ARTICLE: WHY MOST AFRICA COUNTRIES ARE STILL POOR
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
What is underdevelopment? In economics, underdevelopment is 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 it should be,
specially compare with the investment and innovation in countries that surround
it. Furthermore, it results from the complex interplay of internal and external
factors that allow less developed countries only a lop-sided development
progression. Underdeveloped nations are characterized by a wide disparity
between their rich and poor populations, and an unhealthy balance of trade.
Symptoms of underdevelopment include lack of access to job opportunities,
health care, drinkable water, food, education and housing.
The idea of underdevelopment has its
origin in the German economists of the 19th century and early 20th, who
discussed the idea of Adam Smith that all regions, professions and populations
may progress economically at a similar pace.
independently
of the definition of the term, underdevelopment is a global problem which is
have been attributed to different factors; but without an agreement on whether
or not are influential, as the race, if they can be considered generic or
specific, as the religion, if they have been created by other Nations, the case
of the colonialism, or if on the contrary would be something of underdeveloped
populations, such as blaming others.
CHAPTERTWO
UNDERDEVELLOPMENT IS THE PROBLEM OF
AFRICA NOT DEVELOPMENT
There
are many reasons why African countries including Nigeria are still referred to
as underdeveloped country in spite of her abundant natural and human resources.
These include corruption and fraudulent practices, conflict, lack of security,
over-dependent on agriculture, mono-economic factor, poor leadership and
neglect of education that has led to fallen standard of education. These
problems will be discussed later under this section. Compounding the problem of
underdevelopment in poor countries like Nigeria is micro nationalism, ethnic,
religious and communal conflicts which pose great threat to peace, security and
progress. Conflicts refer to disputes, disagreements, quarrels, struggles,
fights and wars between individuals, groups and countries. In every nation there
is no complete agreement on how to share wealth, power and status among individuals
and groups, and how to effect necessary changes and reforms. Since different groups
and individuals have diverse interests, the aims of some groups will conflict
with those of others. Conflicts occur when deprived groups and individuals
attempt to increase their share of power and wealth or to modify the dominant
values, norms, beliefs or ideology. May it be noted that there are functional
and dysfunctional conflicts. Dysfunctional conflicts are destructive and cause
loss of lives, property, man-hours, investment opportunities, hunger and
starvation when open violence, wars, mass strikes, and other forms of
disruption occur. On the other hand, functional or creative conflicts are
constructive and reflect the differences and variety of human opinions and
activity which exists in any free society. If creative conflicts between groups
which are major sources of innovation, new ideas, institutions and social
change are suppressed all together, a nation becomes stagnant and static. We
now analyze the problems (factors) that have made Nigeria remain a third world
country in spite of her abundant resoures.
1)
PROBLEM
OF LEADERSHIP
Nigeria has ever been faced with the problem
of leadership; this has left the country crawling on her kneels in spite of the
abundant resources. Nigeria has witnessed several transitions of governments
with one regime leaving one problem or another that have dragged the country
ever since independence; the military especially did more damage in terms of
leadership than any even though the fourth republic is ongoing and we virtually
don’t understand what is hidden in the bag for
Nigeria. Good leaders are made not born. If you have the desire and
willpower, you can become an effective leader. Good leaders develop through a
never ending process of self-study, education, training, and experience (Jago,
1982). Nigeria need good and effective leaders to function and to move forward;
the leadership determines lots of things in terms of progress. The failure of
Nigerian leaders to establish good governments, forge national integration and
promote economic progress has led to mass poverty and unemployment, and the
resultant communal, ethnic, religious and class conflicts. Rather than the
chains of poverty, the poor has little or nothing in the form of property, to
lose and are easily engaged by war-mongers as mercenary fighters. Poverty
increases the number of people prepared to kill or be killed for a given cause.
The breakdown of such vehicles of social control as the family education, law,
religion and the political system has increased ethnic and communal conflicts.
