A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE PERFORMANCE OF NIGERIA’S ECONOMY IN TWO DIFFERENT DECADES: A FOCUS ON THE 1970s AND 1980s

Abstract

This paper examines the nature and performance of Nigeria’s economy in two different decades – the 1970s and 1980s. Nigeria’s economic history has often been studied within three time-frames - pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial. Over-use of these periods has not only made scholarship monotonous but has also foreclosed the prospect of making new and useful discoveries through the use of alternative analytical time frames. This major loophole is what this paper intends to address. It does this by studying Nigerian economic history in decades. Decades are not only manageable time frames, but are also periods long enough to allow the capturing of changes and continuities. Interestingly, each decade in Nigerian economic history especially since political independence, has been characterized by new developments, prospects and challenges. Consequently, the economy has not performed the same way in each of the decades. There is need for scholars to find out the decades in which the economy witnessed growth and development, and those in which it performed poorly. The essence is to find discard-able, modifiable and recyclable economic policies and structures, with a view of tackling present economic challenges, and improving on general economic performance. This necessitates a comparative study of two or more specific decades. Although each decade has been characterized by new compelling developments and issues, which naturally commend themselves to research, the 1970s and 80s however were more intriguing, and are often seen as the hey-days of the Nigerian economy. The paper adopts a historical method, combining both quantitative and qualitative analytical approaches with data drawn from primary and secondary sources. It finds that one decade is only better than the other judging by specific parameters and not in absolute term. Based on most of the parameters used, the economy appears to have performed better in the 1970s.