Nigerian Industry Research Articles

Government and the Decline of the Nigerian Oil-Palm Export Industry, 1919–1939

Between 1900 and 1925 the British Government evolved a policy concerning agricultural development in West Africa by which expatriate-owned plantations, especially for oil palms, were excluded. This prohibition created as many problems as it solved, for the Nigerian Government in particular faced the problem of competition in the international palm-oil and kernel market from plantations in South-east Asia and the Belgian Congo. In the 1920s the Nigerian Government went to considerable effort to entice British capitalists to invest in palm-oil processing (but not production), but to no avail. In the 1930s the Government concentrated on trying to rehabilitate the oil-palm industry by encouraging the establishment of small, native-owned plantations, improving native methods of oil extraction and controlling the quality of palm-oil and kernel exports. This policy was beset with difficulties of finance, inadequate research and the effects on land tenure systems. It failed, and the Nigerian palm-oil export industry lost its place in the world market.British trusteeship does not appear to have been a positive policy as far as economic development was concerned. It created a dilemma which the colonial authorities were not equipped to solve in the economic and political context of the inter-war period.

Capital Accumulation and Technology Transfer: a comparative analysis of Nigerian manufacturing industries

Capital Accumulation and Technology Transfer: a comparative analysis of Nigerian manufacturing industries

The Nigerian Oil Palm Industry

The Nigerian Oil Palm Industry

OIL AND NIGERIA'S ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

OVER THE PAST fifteen years the Nigerian petroleum industry has grown by leaps and bounds. Both production and exports have increased enormously since commercial production began in 1958. For example, crude oil output increased from a mere 257,000 tonnes in 1958 to 112-8 million tonnes in 1974; while exports rose from 230,000 tonnes to 110 million tonnes during the same period (see Table 1, p. 313). At the same time crude oil reserves have increased significantly from a mere 17 million tonnes in 1958 to 4,800 million tonnes in 1974; while proved and probable reserves in fields already discovered are now of the order of 7,000 million tonnes. Besides crude oil huge reserves of natural gas, both associated and non-associated, have been discovered in Nigeria and these were estimated at about 45,000 billion cubic feet at the end of 1974.' What is more, the prospects of finding more reserves of crude oil and natural gas are good because only a relatively small proportion of the possible oilbearing strata in Nigeria-both onshore and offshore-has so far been investigated. In this respect, it is significant that over half of Nigeria's surface area of 357,000 square miles is covered by sedimentary basins where oil-bearing rocks are most likely to be found. These basins cover most of Eastern and Mid-Western Nigeria and extend northwards to the confluence of the Niger and Benue rivers. From there one arm of the basin extends in a north-easterly direction along the banks of the Benue River to the Chad Basin, while the other arm extends in a north-westerly direction, along the valleys of the Niger River, to Sokoto Province and beyond. Similar geological features also extend far into the continental shelf2. In a recent report to the British Government, the International Management and Engineering Group (IMEG) commented that 'offshore Niger Delta is regarded as one of the most prolific oil-producing prospects in the world, and the excellent quality of its crude and Nigeria's relative proximity to markets in Western Europe, North and South America, should ensure that it will continue to be a major area of offshore interest and activity'.3

The Nigerian Oil Palm Industry: Government Policy and Export Production, 1906-1965

The Nigerian Oil Palm Industry: Government Policy and Export Production, 1906-1965

Problems of Initiating Industrial Labour in Preindustrial Community.

In the newly developing countries, there are areas still remote from industrialization, where the people have imbibed very little industrial culture. Sometimes too, such areas offer bright opportunities for introducing industrial enterprises and then the necessity for initiation and commitment of the people to wage employment arises. It is supposed that in the mode of introduction and commitment of labour either by progressive policy or non-policy can be rooted some of the intriguing problems of labour productivity, response to incentive systems and some negative patterns of attitudes to work and industrial cooperation in the developing countries. The introduction of industrial labour in a preindustrial community starts with the acquisition of land for setting up the industrial enterprise. This equally requires careful handling, otherwise the interaction between the land-owning community and the initiated local labour could generate a permanent pattern of internal and external relations that could be embarrassing to the development and growth of the enterprise to be established. Enugu Coal-Mining Industry in Nigeria offers a very interesting case for this kind of problem. It was originally a Government operated enterprise run as a Government department but was later converted to autonomous statutory corporation. This fact makes it more apt for this kind of study, because the newly industrializing countries place a lot of faith on state-operated industrial enterprises or joint enterprises between private and state capital for quick industrialization. Industries taking advantage of the potentialities of little explored territories may benefit from acquaintance with the kind of experiences outlined here. Enugu in which the Nigerian Coal Industry is situated is the capital of East Central State of Nigeria or of Eastern Nigeria before the Civil War. It is situated at over i 000 feet above sea level on Udi Plateau which is the height of a general gradual rise from the south-west from the River Niger basin and the south and south-east from the sea coast and the Cross River basin respectively.

Adapting Dawson's Traditional versus Western Attitudes Scale and Presenting Some New Information from Africa

This paper extends work on a compound scale of Traditional and Western values, developed by Dawson (1967) in Sierra Leone. Eighteen topics yield scores on westernness of response for each topic; overall subscale scores for approval of Traditional and Western items are also available. Two groups of respondents are manual workers and clerks, in a South Nigerian industry. Differences from Dawson's studies include: some shortening and changes in the scale; ‘logicality’ in the responses received, in that approval of western items by a group is accompanied by some rejection of traditional ones; lack of whole‐scale high correlations between western attitudes and rated work efficiency. It is suggested that the method of presentation differed between the two studies and may have affected results. An element of comprehension may have affected Dawson's studies which could be partly responsible for strong correlations between measures of attitude and work efficiency; this element of comprehension may not have been so salient in the present study. A similarity with Dawson's findings is that some signs of ‘resurgence’ of less western views is found among some more (western‐)educated people. There is also similar evidence of dissimilar attitudes being held at once by certain groups, on certain topics. The overall design of Dawson's device is presented as being very useful and capable of suggesting sensitive pointers to an area of study which may question one of the basic assumptions of balance or consistency theories of attitudes.