Several events have affected and shaped the way the Nigerian economic system has been practiced, thus, the model of the Nigerian economic system and practice has metamorphosed over time, facing series of developments and changes from pre-colonial time to colonial time. Some of these events include Pandemics, the discovery of oil, Structural adjustment program (SAP), the political economy, etc.
The presence of pandemics is not a new phenomenon as there have been several cases over the years that have ravaged the world in general and Nigeria in particular. An example is the Spanish flu which happened decades back. During the 1918 influenza, the imperial government’s political economy influenced politics and policies which affected public health and caused a transformation in the economic practices. The most recent and of course the current pandemic is the Corona Virus, also known as Covid19 which broke out in late 2019 through 2020 (and it is still in existence). The presence of a new pandemic, more often than not, results in the introduction of new public policies, economic measures, etc, that would affect the economy and causes a transformation in the political economy. Nigeria as a nation would need to look into her political and economic policies and practices vis à vis the Corona Virus pandemic and the attendant nationwide lock-down policy as a measure to contain or combat the plague, which has unarguably played down on the economy of the country in general.
Also, with the discovery of oil and its exploration and exploitation in the 1970s, the political economy and economic system witnessed a change that tilted the economy more towards a capitalist structure. During the SAP period, Nigeria was on a journey into the mainstream of western capitalism which affected her political economy.
In 2017, the Nigerian economy saw a paradigm shift when the Economic Growth and Recovery Plan was published by the Ministry of Budget and Planning. This plan had intricacies of capitalist free market functions and the engaging of private sector investments. It also had socialist ideas such as having a government planned economy and community-based/humanitarian economy thus making the Nigerian economic system in theory a mixed economy. With the presence of COVID 19 in Nigeria early 2020, transformations have begun to be evident in the Nigerian capitalism and political economy.
In conclusion, there have been changes in the Nigerian Economic system, some of the changes were as a result of different events.
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NOTABLE EVENTS AND CHANGES IN THE NIGERIAN ECONOMIC SYSTEM AND PRACTICE
- m Black death to Corona Virus: A summary of the study of Pandemic/global disease plague And their impact on the society 1345-2019
- https://nokviews.com/2020/03/19/from-black-death-to-corona-virus-a-summary-of-the-study-of-pandemic-global-disease-plague-and-their-impact-on-the-society-1800-2019/
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