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Pius Nwabufo Okigbo: A Pragmatic Economist and an Intellectual Giant

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The Igbo Intellectual Tradition

Abstract

This chapter examines the role of Pius Okigbo as a renowned and practical economist, a dedicated public servant, and an intellectual giant. Using the four broad areas—economic development, public planning, banking and finance, and regional cooperation—that embodied the thrust of Okigbo’s scholarship, the chapter presents him as an eclectic and pragmatic economist, who constantly shifted paradigms in his policy-oriented ideas and problem-solving options to reflect the changing dynamics and economic conditions of Nigeria and Africa. An economist with sensitivity to historical changes, Okigbo researched and wrote about the origins, evolution and transformation of major economic policies and was practical in his identification and application of competing theories of development that he thought suitable for the realities of the political economy of Nigeria and Africa. The chapter also covers the contradictions in his philosophical ideals, and in his navigation of the delicate boundaries between national loyalty and ethnic interests. How could he have been a “pan-Nigerian intellectual” committed to building a strong united Nigeria when he served the Biafra government and has a history of championing the Igbo cause?

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Notes

  1. See Chapter 2 of this book.

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  2. Information in this paragraph is extracted from Jane Guyer and LaRay Denzer, eds., Vision and Policy in Nigerian Economics: The Legacy of Pius Okigbo(Ibadan, Nigeria: Ibadan University Press, 2005); and many of Okigbo’s publications listed below in Note 8.

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  3. His PhD dissertation, “Capital Formation in a Developing Economy,” was a pioneer study in modern African economics.

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  4. These included the Schaefer fellowship in Economics at the Northwestern University (1953); a Carnegie fellowship in economics (1953–1954); a studentship at Nuffield College in Oxford University, England (1954–1955; 1957–1958); and the American Philosophical Society postdoctoral fellowship, Oxford (1957–1958).

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  5. For Wolfgang Stolper’s activities in Nigeria, see Clive S. Gray, ed., Inside Independent Nigeria: Diaries of Wolfgang Stolper, 1960–1962 (Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate Publishing Co., 2003).

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  6. Pius Okigbo, “Abuse of Public Trust,” in Newswatch, October 24, 1994, 32–33; Pita Agbese, “The ‘Stolen’ Okigbo Panel Report: Of Malfeasance and Public Accountability in Nigeria,” in Guyer and Denzer, eds., Vision and Policy, 55–75.

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  7. Ebere Onwudiwe, “Okigbo and the Igbo Question in Nigerian Politics,” in Guyer and Denzer, eds., Vision and Policy, 84.

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  8. Pius Okigbo, Essays in the Public Philosophy of Development Vol. 2: Change and Crisis in the Management of the Nigerian Economy(Enugu, Nigeria: Fourth Dimension Publishing Co. Ltd., 1993); Essays in the Public Philosophy of Development Vol. 3: Growth and Structure of the Nigerian Economy(Enugu, Nigeria: Fourth Dimension Publishing Co. Ltd., 1993); Essays in the Public Philosophy of Development Vol. 4: Lectures on the Structural Adjustment Programme(Enugu, Nigeria: Fourth Dimension Publishing Co. Ltd., 1993); Essays in the Public Philosophy of Development Vol. 5: Studies in the Political Economy of Africa(Enugu, Nigeria: Fourth Dimension Publishing Co. Ltd., 1993); “The Future Haunted by the Past,” in Adebayo Adedeji, ed., Africa Within the World: Beyond Dispossession and Dependence(London: Zed Books, 1993), 28–38; National Development Planning in Nigeria, 1900–92(London: James Currey, 1989); “The Economics of the Civil War: The Biafran Experience,” in T. N. Tamuno and S. C. Ukpabi, eds., Nigeria since Independence: The First Twenty-five Years Vol. VI: The Civil WarYears(Ibadan, Nigeria: Heinemann Educational Books, 1989), 201–212; Essays in the Public Philosophy of Development Vol. 1(Enugu, Nigeria: Fourth Dimension Publishing Co. Ltd., 1987); Towards a Reconstruction of the Political Economy of Igbo Civilization, Ahiajoku Lecture (Owerri, Nigeria: Government Printer, 1986); Sorcerers, Astrologers and Nigerian Economic Recovery, Distinguished Annual Lecture Series No. 2 National Institute for Policy&Strategic Studies, Kuru October 31, 1986 (Kuru, Nigeria: National Institute, 1986); Planning the Nigerian Economy for Less Dependence on Oil, Distinguished Lecture Series No. 3 (Ibadan, Nigeria: Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research, 1983); Economic Growth, Development & Freedom, University Lecture delivered on the Occasion of the Third Convocation on Friday, December 18, 1981 (Maiduguri, Nigeria: University of Maiduguri, 1982); Nigeria’s Financial System (Harlow, UK: Longman, 1981); Africa and the Common Market(Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1967); Nigerian Public Finance (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1965); Nigerian National Accounts, 1950–57(Enugu, Eastern Nigeria: Federal Ministry of Economic Development, 1962).

