General Abacha Vision 2010. 1993-1998
Although Vision 2010 was a well planed program for Nigeria economic development but it has been argued that what followed under Abacha were five years of unbridled dictatorship, economic mismanagement, gross human rights abuses and virtually a negation of government. Aiming from the outset to perpetuate his rule. The vision 2010 committee was commissioned by General Abacha in 1996 on three cardinal assignments. First, to constructively analyze why after more than 36 years of political independence Nigeria development as a nation in many spheres had been relatively unimpressive, especially, in relation to its potentials. Again, to envision and project where Nigeria would like to be at the time that it will …show more content…
The Committee however proceeded to ask, and answer, three questions about the Nigeria economy; viz: "Where we are, and why?" Where do we want to be?" And, "How do we get there", so that by 2010, Nigeria will be a democratic and economic developed society, committed to making the basic needs of life affordable for everyone and creating Africa's leading economy. As Aluko rightly argued, unknown to many of the “Visioners”, the moving spirit behind the Vision was to elongate the rule of Abacha, because of his alleged achievements in government during 1993-1997. The achievements were said to include; the stabilization of the political terrain, after the annulment of the June 12, 1992 elections by General Babangida and the political upheavals that followed it, leading to the exit of General Babangida and the installation and the exit of the interim administration of Chief Ernest Shonekan; the stabilization of the value of the naira and its stoppage from further devaluation; the increase in the country's foreign exchange reserves from $494 million dollars in 1993 to $9.6 billion by the middle of 1997; the improvement in the general standard of living of Nigerians during the regime; the establishment of the Petroleum Trust Fund and the improvement in the infrastructural services it occasioned; the caging of, and the reduction in the influences of the IMF/World Bank in the Nigerian economy, which reached its height during the regime of General …show more content…
By most measures, human development indicators in Nigeria were comparable to that of other least developed countries while widespread corruption undermined the effectiveness of various public institutions and its expenditure programs. Moreover, the lack of public investments in previous decades meant that there were severe infrastructural bottlenecks that hindered private sector activities. In particular, the poor condition of the power sector prior to economic reforms illustrated the severity of Nigeria’s infrastructure deficit. Per capita power consumption in Nigeria was estimated at 82 kilowatts (kW) compared with an average of 456kW in other sub Saharan African countries and 3,793kW in South Africa. (Okonjo and Kwaako
Although Vision 2010 was a well planed program for Nigeria economic development but it has been argued that what followed under Abacha were five years of unbridled dictatorship, economic mismanagement, gross human rights abuses and virtually a negation of government. Aiming from the outset to perpetuate his rule. The vision 2010 committee was commissioned by General Abacha in 1996 on three cardinal assignments. First, to constructively analyze why after more than 36 years of political independence Nigeria development as a nation in many spheres had been relatively unimpressive, especially, in relation to its potentials. Again, to envision and project where Nigeria would like to be at the time that it will …show more content…
The Committee however proceeded to ask, and answer, three questions about the Nigeria economy; viz: "Where we are, and why?" Where do we want to be?" And, "How do we get there", so that by 2010, Nigeria will be a democratic and economic developed society, committed to making the basic needs of life affordable for everyone and creating Africa's leading economy. As Aluko rightly argued, unknown to many of the “Visioners”, the moving spirit behind the Vision was to elongate the rule of Abacha, because of his alleged achievements in government during 1993-1997. The achievements were said to include; the stabilization of the political terrain, after the annulment of the June 12, 1992 elections by General Babangida and the political upheavals that followed it, leading to the exit of General Babangida and the installation and the exit of the interim administration of Chief Ernest Shonekan; the stabilization of the value of the naira and its stoppage from further devaluation; the increase in the country's foreign exchange reserves from $494 million dollars in 1993 to $9.6 billion by the middle of 1997; the improvement in the general standard of living of Nigerians during the regime; the establishment of the Petroleum Trust Fund and the improvement in the infrastructural services it occasioned; the caging of, and the reduction in the influences of the IMF/World Bank in the Nigerian economy, which reached its height during the regime of General …show more content…
By most measures, human development indicators in Nigeria were comparable to that of other least developed countries while widespread corruption undermined the effectiveness of various public institutions and its expenditure programs. Moreover, the lack of public investments in previous decades meant that there were severe infrastructural bottlenecks that hindered private sector activities. In particular, the poor condition of the power sector prior to economic reforms illustrated the severity of Nigeria’s infrastructure deficit. Per capita power consumption in Nigeria was estimated at 82 kilowatts (kW) compared with an average of 456kW in other sub Saharan African countries and 3,793kW in South Africa. (Okonjo and Kwaako