Corruption and Insecurity in Nigeria: a Fight Against the Development of Industrial Technology

Corruption and Insecurity in Nigeria: a Fight Against the Development of Industrial Technology

CHAPTER ONE

Research Objectives

To determine the Major Causes underdevelopment of industrial technology in Nigeria.
To determine if Corruption and Insecurity Explains the Other Discussed Causes of underdevelopment of industrial technology in Nigeria.

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

Clarification of Concepts

SOCIAL VALUES

Broadly speaking, social values refer to commonly held principles, ideas or standards that are good, cherished by a given group of people and which the people make legitimate efforts to fulfil. Simply put, values refer to desirable conditions or state of affairs that are worth pursuing. Values mirror what a society considers important, significant that it devotes its energies (mental and physical) to realise the preferred state. What the people glorify, admire, applaud indicate to a significant extent what the values of that society are. In Nigeria today, the craze for materialism, e. to own several duplexes, have a fleet of state of the art cars, stupendous bank account, expensive dresses and jewelleries, travel to India to treat any manner of ailment even headaches, occupy political offices, are the predominant values (see Nnonyelu, 2009). That explains why some Nigerians do all sorts of things to get rich, even kidnapping their parents for ransom. The Nigerian society places so much premium on riches, wealth, no matter how ill gotten. The number of chieftaincy titles given to these men of wealth is an eloquent testimony to our regrettable attachment to money. We worship, glorify and adore money so much that anyone who is wealthy is seen as next to God. Even in the churches, he is respected, appeased, given the front seat, as the pastors try to outdo one, following the gospel of prosperity, while also rushing to possess private airplanes, Limousines and brand new cars. Values are people’s aspirations about the way things should be done, they are their reported preferred practises (House, Jaridan, Dorfman, and Hanges, 2007). Nigerians want everything for themselves, without really working for it. Nigerian values have been held hostage by vulgar materialism. Given the emergence of such a value orientation, a new national disease called the sudden wealth syndrome or “affluenza” has completely eroded our traditional values of hard work, dedication to duty, humility, honesty, love patriotism, sense of community and brotherhood (see Nnonyelu, 2009). In discussing the correlation between social values, corruption and insecurity, there is a tendency to situate corruption or insecurity in the given cultural matrix of a society. This has not been without controversy. However, we seek to demonstrate that a proper understanding of the forms, trend and dynamics of corruption would entail an understanding of its material basis, history, emergence, causes and sustenance. How did corruption develop in Nigeria? What circumstances or events flowered it? How does it become indigenised or domesticated, that the nation is now seen as a signpost of corruption? How does corruption breed insecurity?

CHAPTER THREE

UNDERDEVELOPMENT OF INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY IN NIGERIA

Factors that Instigate Underdevelopment in Nigeria

Countless scholars, statesmen and intellectuals of all disciplines have attempted to suggest several causal factors that directly or indirectly instigate underdevelopment in Africa and more specifically in Nigeria. Most continue to point out colonialism and imperialism as being the most complicit causal factors, as Grundy opines in his 1966 article “African explanations underdevelopment of industrial technology: The theoretical basis for political action”, the consensus among African leaders seems to involve an inextricable link between underdevelopment and colonialism and imperialism. According to Grundy, West African leaders openly proclaim that their underdevelopment is as a consequence of western colonial exploitations. However, this paper takes a different view on the topic, and suggests that corruption and insecurity are the fundamental causal factors underdevelopment of industrial technology in Nigeria and Africa today. Corruption and insecurity are the two greatest problems plaguing Nigeria today, and they both feed each other in a combinative manner that ultimately fosters underdevelopment. Awojbi and Nathaniel argue that the case for colonialism as responsible for the African condition no longer carries any weight, because several developing nation-states such as India and Mexico endured colonialism as well and yet have made considerable progress towards industrialization and development, they noted that Nigeria has been plagued by lack of development for over fifty years since independence and therefore insist that the real problem confronting African leaders today is the high level of corruption in all spheres of public and private enterprises in their states.³² Corruption continues to be one of the major driving forces behind the level of political, bureaucratic and institutional ineptitude that exists in Nigeria today. Public and private officials strive everywhere to enrich themselves and their families at the expense of the masses, this phenomenon is definitely complex and its cultural character is explored more fully with the use of constructivism in chapter four.

CHAPTER FOUR

ANALYSIS OF CORRUPTION AND INSECURITY ON UNDERDEVELOPMENT OF INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY IN NIGERIA

Social Background underdevelopment of industrial technology in Nigeria

Nigeria is a multi-cultural society with over five-hundred ethnic groups that speak over five hundred different languages. Of these groups, the hausa, the igbo, and the yoruba are the three largest groups. English is the official language since 1960. Ethnicity has been a very essential component of Nigeria‟s political history. As highlighted in the previous chapter, upon achieving political independence from Great Britain, Nigeria quickly adopted a democracy that was decidedly divided along ethnic lines. Ethnic politics has been an established mechanism for power in Nigeria ever since. Kalejaiye and Aliyu (2013) emphasize the role of ethnicity as a sociological cause of Nigeria‟s underdevelopment. They highlight the historical clashes between various ethnic groups in the urban cities over economic dividends and note that these clashes in turn drove the ethnic groups further apart from each other until there were clear palpable political and social rifts between the various ethnic groups in the country.

CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

Summary

Nigeria is a resource-rich country with massive potential for success. It is the world‟s 12^th largest producer of crude-oil and possesses the 10^th largest proven reserves of the commodity world-wide. The nation is also endowed with huge human potential with an estimated population of 180million people. The nation also boasts a vast array of natural resources like tin, silver, ore, gold, columbite, and coal. However despite these potentials, Nigeria continues to suffer from a lack of development. Mismanagement, incompetence, violence, distrust, and corruption have all played starring roles in hindering the progress of the country.

The evidence for Nigeria‟s underdevelopment is abundant. The nation‟s social infrastructure is largely decrepit, its roads are in very unhealthy conditions, electricity supply is sub-standard and even in the largest urban cities like lagos and port-harcourt electricity is still constantly load-shed. Unemployment is also widespread in the country as university graduates struggle to gain employment regardless of qualification, likewise admission into tertiary institutions are excruciatingly difficult as secondary school leavers struggle to find their way into universities and polytechnics. Where this ultimately leaves us, is confronting a country where little if anything functions at world-class standards.

In mainstream scholarship, a lot of probable causes have been put forward as perhaps fully or partially responsible for the Nigerian under-developmental challenge, prominent among these are; colonialism, poverty, corruption, ethnicity, illiteracy and many others. These reasons all have valid sociological claims to being the root causes of the nation‟s underdevelopment. Nonetheless, of these aforementioned candidates, corruption and insecurity seem the primary causes underdevelopment of industrial technology in Nigeria. The reason is not just because they are the most salient, that is a debatable claim in itself, but corruption and insecurity stand as the only two problems that could themselves effectively explain most of the other problems as well as statistically show that they directly undermine the nation‟s ability to progress economically and politically.

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