to Nigeria and to the wider world.
The merit of globalization for Nigeria lies in the capacity for wealth creation through export-led growth and the benefit of expanded international trade of goods, services, and access to new products and designed in the global markets.
However, it has been observed that globalization, despite the opportunities provided, is associated with serious problem that has to be managed in appropriate ways using appropriate fiscal policies.
Globalization gives rise to macro-economy instability that had characterized Nigeria government. This problem shows that Nigerian economic development may remain only a dream and difficult to actualise. A highly globalise and integrated financial market spread rapidly across counties financial shocks and loss of confidence that affect exchange rate, interest rate, assets prices with the resultant effect on output and employment and ultimately adverse social effects.
In conclusion, despite the rosy picture that has been painted of a globalizing world of converging economies and the growth of internet communication technology (ICT) Nigeria remains at best on the periphery.
In economic and trade terms Nigeria economies can hardly compete internationally due to infrastructural, technological and managerial inadequacy. There is also the logic of international market which has largely been historically shaped and virtually consolidated between the haves and the have not. This situation will not change as long as the land lacks electricity and other basic infrastructures. From communication perspective, there is a correlation between wealth, information and awareness. Western domination of the media, long established has been reinforced in the era of globalization. Africa – Nigeria needs to have a view in the global media.
Globalization was supposed to present opportunities to less well off countries such as those in Africa – Nigeria inclusive, but rather than openings are being made for more media organization a few multinational companies have become more dominant in the media business.
They have spread their wings to almost every corner of the world.
Above all good governance transparency and accountability are desirable for a strong and competitive economy.
Recommendation for Sustainable Development in Nigeria in the Face of
Globalization
The new democracy must go beyond party politics to include civil society grassroots initiatives.
Subsidiary or decentralization through globalization i.e.
local ownership and control of resources.
Ecological sustainability i.e. exploiting natural resources for present generation
without damaging, the environment thereby preserving resources for future generation.
Diversity of global system needs to be respected and preserved in its cultural and
economic forms.
Common heritage resources and services like water, land, air, forest etc need to be protected from co modification and unbridled privatization.
Jobs, livelihood and employment are rights which must be protected and guaranteed in sustainable society.
Food security and safety means that, communities and nations are stable and secure when they produce their own food.
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