Nigeria’s Unfinished Quest for Economic Independence

Nigeria was not navigating this decolonization process alone. By 1960, 15 African countries had also gained their independence. Across the continent, economic independence was at the forefront of the minds of nationalist leaders, as they recognized that political independence without administrative and economic independence was worthless. Economic control, in particular, was critical because as US diplomat, Leslie Rood, noted in his 1976 essay ‘Nationalization and Indigenization in Africa’, under colonial rule, foreign interests had dominated Africa’s economies, leaving little room for indigenous enterprise development. Further, in 1985, Adebayo Adedeji, a former Nigerian Federal Commissioner for Economic Development and 1975-1991 executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, described the typical post-independence African economy as having a three-tier structure. At the top tier were Europeans who operated as the heads of industry. In the middle rung were Asians and Lebanese who acted as middlemen controlling wholesale and large distribution outfits. Then, at the very bottom were Africans who made up the bulk of labour services and operated in petty trading.