The inability of many homes to make ends meet with the family income tends to
increase immorality, broken fatherless/motherless homes, divorces and
drunkenness, leading to street fights. The educational or school system is in
shambles and cannot impart even sound knowledge, let alone instill discipline
and morality. Some lecturers/teachers are now called "cheaters"
because they have become emergency contractors, politicians, farmers and petty
street traders, hawking" hand outs" and scores for sex and money.
Rather than mould and build good characters, some prosperity preachers are more
interested in making quick money to mould blocks and build earthly (not heavenly)
mansions, and buy luxurious cars for the shepherd, while their sheep trek home
to sleep on the ground under flyers and in the open fields, feeding on grass
and drinking dirty pool water. When the poor sheep followers who had been
taught to expect their rewards in heaven see their leaders enjoying heaven on
earth, they feel frustrated and engage in feigned and fake religious fights and
clashes to capture peoples' property in order to enjoy heaven on earth like
their leaders. In his own analysis of why Nigeria has been crawling annoyingly
while it should be running fast after Independence, the present president of
Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan saw the failure of leadership as the greatest
obstacle to the desired growth – political and economic. The unemployed troubled
mind would expect an assurance that if his leader is elected, certainly a
decent job is waiting for him in any part of the country.
2)
CORRUPTION
AND FRAUD:
Just
like the leadership problem, corruption has eaten deep into the marrow of Nigeria
such that development has been hampered, no wonder we are still seen as a third
world country. There are many unresolved problems in Nigeria, but the issue of
the upsurge of corruption is troubling. And the damages it has done to the
polity are astronomical. The menace of corruption leads to slow movement of
files in offices, police extortion tollgates and slow traffics on the highways,
port congestion, queues at passport offices and gas stations, ghost workers syndrome,
election irregularities, among others. Even the mad people on the street
recognize the havoc caused by corruption - the funds allocated for their
welfare disappear into the thin air. Thus, it is believed by many in the
society that corruption is the bane of Nigeria. Consequently, the issue keeps re-occurring
in every academic and informal discussion in Nigeria. The effects of corruption
on a nation’s socio-political and economic development are myriad. The negative
effects impact economic growth as it, among other things, reduces public
spending on education (Mauro, 1997; and 1995). Lipset and Lenz note that the
effect on growth, is in part, a result of reduced level of investment, as it
adds to investment risk (2000). The effect of corruption on education comes
from the fact that the government spends relatively more on items to make room
for graft (Shleifer & Vishny, 1993; Lipset & Lenz, 2002).And corrupt
government officials would shift government expenditures to areas in which they
can collect bribes easily. Large and hard-to-manage projects, such as airports
or highways, make fraud easy. In addition, poverty and income inequalities are
tied to corruption (Lipset & Lenz 2000).Development projects are often made
unnecessarily complex in Nigeria to justify the corrupt and huge expense on it.
The new national stadium in Abuja, which is said to have gulped millions of
Naira more than necessary, is a case in point. Corruption causes a reduction in
quality of goods and services available to the public, as some companies could
cut corners to increase profit margins. Corruption effects investment, economic
growth, and government expenditure choices; it also reduces private investment
(Mauro 1997). This in turn retard development of an economy, that is why
Nigeria has not been progressing geometrically and is still referred to as a
third world country Pervasive impact of fraud has been described as the
greatest factor engendering and perpetuating under-development in Nigeria in
particular and Africa, by extension.
