State Capture, Environment and Nigeria’s Political Economy

Abstract

This work examines the incidence of state capture of the Nigerian environment by the ambitious military leaders. This, the work argues, is a major cause of the prevailing poverty and underdevelopment in Nigeria. It accentuates the thinking that the capture of the environment and its underutilization resulted in a mono-cultural economy which narrowed the economic space for the people. The work articulates the point that the decisions taken by the military such as: the transfer of the control of natural resources to the federal government; adoption of a unitary model of government, and the operation of a one product economy resulted in exclusionary politics and internal colonialism. The work sees the state capture as counterproductive, as it violated the historical and developmental achievements of the country. Finally, the work suggests the need for the current civilian administration to revisit the Land Use Act 1978, with a view to returning the control and exploitation of the environment/ natural resources to states where they are located, and for the states in turn to mobilize them for domestic industrialization process, as a way of promoting socio-economic advancement and diversification of the economy.