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  9. Okigbo, Towards a Reconstruction.

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  10. Ibid., 16.

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  11. Ibid., 19.

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  12. Okigbo, Towards a Reconstruction, 22.

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  13. Ibid., 22–23.

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  14. Wolfgang Stolper, whom Okigbo worked with, also identified the challenges of “planning without facts,” which underscores the timely release of Okigbo’s book. See Wolfgang Stolper, Planning Without Facts: Lessons in Resource Allocation from Nigeria’s Development (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1966).

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  15. Waziri Ibrahim, “Foreword,” in Okigbo, Nigerian National Accounts, 1950–57, xiii. See also A. R. Prest and I. G. Stewart, The National Income of Nigeria, 1950–51(London: HMSO, 1953).

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  16. D. A. Lury, “Book Review of Nigerian National Accounts, 1950–57by P. N. C. Okigbo,” Journal of Modern African Studies1, no. 3 (1963): 411.

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  17. Okigbo, National Development Planning, 204.

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  18. Okigbo, Essays in the Public Philosophy, vol. 2, 193.

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  19. Ibid., 328–329.

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  20. On the 1978 Land Use Decree and land policies in Nigeria, see Tom Forrest, Politics and Economic Development in Nigeria(Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1993); National Seminar on Land Use Policies and Practices, Evolving an Effective Agricultural Land Use Policy for Nigeria: Proceedings of the National Seminar on Land Use Policies and Practices, held in Ibadan, July 19–23, 1998 (Ibadan, Nigeria: Wordsmit Editorial Services, 1999).

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  21. Okigbo, Essays in the Public Philosophy, vol. 2, 336.

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  22. Ibid., 337.

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  23. Okigbo, Essays in the Public Philosophy, vol. 1, 241–254.

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  24. Okigbo, Essays in the Public Philosophy, vol. 3, 123.

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  25. Ironically, while Asians and Middle Easterners, especially the Lebanese, owned most of the small-scale enterprises that were to be completely taken over by Nigerians, Western-based transnational corporations dominated those where indigenous ownership was between 60 and 40 percent. See Jeremiah Dibua, Modernization and the Crisis of Development in Africa: The Nigerian Experience(Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate, 2006); Thomas Biersteker, ed., Multinationals, the State, and Control of the Nigerian Economy(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1987).

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  26. Okigbo, Essays in the Public Philosophy, vol. 4, 66.

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  27. Okigbo, Essays in the Public Philosophy, vol. 1, 75.

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  28. Okigbo, Nigeria’s Financial System, 3–4 and 274.

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  29. Olu Ajakaiye, “Towards Securing Fiscal Policy Coordination in Nigeria,” in Paul Collier, Chukwuma C. Soludo, and Catherine Pattillo, eds., Economic Policy Options for a Prosperous Nigeria(New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), 205–219.

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  30. Okigbo, Nigeria’s Financial System, 269.

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  31. Okigbo, “Reforming the Banking System for the 1990s,” in Okigbo, Essays in the Public Philosophy, vol. 1, 271–293; Nigeria’s Financial System, 271–273.

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  32. Okigbo, Nigeria’s Financial System, 143 and 271.

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  33. Okigbo, Essays in the Public Philosophy, vol. 3, 201–210.

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  34. See Howard Stein, Olu Ajakaiye, and Peter Lewis, eds., Deregulation and Banking Crisis in Nigeria: A Comparative Study(New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002); Green O. Nwankwo, Perspectives on Central Banking and Economic Development in Nigeria (Lagos, Nigeria: Evergreen Associates, 2001).

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  35. Emmanuel Nnadozie, “Okigbo’s Legacy and Contributions in African Economics, Public Policy and Finance,” in Guyer and Denzer, eds., Vision and Policy, 94. See also Bennie Nunnally, D. Anthony Plath, and Emmanuel Nnadozie, “Contemporary Banking and Banking Regulation in Nigeria,” The Journal of International Banking Regulation2, no. 2 (2000): 51–60.