3) EDUCATION AND POVERTY:
Development
is measured with some yardsticks known as economic indices, when these indices
don’t measure up to standard, then there is problem. Poverty is then one of the
indices and it has been measured that an average Nigerian live below average
(earn and spend less than a dollar a day). Education on the other hand
contributes significantly to development but the failure of our leaders to
effectively monitor and maintain education in the country has led to fallen
standard of education in Nigeria. Development may be difficult in poor
countries without qualitative and quantitative education. Also it may be
difficult for a country to achieve economic development through education, if a
high percentage of the population is living below or at poverty level, with
series of hygienic problems. These results into poor feeding, housing and
medical care; the characteristics of low-income third world, underdeveloped,
less developed or developing countries. Case and Ray (1989) defines poverty as
people with very low incomes. Poverty should be measured by figuring how much
it costs to buy basis necessities of life, minimally adequate diet, what is a
minimum housing unit? And so on. A country is said to be poor, if she cannot
cater for her citizenry, and live in fear or lacks anything. One basic thing
about poverty is “it is ever-ready to gulp any amount or material in it”
(Dukor, 1995: 28).Dukor (1995: 28) stated that poverty is caused and will be
caused by the following; defiance of God’s laws, laziness, early marriage, pride,
unwanted pregnancy, cheating, mental slavery, gambling, failure to adjust or
re-adjust when situation detonates, taking wrong steps or approaches to issues,
burden, police arrest, detention, drunkenness, court cases, fire outbreak,
spending above one’s income, illegal business, accident, borrowing and death of
a breadwinner, it also includes, spending in anticipation, illiteracy, seizure
of goods, dupes, illness, expensive burials/weddings, spiritual enslavement
i.e. The churches (the leaders) contribute nothing to our betterment but ruin
our already tattered lives and we still follow them sheepishly. He also
identified lack of; the spirit of God, good road, water, good transport system,
love, peace, good neighbor lines, good governance, steady supply of electricity
as causes of poverty. Unproductive labour could also cause poverty. Situations where
individuals do not do what they are suppose to do. This results into inefficiencies
due to non-placement of individuals in their proper places. Such inefficient
individual make themselves ‘good workers’ by rendering “eye services” and
pointing accusing fingers on others to cover their inefficiencies or evils.
These are some of the effects of “quota system” in appointment into Federal or
State Services. Lack of political development causing political instability and
exploitation. Example, is a situation where few opportunities, a wicked leader
or rich person exploits the majority. This increases the rate of corruption in
a country especially among workers.
4)MONO-CULTURE ECONOMIC SYSTEM:
A
country operating a mono-cultural economic system may be poor. Nigeria since
early 1970’s have moved away from agricultural primarily to the production of
crude oil, a commodity whose price can only be determined by foreign countries.
Price mechanism has no direct control of the production and distribution of
crudeoil. According to Asemota (1999: 3):
“the
oil sector which is dominated by the government is in a state of decay due to
poor operating conditions and inadequate funding, vandalization and
bureaucratic interventions. Public originations in Nigeria enjoy monopoly
status that hamper development rather than fostering it.”
Western
education is about one hundred and fifty-six years old in Nigeria. Despite
this, some socio-cultural factors still hinders our economic development,
causing poverty. Some Nigerians still believe that their economic capacity and
security can only be guaranteed by having more male and a large number of
children. As long as we continue to have more children without a corresponding
increase in food production, our poverty level will continue to be on an
increase. A man’s production of children above his income, will increase
poverty level, from increased number of illiterates and criminal rates in the
country.
5. CONFLICT AND LACK OF PEACE:
One
factor that has rendered Nigeria a third world country in spite of her efforts
in developing is conflict which has raged several economic states in Nigeria.
Foreign investors have refused to come in to invest claiming that lives and
properties are not safe. Foreign workers (expatriates) are kidnapped every
time, especially in the Niger-Delta region. Several political conflicts,
religious conflicts amongst many will not allow Nigeria grow past the present developmental
level. Presently, it is Boko-Haram people that have been disturbing the peace
of Nigeria, bombing everywhere, even the government house is not secured from
these people.Both foreigners and Nigerians alike fear for their lives and
continually live infear and panic, how then can there be development?
