Nigeria’s Debt Burden and the Challenges of Economic Development

A Discourse in Third World Profiling.

Abstract

Nigeria, with a population of over 200 million people, is a resource-rich country that has been grappling with significant debt burden despite its vast natural resources occasioned by the activities of external actors. This has affected its international image. The origin of her indebtedness is traced to the 1970s when the country began borrowing extensively to finance various development projects. Since then, the trend has continued unabated with profound implications on her national life. This study therefore investigated Nigeria's debt burden and the challenges of economic development with an eye on the theoretical debate on external interest in profiling of third world states. The study was divided into three main subsections respectively. It examined the resource curse theory and other theoretics that help explore the phenomenon under investigation. The study employed a mixed-method approach to examine the dialectical relationship between external interest in Nigeria’s domestic affairs and her debt burden and the implications of this on her overall economic development efforts vi-s-a-viz its profiling among the comity of nations. It adopted qualitative and quantitative analysis of data. Results from the study show that Nigeria's debt accumulation, driven by government misdirected spending, resulting from the nature and character of economic policies that are rooted in external interests has negative implications for economic development. While debt is utilized as a tool for financing development projects, its mismanagement and resultant excessive accumulation in Nigeria resulting from the gimmicks of external interest hinders sustainable development and exacerbate socio-economic inequalities. Thus, the study recommended, strengthening institutional capacity to manage borrowed funds; investment in critical sectors to enhance socio-economic independence, and prudent debt management, transparency, and accountability to mitigate the adverse effects of excessive borrowing in Nigeria and other third world states which has conditioned her image in the international arena.