CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1        Background of the Study
The staggered economic development that has characterised Nigeria and in fact most developing countries, especially those in Sub-Saharan Africa is conceived by many as the outcome of leadership failure. Developing countries are undergoing a widening split in terms of development, with some recording spectacular improvements in the standard of living of their peoples; expansion in urban housing, public health, modern transportation, industrialisation, and overall growth of their national economies, while others have unfortunately, not achieved much since independence, despite having similar and even more favourable circumstances, compared to those countries which have made outstanding progress. Nigeria as one of them has become a focal point and case studies in many scholarly researches for obvious reasons. At independence, Nigeria was viewed in the international scene as the giant of Africa with very high expectation to drive the economy and reach the height that the European and Asian countries have reached today.
After the attainment of independence in 1960, Nigeria, like several other newly independence countries, set about to consolidate her political freedom and tackle the challenges of economic development and nation building. But many decades after independence, Nigeria is still struggling to move forward in terms of economic development in spite of its abundant natural and human resources. Hence, these have attracted the concern of the international community and experts (analysts) in international affairs who sought to know the problems and the causes of Nigeria’s economic underdevelopment. Are these problems caused by multi-ethnic configuration of the nation, if yes what about countries like India; Malaysia and Singapore? Are these problems due to large population size? Then, what about China and India? Are the problems induced by long period of colonialism, then, what about other countries like China, India, South Africa, Malaysia, Ghana, Singapore and many others who were subjected to the same form of rule.
Interestingly too, India as at that era (1960) was at par with Nigeria in terms of level of development and potentials to blossom economically. Both countries were commonly described as third World Nations or Economically Less Developed Countries (LDC). Although India had independence in 1947, thirteen (13) years earlier than Nigeria, same could not be said again of India’s socio-economic and industrial development. Some group of countries collectively called the Newly Industrialised Countries (NICs) of South and South East Asia has achieved socio-economic development such that some of them have literally been transformed from “Third World to First World” in one generation, to use the words of Lee Kuan Yew (Lee, 2000). Japan became the first Asian country to modernize, later followed by Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and South Korea after the Second World War. Lately, China and India have followed suit and broken through the barriers of low growth and economic underdevelopment. At the centre of each is quality and competent leadership committed to national development (Ajakaiye, 2007).
            In the past, despots in Africa and their intellectual cronies used to counter demands for good governance with the argument that those countries were not all that democratic and yet achieved rapid development. There is no doubt that the regimes in countries such as South Korea and Thailand was not democratic and the leaders were mostly military “strong men”. Evidence of authoritarianism in Singapore and Malaysia cannot be brushed aside. Most of these countries, with the exception of Thailand had one party or leader in office for decades. China still remains socially communist with state control over much of its citizens’ lives. Only India seems to be making it with solid democratic credentials. They have led people in the past to conclude that Africa needs strong men (dictators) to develop. But, if strong-man dictators and despots were the secret for development of the Asian success stories, then Africa should be a haven by now as it had more than its fair share of both dictators and civilian despots.