NIGERIA 1914: WILL DEVELOPING ECONOMIES EVER BE TERMED DEVELOPED?

NIGERIA 1914: WILL DEVELOPING ECONOMIES EVER BE TERMED DEVELOPED?

 Francis Akenami

I woke up this morning with a thought in my mind - the burden faced by Nigerian Governor’s in providing world class critical infrastructure for improved quality of life and take-off of our economies. A State Governor in a developed nation, where the UK and USA, readily come to mind is faced, mostly only with policy initiatives aimed at boosting the economy and creating jobs, in addition to maintaining and improving infrastructure which in most cases may have been there for the past 100 -150 years.


I started researching the names of some governors that presided over the affairs of New York State. On November 6, 1900, Benjamin B. Odell Jr., a Republican was elected to preside over New York State, as Governor. I tried to see if New York State over 100 years ago was comparable development wise to any Nigerian State at the moment, the answer is no. It was what we will want to be in the future.
I decided to consider nations; great idea, I thought. Nigeria came into being in 1914, through the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates by Lord Lugard. So, that was ground zero for Nigeria. What was the United States of America like, then? Below is what I found. The history of the United States shows that between 1865-1918, it was already the world's dominant economic, industrial and agricultural power.

The preceding now brings my main question, will developing nations ever be termed developed? Will we continue to play catch-up perpetually? Going by history, is it possible to hold our African Presidents and Governor’s to deliver at the same high standards at which western leaders deliver? Is there really a pathway to catch-up?

History of the United States (1865–1918)
The History of the United States (1865–1918) covers Reconstruction, the Gilded Age, and the Progressive Era, and includes the rise of industrialization and the resulting surge of immigration in the United States. This period of rapid economic growth and soaring prosperity in North and West (but not the South) saw the U.S. become the world's dominant economic, industrial and agricultural power. The average annual income (after inflation) of nonfarm workers grew by 75% from 1865 to 1900, and then grew another 33% by 1918.

With a decisive victory in 1865 over Southern secessionists in the Civil War, the United States became a united and powerful nation with a strong national government. Reconstruction brought the end of slavery and citizenship for the former slaves, but their political power was later rolled back and they became second-class citizens under a "Jim Crow" system of segregation. Politically the nation in the Third Party System and Fourth Party System was mostly dominated by Republicans (except for two Democratic presidents). After 1900 the Progressive Era brought political and social reforms, such as new roles for education and a higher status for women, and modernized many areas of government and society. The progressives worked through new middle class organizations to fight against the corruption and behind-the-scenes power of entrenched state party organizations and big city machines. They demanded --and obtained in 1920--votes for women and the prohibition of alcohol.
In an unprecedented wave of European immigration, 27.5 million new arrivals between 1865 and 1918 provided the labor base for the expansion of industry and agriculture and provided the population base for most of fast-growing urban America.
By the late nineteenth century, the United States had become a leading global industrial power, building on new technologies (such as the telegraph and steel), an expanding railroad network, and abundant natural resources such as coal, timber, oil and farmland, to usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.

There were two important wars. The US easily defeated Spain in 1898, which unexpectedly brought a small empire. Cuba quickly was given independence, and eventually also the Philippines in 1946. Puerto Rico and (and some smaller islands) became permanent possessions, as did Alaska, added by purchase in 1867, and the independent Republic of Hawaii, was annexed to the United States in 1898.
The United States tried and failed to broker a peace settlement for World War I, then entered the war to oppose German militarism. After a slow mobilization the U.S. produced a decisive Allied victory thanks to American financial, agricultural, industrial and military strength.