Economic Reform And National Development: A Comparative Analysis Of Nigeria And China, 1999 - 2010

ABSTRACT

Economic reforms are the different macroeconomic and microeconomic policies designed by the government to redress the distortion in the economy of any nation. It is important to mention that Economic reform is not peculiar to Nigeria alone. Almost all countries the world over have undertaken different forms of economic reforms at one time of the other. The contents and strategy of reforms have varied from country to country depending on the circumstance of each country. One of the countries that have consistently implemented economic reform policies in recent time is China. The rapid rise of China as a major economic power within a time span of about 30 years is often described by analysts as one of the greatest economic success stories in modern times. The Nigerian government over the years has embarked on several economic reforms aimed at bettering the lives of its citizenry but these policies have always failed to live up to their projections. This study attempts to answer the following questions; has the economic reforms impacted on National Development in Nigeria and China? Policy inconsistencies and policy consistency is implicated in the economic reforms failure in Nigeria and success in China? The Political economy approach as propounded by Karl Marx was employed as our theoretical framework. The Marxian political economy approach also known as dialectical materialism places emphasis/primacy on material or economic conditions of society. It is premised on the belief that man is dominantly motivated by economic needs. Using this approach, this study attempt to look at the factors which made the economic reforms in China to be successful and has led to national development, while the same attempt by Nigeria to carry out economic reforms have always met with failure. Methodologically, the study adopted Ex-post-facto research design, field observation technique which invariably led to the sourcing of data through primary and secondary sources and our data was analyzed using content analysis. Findings revealed that due to policy consistency and strong leadership, China economic reform led to economic growth that impacted on national development. Chinese elites adopted an inward looking, ‘trial and error’ method or what can be called gradualism. The reform process in Nigeria was marred by policy inconsistencies. Aside this, the reform process has also been dodged with problems and controversies. We recommend that the government of Nigeria should be consistent with making and implementing economic policies that will impact on national development. The Government of China has to make sure that huge amount of revenue pouring into the country is not restricted to few individuals as it is obtainable in Nigeria, rather the Chinese leadership should make sure that these revenues get down to the masses through a trickledown effect in the form employments and incentives to boost private initiatives.