| | Ayida, capitalist, neo-colonial, Gowon government, It would be wrong to deny the possibility of capitalist development in Nigeria. But an examination of the conditions necessary for the establishment of capitalist society shows how precarious is Nigeria's strategy for the development and regulation of capitalism. This quote is from the introduction to this important collection of essays. This Review article discusses some of the propositions about the nature of Nigerian capitalist development which are contained in Williams' very substantial introductory essay (a quarter of the book) and his joint piece with Paul Collins and Terisa Turner which concludes the book. In an admirably condensed form, these two essays present a summary of Nigeria's political economy from the origin of colonial domination to the early post-1975 coup situation. Directly related to the main theme of this review is E O Akeredolu-Ale's essay on private foreign investment and the underdevelopment of indigenous entrepreneurship. I will refer only very briefly to the other contributions. |
