Rethinking the Development Process in Nigeria : A Choice between Lamborghini and Àjàgbé-Ejò

This lecture presentation uses the Lamborghini and Ajagbe Ejo (locally made truck in Nigeria) as metaphors to explain and develop a theoretical and policy model for the development of countries like Nigeria. Lamborghini is used in describing all the received and sophisticated policies and models that have no semblance with the reality of developing countries but are adopted despite the fact that they are less likely to address the basic problems of the developing countries and are just being implemented because it is contemporary, modern and being used in countries that are more developed. On the other hand, Ajagbe Ejo is used to represent those country-specific policies and economic models that were developed based on the fundamental challenges and in line with comparative advantages and competence of the countries for which the models are being developed. Therefore, the lecture advocate development policies that are model need-driven, self-sustaining, inclusive, participatory,people-oriented, bottom-up and based on necessity and not luxury