Nigeria and the Attainment of Sustainable Development in the 21st Century

This research examines the capacity of Nigeria to attain sustainable development in the 21st century, using the extant parameters of the nation’s governance system and political economy. We stated that the link between governance system and political economy is that the former is shaped and determined by the texture and structure of the latter. Our study reveals that the architecture of governance, sustained by elitist preferences, cannot engender sustainable development, due mainly, to a prebendalist leadership class and a reinter economy, sustained by a defective federal system. This explains why, Nigeria’s human and infrastructural development trajectory is on the downward trend, despite the upswing in oil revenue over the last three decades. Evidently, the activities of political and economic managers, who depend largely on oil rent, subjected the Nigerian State to oil resource curse. We concluded that rejigging the governance system and “escaping” oil resource curse are precedent conditions for achieving sustainable development in the 21st century and beyond. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n4p645