Dependence and Underdevelopment in Africa
Chapter One
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The broad objective of this study is to interrogate the link between dependency and underdevelopment in Nigeria, especially the study is aimed at;
- Ascertaining the link between dependency and underdevelopment in Africa
- Ascertaining that foreign aid is responsible for underdevelopment in Africa
- Determining if accountability and transparent leadership are capable of engendering development in Nigeria
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
INTRODUCTION
The term underdevelopment is used in the social sciences to refer to certain areas of the world; it gained prominence in the late 1940’s. Prior to this time, other derogatory terms has been used to quality and describe these areas as meier has noted, in the 18th century, such terms as “rude” and barbarous were used to describe countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. In the 19th century, those terms were dropped in favour of new terms such as “backward” and primitive”. In the 20th century, especially after the end of world war if the previous terms were equally abandoned in their places, new terms such as “underdevelopment” and “developing” were used. At the inoment, it has been suggested in some quarters that such tenures as “less developed”, “developing”, “poor”, and emergent countries should used instead of underdeveloped countries. The reason for this suggestion as spotlighted by Walter Rodney, “is to avoid any unpleasantness which may be attached to it” and which may be interpreted as including such physical deformities as mental and moral underdevelopment. It is also been suggested that the previous derogatory terms should be dropped in favour of less offensive or mild ones such as “developing” or emergent. This is perceived as a calculated design or ploy by the west to mask or common flag economic stagnation and exploration exists in underdeveloped areas. It is contended for instance that the application of such terms as “developing” instead of underdeveloped gives an erroneous impression, that these countries are changing positively and thus are developing and that if the right policies are implemented, sooner or later these countries will definitely catch up with the developed countries of the world. In view of this assumption, the Marxist Theorist prefer to use the term “underdevelopment” to describe the less developed parts of the world. The reason for this is that the term “underdevelopment” is believed to be best concept that can apply describe the state of stagnation and exploitation that is prevalent in these societies. We now shall examine the meaning of the concept of underdevelopment. Underdevelopment the Liberal Perspective The liberal scholars conceive of underdevelopment in terms of backwardness and primitivity. This explains why it is common for them to use the term “agrarian” and pre-industrial to in apply underdeveloped parts of the world. Implicit in this conception of underdevelopment is the fact that it is a natural or original condition, which has existed from fine immoral. In other words it is believed by the bourgeois scholars that underdevelopment is not caused by an external factor but rather is induced by internal variable. Pulating the above, it is the alternative explanation which is equally offered to support the view that underdevelopment is a natural process. In this view, it is stated that development and underdevelopment are natural process ordained by God. It is contended that the developed parts of the world have been endowed by God with wisdom and high intelligence quotient (IQ). This explains why they are superior and advanced. On the other hand, the same God is said to have created the underdeveloped societies differently. He makes them to be culturally and psychologically interior, which is said to be responsible for their state of backwardness. It is important to state that even though the bourgeois scholars are agreed on the fact that natural and internal forces causes underdevelopment, there is no agreement with respect to which internal variable actually bring it about. According to Ragna Nurke in his work “problems of capital accumulation in poor countries; a country is backward and poor because it is poor. This represents a vicious circle of poverty that “runs from low income productivity and then back to real income. In his own contribution, Richard Eastern line attributed underdevelopment to the eliminate, over population and lack of motivation on the part of the population. Other scholars still blame the situation on radical grounds, peasant’s conservation, and strong attachments to tribal customs such as extended family and hand fame system.
In view of the fact bourgeois scholars attribute underdevelopment to internal factors, this has influenced how they defined it. According to them it can be defined as a natural state of social, psychological, political land economic backwardness occasioned by natural and internal milieu. This definition leads the liberal scholars to postulate that the way out of this backwardness is through modernization. That is “Europeanization” or “Americanization” of the economy in order to stimulate growth and progress. Underdevelopment: The Marxist Perspective.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to dependence and underdevelopment in Africa
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items, things the researcher is interested in getting information dependence and underdevelopment in Africa. 200 staff of National Bureau of statistics in Lagos state was selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain dependence and underdevelopment in Africa
In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of dependence and underdevelopment in Africa
Summary
This study was on dependence and underdevelopment in Africa. Three objectives were raised which included: Ascertaining the link between dependency and underdevelopment in Africa, ascertaining that foreign aid is responsible for underdevelopment in Africa, determining if accountability and transparent leadership are capable of engendering development in Nigeria. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 staff of national bureau of statistics in Lagos state. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made up statisticians, administrative officers, senior staff and junior staff was used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
In a nutshell, the development gap between the developed (core) and the underdeveloped (periphery) countries has remained an issue among development experts, academicians, politicians and students of development studies. Various development theories of different nature- meta and micro narratives on development have been advanced but the gap between the developed and the underdeveloped countries is widening by days. Various factors have been advanced for African underdevelopment comprising both endogenous and exogenous factors of colonialism and the scramble for African continent, world capitalist, corruption, geographical location and weak institutions. Despite the above causes, there is still hope for Africa’s development through the options of culture and development nexus, emphasis on strong institutions in African countries, transfer of technology, strategic positioning of themselves in the world capitalist system.
Recommendation
This research recommends that:
- African political and economic scholars should stop fixing blame; instead, they should fix the problem. For instance, they should bring to fore that fact that African leaders have connived within themselves and conspired to squeeze dry the orange and then discard it. Maybe that is why they save their monies abroad; have their investments over there too. Even though it is obvious that the whites (Europeans) exploited Africa, some would say that they are still exploiting us; this paper revealed that the exploitation of Africa by Africans for the past 50 year plus is what has kept Africa down. They have blamed the whites enough and allowing our leaders to hide behind this misleads to keep exploiting us and at the same time miseducated the masses. Let us fix our problems instead of fixing blame because the colonial masters have left officially and the blame and glory is ours now alone to share
- In fixing our problems, African leaders should invest in their home countries. This is necessary because without investment, unemployment thrives; poverty, hunger and starvation looms large and most importantly, underdevelopment soars higher than the eagles. The Billions of Dollars stashed away in foreign banks are what suppose to established companies; recruit people; services their payment; provide essential amenities that will make life worth living. Without these monies in the African soil, Africa can never development. Therefore, if Africa most develops, they most develop themselves by investing all their monies in their land. This is the only way to achieve the internal growth policy that Andre Gunder Frank proposed. Therefore, African/Nigerian leaders should repatriate those monies lodged in foreign Bank accounts and use them to develop their land by investing their lands under their names. As a matter of policy, the stolen monies of the African leaders if traced anywhere oversea should be confiscated by the authorities of that country. This point was what Rodney was decrying about when he lamented ‘captives were shipped outside, instead of being utilized within any given Africa community for creating wealth from nature; hence to achieve economic development, one essential condition is to make the maximum use of the country’s labour and natural resources. The shipping of slaves outside Africa he talked about aptly represents the lodging of their loots in foreign accounts, instead of using them to develop Africa
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