*blames lack of clear vision as reason for failure of development plan in Nigeria
A public analyst and development expert, Dr Chima Amadi has blamed Nigeria’s absolute alignment on western notion of development as reasons for failure of development plans in Nigeria.
Amadi who is the chairman of the board of the Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA) while speaking in Sokoto at the 4th National Colloquium of the Sokoto Professionals Network, also noted that a lack of clear vision has been identified as the foundational basis for the
disjointed mission of development planning in Nigeria.
In his paper presentation at the event with the theme; Nigeria: In search of effective economic formula for National Development, Amadi argued that any development plan and initiatives that does not encourage the disengagement of Nigeria economy from the exploitative structural links with Western capitalist economy may not succeed.
He said, “Compared with other African and Asian countries, especially Indonesia, which is comparable to Nigeria in most respects, economic development in Nigeria has been disappointing. With GDP of
about $45 billion in 2001 and per capita income of about $300 a year, Nigeria has become one of the poorest countries in the world. As of 2000 it had earned about $300 billion from oil exports since the mid-1970s, but its per capita income was 20 percent lower than in 1975. Meanwhile, the country has become so heavily indebted – external and domestic debt amount to about 70 percent of GDP— that it has serious difficulty servicing debt. Regional and sectoral unevenness in growth
performance is high.
“From the foregoing, it is simply clear that to raise 200 million Nigerians out of poverty as this current administration has resolved to do within the next decade, it would take more than just making it a campaign mantra but a radical departure from economic orthodoxy of the Global North evinced in the Washington Consensus model.”
He therefore challenged policymakers to acknowledge that strategies successful in one country may not be universally applicable.
According to him, developing countries are encouraged to learn from the historical experiences of developed nations, understanding that the path to economic development is not linear and varies significantly based on a country’s specific context.
“By providing this historical and critical analysis, I dare Nigeria’s leaders and economic policymakers to not be afraid to challenge conventional economic wisdom and call for a more nuanced and historically informed approach to economic development policy, especially for developing countries.
“There is now an urgent need for policy diversity and experimentation,
making it incumbent on policymakers to acknowledge that strategies successful in one country may not be universally applicable.”
Amadi argued that the ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to economic policy is a reminder that development is a complex, multifaceted process that cannot be reduced to simple formulas or models.