CHAPTER THREE
REASONS MOST AFRICAN COUNTRIES ARE STILL
REGARDED AS THIRD WORLD COUNTRY
The
term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained
non-aligned with either capitalism or NATO (which along with its allies represented
the First World), or communism and the Soviet Union (which along with its allies
represented the Second World). This definition provided a way of broadly categorizing
the nations of the Earth into three groups based on social, political, and economic
divisions. Third Worldism has been
defined as "the idea, popular among Third World autocrats and many
American and French leftists in the late 60s and 70s, that-contrary to orthodox
Marxism's view that the Western working class would deliver the world from the
tyranny of capital that ... Third World elites were the privileged historical
actor."The term Third World was originally coined in times of the Cold War
to distinguish those nations that are neither aligned with the West (NATO) nor
with the East, the Communist bloc. Today the term is often used to describe the
developing countries of Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania. Many poorer
nations adopted the term to describe themselves. Despite the presence of huge
mineral and human resources found in Nigeria, the country has remained a victim
of underdevelopment. This has prompted several efforts by scholars, elites,
prominent leaders and the international development agencies to understand and
solves the development crisis. All nations (developed, underdeveloped and
developing) are populated by human beings with needs and wants. While the
developed nations are relentlessly searching for solutions to their social,
political and economic problems the underdeveloped nations engage each other in
war of attrition and dish out half-baked and unreasoned policies to enslave its
citizens. The leadership only prescribes solution to socioeconomic problems
without actually providing the institutional framework to solve them.
Consequently, the peoples’ needs and wants often out-run resources. Growth is
increase in size without scientific and technological advancement. Development
means growth integrated with economic, scientific, political and home based
technological expansion. Kindleberger and Herrick (1977), defines economic development
to include improvements in material welfare, especially for persons with the lowest
incomes; the eradication of mass poverty, illiteracy, disease and early death.
An economy that has productive employment among the working – age population
rather than the situation of a privileges monitory and a correspondingly
greater participation of broadly based
groups in making decisions about the directions, economic and otherwise, in
which they should move to improve their welfare. Presently, the crisis of
development is the most serious problem facing Nigeria. This is because the
continent has remained largely underdeveloped despite the presence of huge
mineral and human resources. Several decades after the end of colonialism, most
parts of Nigeria is still fighting with problems such as high poverty rate,
lack of basic infrastructural facilities in all sectors of the economy,
unemployment, high mortality rate, political instability and insecurity of
lives and property. Nigeria is still considered as third world country because
the nation still exhibits the traits of underdeveloped nations in spite of her
abundant resources (both natural and human). “The present conditions of the
third world countries are not in the least analogous to the conditions of the
industrialized countries in the earlier stages of their economic development.
The present condition of the third world is the effect of the slave trade,
pillage, colonialism and unequal exchange (Ake 1982: 153)”. In a similar
manner, Walter Rodney after a thorough examination of the origin and trends of
underdevelopment in Africa bluntly asserts that: “African development is
possible only on the basis of a radical break with the international capitalist
system, which has been the principal agency of the under development of Africa
over the last seven centuries(Rodney 1972: 7)”.In the present era of
globalization, another school of thought strongly argues that globalization
constitutes the major obstacle facing Africa’s effort to develop. This is
because of the fact that the benefits of globalization are not equal and just
for all the regions of the world (Asobie, 2001; Olukoshi, 2004). It is
therefore suggested that since a major feature of the globalization process is
that it cannot be halted or ignored, the success of the development enterprise
in Africa now depends on the mode of its integration into the global capitalist
economic system (Ajayi, 2004: 2). Yet, there are scholars who believe that
Africans should be held responsible for the present pathetic state of
underdevelopment in the continent. Recently, it has been said that Africans through
the instruments of inept leadership, corruption, authoritarianism, endless
