A Popperian Perspective on Nigeria's Economic Development Question

by Open Science Repository Philosophy
(February 2015)

Abstract

Not long after most African countries gained political independence in the 1960s from their colonial masters, the new African leaders realized they needed to match their political independence with economic self-reliance. But the leaders were too engrossed with power tussle against their local rivals to be able to mount economic infrastructure to support their political independence.

The new leaders, therefore, sought and obtained and relied on the economic expertise, economic ideologies and aids from their colonial masters. This bred the economic dependency of the new African States. This economic dependency has persisted and has become rationalized and formalized as the given by the Western-dominated international economic and financial institutions. This paper questions such false given and employs Karl Popper’s critical philosophy as a recipe to the philosophical questions in the country’s economic development matrix. Popper’s philosophy eschews political and economic blue-prints or idealisms and advocates problem-solving activity of the piece meal social engineer. It is argued that Popper’s critical philosophy proffers intellectual guide to help Nigeria to evolve a home-grown development paradigm.

Keywords: Popper, question, Nigeria, perspective, economic development.

Full text

A Popperian Perspective on Nigeria's Economic Development Question