The Impact of North-South Relationship on Development Strategies and Investment Policies in Nigeria

Abstract

The quest for development has been the bane of successive administrationsof the  Nigerian state since her emergence on the global stage having been subjugated under the  weight of Western capitalist imperialism through colonialism. In spite of the lofty ideas  expressed in development plans, programmes and strategies, the realization of a better  life for her people remains elusive. Several factors both internal and external have been  saidto be responsible for this age-long failure. Amongst the internal factors are:  leadership failure, corruption, weak institutions, national question, etc; while colonial  experience and the nature of the international political economic order are reoccurring  terms on the external factors. This paper whilstemploying thesecondary sources of data,  adopts a qualitative methodology which was mainly descriptive in analysis, sought to  interrogate using the Dual-Development Thesis of the Dependency Theory the  overbearing influence of the global economic order based on the dominance and control  of the developed capitalist Global North on these development efforts. It finally,  concluded that, the dominance-dependence relationship inherent in the North-South  system into which the Nigerian state had been integrated through the processes of  Western imperialism whichcontinued to be reinforced and sustained through the global  economic structure, has constituted a critical impeding factor to the overall effectiveness  of development programmes and strategies in Nigeria as it has compromised and raised  the capacity question of whether Nigeria can ever be able to develop a home-based  solution for its developmental challenges.This paper is of the view therefore, that  Nigeria’s political leaders must come to the realization of their disadvantaged positions  in the global economic order,which has great systemic impact on developmental  programmes and  as well as, been able to mobilize  resources within its control to  overcoming these problems.Finally, a redirection for a more focus and a  relationship(South-South relationship) will be of a better advantage in the long run but  this must be done with the utmost caution