political crises, military rule, civil wars and lack of concern for the poor,
have contributed more than any other people to the cause of underdevelopment in
the continent (Falola, 2005:3).The views expressed above are appreciated, which
in summary imply that no adequate understanding of the crisis of development in
Africa could be achieved without taking into cognizance the effects of three
major factors. First, colonialism, neo-colonialism and dependency. Secondly, contemporary
globalization and thirdly, the role of the African ruling elite. It is also
worthy to note that more suggestions are still offered on how to solve the
crisis of development in Africa. It is in acknowledgement of the contemporary
challenges and realities confronting the African continent, that BedfordUmez
(2000) in an insightful and captivating work provides useful insights for
understanding the crisis of development in Africa using Nigeria as a case
study. Umez argues that Nigerians have Alumona contributed more to her problem
of under development than any other people. Further, he also presents four
perspectives which he believes offers more fundamental and comprehensive
explanations of the problems of development in Nigeria. The four perspectives,
which will be discussed later in, this paper, are: the prevalent value system,
inferiority complex, language and collective ignorance. Peace, security and
progress. Conflicts refer to disputes, disagreements, quarrels, struggles,
fights and wars between individuals, groups and countries. In every nation there
is no complete agreement on how to share wealth, power and status among individuals
and groups, and how to effect necessary changes and reforms. Since different groups
and individuals have diverse interests, the aims of some groups will conflict with
those of others. Conflicts occur when deprived groups and individuals attempt
to increase their share of power and wealth or to modify the dominant values,
norms, beliefs or ideology. May it be noted that there are functional and
dysfunctional conflicts. Dysfunctional conflicts are destructive and cause loss
of lives, property, man-hours, investment opportunities, hunger and starvation
when open violence, wars, mass strikes, and other forms of disruption occur. On
the other hand, functional or creative conflict Real Problems, Real Solutions
(2000) is Bedford Umez’s contribution to the discourse on the crisis of
development in Nigeria. In his analysis, Umez begins by providing a review of
what he calls the three long standing perspectives that have been used by
scholars in the past to explain Nigeria’s problem of underdevelopment. The
three perspectives namely are: colonial legacy, corrupt leadership and
democracy leads to economic growth. The colonial legacy perspective argues that
the problem of underdevelopment is traceable to the origin of the Nigerian
state by the British colonial authority and the exploitative nature of
Nigeria’s colonial and postcolonial experience. The corrupt leadership
perspective believes that corruption and mismanagement on the part of the
leadership has been the bane of development in Nigeria. Chinua Achebe’s(1983)
analysis of the leadership problem in Nigeria is located within this frame work.The
democracy leads to economic growth perspective which links the cause of underdevelopment
to the long absence of democracy caused by military rule (Umez,2000: 29 - 39).
After a careful examination of these long standing perspectives and their
impact in explaining the problem of underdevelopment in Nigeria, Umez concludes
that:“They do not offer a fundamental explanation of the current development
problems in Nigeria; they explain little of the country’s internal
contradictions. Consequently, they provide an inadequate guide to formulating
appropriate and lasting policies and sound strategies to address those problems
and internal contradictions in Nigeria (Umez, 2000:25).” It is from the above
premise and conviction that Umez proceeds to present his understanding and
explanation of the development problem, which are contained in the four
perspectives mentioned earlier. His central argument is that the current
problems of development in Nigeria are fundamentally linked to the issues
presented under these perspectives. Before his exposition of the issues
contained in these perspectives, Umez authoritatively claims that they are “the
most effective solutions to move Nigeria forward” (Umez, 2000: 22). The four
perspectives could be summarized thus:i)
The prevalent value system:
The
central argument of this perspective is that since the values of a given
society provide insights into how the attitudes and actions of individuals
within that society affect development endeavors, it is necessary to understand
the prevalent Nigerian value system as a guide to solving the problems of
development in Nigeria. This perspective links the crisis of development in
