Developmental State Discourses Recalibrating the Candidature of the Nigerian State

Abstract

Many countries in Asia, which were at par with Nigeria in terms of economic development at Independence in 1960, have since overtaken Nigeria in almost every economic development index. Whereas Nigeria has experimented with various notable economic and political ideologies, including socialism, capitalism and the eclectic mid-path called mixed economy, none has been able to substantially address Nigeria’s developmental challenges nor enabled it catch up with its Asian counterparts. Several studies attribute the Asian countries’ economic development ‘miracle’ to the state’s strategic role in their nation’s development agenda, resulting in what is now referred to as developmental state. This paper, therefore, takes a critical examination of the nature and character of the Nigerian state, its seemingly irresponsiveness to developmental treatments, apparent immunity to multi-sectoral development, and its prospects of attaining a developmental state status. The study is anchored on the logical deductions and assumptions of the Developmental State theory. We deployed documentary method and content-analysis for data collection and analysis, respectively. The paper concludes on a note of optimism that although the Nigeria state may have lost its golden opportunity to become developmental, the emergence of a truly national leader with appropriate policies on socio-economic, structural and institutional engineering, coupled with the resources and resilience of the country, the road to its transformation into a developmental state—though not too rosy—is clear, straight and navigable.