Under Development and Dependency: The Case of Nigeria

Under development and dependency are two words that are inter-related, underdevelopment gives rise to dependency. We all know that these concepts are prevalent in Nigeria as a developing country. It is certain that Nigeria is an independent country, but it does not possessed the trappings of an independent country since the super structures that formed the society and State are controlled from outside the shores of Nigeria. Literally, Nigeria is independent but in practical terms, Nigeria is dependent on foreign influences of our colonial masters who tele-guide everything Nigeria does politically, economically, socially and culturally. Politically, Nigeria adopted British style of governance and currently American style. Economically, Nigeria adopted capitalism which is controlled by foreigners and has contributed in crippling Nigerian economy, socially and culturally. Nigerians copy foreign ways and values and our own ways and values are pushed to the background and suffer inferiority complex to the foreign ways and values. Nigeria falls back to the western Nations for loans and grants which have made us debtor and dependent nation to the west. One can go on and on without end. This paper therefore, attempt to look at the case of Nigeria as it relates to the concepts of underdevelopment and dependency. The paper adopted the Historical/ Descriptive and Prescriptive approaches in the discussion. The layout is as follows: Introduction, Synopses, X-ray the problems thrown up by underdevelopment and dependency in Nigeria and finally, the prognoses.