Abstract:
In the global world, Africa is the least developed continent compared to other continents of the world. Africa has for long depended on their colonial masters for development. African countries for decades were colonized in different parts by different countries of the world with the objective of exploiting the African economy at their expense.The Nigerian economy of the self-sufficiency became transferred to that of dependency under the colonial era, to the extent that more than half the populations were thought to be living on an everyday level of a very low order, with wide-spread hunger and disease.One of the major issues responsible for the underdevelopment of Nigeria at the early period was the partitioning and buck ionization of African states by their colonial masters.This study sets out to examine how the corruption which manifested through capitalist accumulation by the comprador bourgeoisie has placed Nigeria in a disadvantaged position in her relationship with developed countries, thereby making Nigerian economy to be dependent on foreign capital. The central questions to this study are;does the struggle for capital accumulation inhibit the industrialization of the Nigerian economy between 2000 and 2010?; does the leadership crisis resulting from the struggle for capital accumulation engender underdevelopment in Nigeria between 2000 and 2010?; and is there a positive relationship between the comprador nature of the elite and the dependent of the Nigerian economy on foreign capitalbetween 2000 and 2010?We hypothesized thatthe struggle for capital accumulation has hindered the industrialization process in Nigeria; the leadership crisis resulting from the struggle for capital accumulation has engendered underdevelopment of the Nigerian economy; and there is a positive relationship between the comprador nature of the elite and the dependent of the Nigerian economy on foreign capital.The study employed secondary sources for data collection, relied on the ex-post facto research design, and with analysis that was qualitative descriptive. Findings based on the dependency theory revealed that the struggle for capital accumulation by the Nigeria comprador bourgeoisie has led to leadership crisis and has given room for the accommodation of corrupt practices and has also hindered the industrialization process in Nigeria, and made the Nigeria’s development to be dependent on foreign capital. The study equally revealed that the Nigerian state has made so many developmental policies and plans of actions over the years, but has always been reluctant in implementing these policies due to the parochial interests of the comprador bourgeoisie who are only interested in making profit for its members.The study recommends amongst other things that the Nigerian state should put in place effective measures that can help to reduce primitive capital accumulation which is manifested through corrupt practices. The government should also put into effective action all or most of the policies and plans that have been made since independence towards industrialization of the Nigerian economy as no nation have attained developed status without being industrialized.The Nigerian state should as a matter of fact provide the basic and needed infrastructural facilities such as power, access roads, credit facilities and other conducive environment for developmental projects to be embarked upon by both the government and private or corporate bodies.