Nigeria to the dominant value system which is defined as ‘one that glorifies
and endorses corrupt and illegal means as necessary, normal, and sufficient
means to ends’ (Umez, 2000: 53). The prevalent value system perspective
identifies the following factors as the consequences of the Nigerian value
system which in turn have created problems for development: a)Embezzlement of
public (and company) funds; b)A free-rider mentality; c) Dishonesty;d)Disobedience
to laws; and)Disregard for the opinion of experts. In summary, all these issues
discussed under the prevalent value system in the words of Umez, “produces, at
the general level, a corrupt and inept leadership, which ultimately misappropriate
public funds, thereby creating problems of development”(Umez, 2000: 58)ii)
The inferiority complex perspective
This
perspective argues that at the root cause of corruption and the embezzlement of
public funds only for such looted funds to be sent abroad, lies the issue of
inferiority complex. The perspective views as abnormal the practice where
Nigerians who are entrusted with public funds do steal such funds and then
stack them in foreign banks where it will be of no benefit to Nigeria. The
irony of this practice as the author points out is that leaders of these
foreign countries in return see Nigerian leaders as corrupt, uncivilized, and
nasty thugs (Umez, 2000: 61).iii)
The language perspective
The
language perspective seeks to demonstrate how the power of language has
affected the mentality of Nigerians. According to the author, the use of such
phrases like paint someone black; black sheep of the family; black book; black
market; black devil; black death; black magic; black widow etc has succeeded in
demeaning, desecrating and dehumanizing especially black Africans. The
implications of this, which in the words of the author are ‘’damaging,
terrifying and enormous (Umez, 2000: 66) are asfollowsa)At the macro level, it
has created a situation where Africans consciouslyor unconsciously have come to
accept that black people are of no goodthat is, the word black is used to
describe anything that is bad. b)It has tarnished the image of Africa. Because
of this even Africans in the Diaspora do not have regard for Africa.c)It has
also created a sort of distrust and disrespect among Africans.
iv)The collective ignorance
perspective:
Within
this perspective, collective ignorance is conceived as a situation where a set
of misguided Nigerian leaders out of sheer ignorance believe that they are the
only ones who are capable of ruling the country. The problem of collective
ignorance, as the perspective argues is responsible for a lot of contradictions
and problems in Nigeria. Some of these problems includes)
a.
Lack of conscience among ‘chosen’ Nigeria leaders/elite;
b)Starvation
of the ‘masses’ by the leaders;
c)
Accepting bribery and corruption as normal;
d)The
embezzlement of public funds with impunity;
d)
The shameless trips to foreign countries for routine medical check-ups and treatment
by the leaders without any attempt to provide such hospitals in Nigeria. After
his exposition of the four perspectives, Umez went further to highlight
someillusions held by Nigerians, which to a great extent have compounded the
crisis of development. These illusions could be seen from two basic angles,
namely:1)That Nigerian is still a young country; after all, it took the United
States over 200years to be where it is today.2)There is corruption everywhere.
CONCLUSION
This
assignment examined the reasons for regarding most African Countries as
underdeveloped; in spite of both abundant natural and human resources at her
disposal, she is still regarded as a third world country simply because she has
refused to produce good leadership since post-colonial period, she has
neglected education which could be used as a change agent, she has allowed
corruption to hamper her development and has depended too much on agriculture
in the past and crude oil in the recent past till present. Nigeria will develop
and meet up with vision 20:20:20 (Millennium Development Goals-MDGs) if we can follow
these recommendations. The following address the problems of development in
Nigeria. These suggestions that are in form of policy recommendations are
listed below:
i)The
need for citizenship education and a centre for the study of ethnics;
ii)The
taming of destructive arrogance and class consciousness among Nigerians;
iii)The
involvement of parents in the campaign for real education;
iv)The
involvement of the media and other agents of socialization in the crusadeto
reeducate Nigerian children and the public at large on better ways of life;
v)
The elimination of illegal and fraudulent acts;
vi)The
need to urgently address the ‘brain drain’ problem;
vii)The
investment of Nigerian resources in Nigeria curing the disease of ignorance and
inferiority complex;
viii)Teaching
leadership qualities; and
ix)A
weekly address by the President of Nigeria
.
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