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  36. In this painstaking research with numerous tables that support the text, Okigbo analyzed why the principle of need that required the redistribution of revenues from some regions to others was unpopular, and therefore was replaced by revenue allocation based on derivation using such indexes as population size, incomes and expenditure from each region.

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  37. The Aboyade Report of 1977 recommended five principles for revenue allocation, which included national minimum standard for national integration; equality of access to development opportunities; independent revenue and minimum tax effort; absorptive capacity; and fiscal efficiency. Even though Okigbo was quoted extensively in the Report, his commitment to the development of Nigeria was a stronger factor in his criticism than personal recognition in the said Report.

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  38. Okigbo, Nigerian Public Finance.

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  39. Okigbo, Essays in the Public Philosophy, vol. 2, 275. 40. Ibid., 278.

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  40. Sydney Phillipson, Administrative and Financial Procedure under the New Constitution (Lagos, Nigeria: Government Printer, 1942).

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  41. Federal Republic of Nigeria, Report of the Presidential Commission on Revenue Allocation4 vols (Lagos, Nigeria: Federal Government Press, 1980).

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  42. For a brief history of revenue allocation in Nigeria see Akpan H. Ekpo and Abwaku Englama, “Fiscal Federalism in Nigeria: Issues, Challenges and Agenda for Reform,” in Collier, Soludo, and Pattillo, eds., Economic Policy Options, 205–219; Okigbo, Nigeria’s Financial System, 221–243.

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  43. Adigun Agbaje, “Love’s Labour Lost? Okigbo and the Travails of Fiscal Federalism,” in Guyer and Denzer, eds., Vision and Policy, 48 and 51.

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  44. The escalation of conflicts in the Niger Delta over the control of its oil revenue has attracted the attention of scholars, policymakers and public commentators both within Nigeria and outside. See Kenneth Omeje, High Stakes and Stakeholders: Oil Conflict and Security in Nigeria(Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate Publishing Ltd., 2006); A. Ikelegbe, “The Economy of Conflict in the Oil Rich Niger Delta Region of Nigeria,” Nordic Journal of African Studies14, no. 2 (2005): 208–234; C. Ifeka, “Violence, Market Forces and Militarization in the Niger Delta,” Review of African Political Economy31, no. 99 (2004): 144–150; A. Zalik, “The Niger Delta: Petroviolence and Partnership Development,” Review of African Political Economy31, no. 101 (2004): 401–424.

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  45. Okigbo, Essays in the Public Philosophy, vol. 4, x.

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  46. For more information on SAP and Nigeria, see Mojubaolu Okome, A Sapped Democracy: The Political Economy of the Structural Adjustment Program and the Political Transition in Nigeria, 1983–1993(Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1998); Sarah A. Khan, Nigeria: The Political Economy of Oil(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994); Forrest, Politics and Economic Development.

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  47. Okigbo, Essays in the Public Philosophy, vol. 4, 123.

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  48. Okigbo, National Development Planning, 6–7.

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  49. Okigbo, Essays in the Public Philosophy, vol. 4, 202–204.

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  50. Arthur C. Mbanefo, “The Man, Dr. Pius Nwabufo Charles Okigbo,” in Guyer and Denzer, eds., Vision and Policy, 8 and 10.

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  51. Okigbo, Essays in the Public Philosophy, vol. 1, 15 and 17.

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  52. Okigbo, Essays in the Public Philosophy, vol. 2, 363.

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  53. Okigbo indicated that between 1980 and 1990, 600 university honorary degrees were awarded by Nigerian universities, but less than 15 (2.5 percent) went to academics and intellectuals. This example indicates emphasis on wealth and lack of respect and appreciation of the contributions of Nigerian academics and intellectuals to the development of the country. See Okigbo, Essays in the Public Philosophy, vol. 2, 395.

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  54. Okigbo, Essays in the Public Philosophy, vol. 2, 375.

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  55. Okigbo, Essays in the Public Philosophy, vol. 4, 269–270.

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  56. Okigbo, Essays in the Public Philosophy, vol. 3, 218.

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  57. In the 1980s, the Buhari Military Regime (1984–1985) in its emphasis on the ideology of discipline pursued a program of broad-based social reform known as the War Against Indiscipline (WAI). These anticorruption policies might have been well intended, but their implementation proved very difficult. The high-handedness with which they were pursued and employed as tools for political intimidation and witch-hunting as well as for self-aggrandizement and economic enrichment has been criticized. For the criticism of the Obasanjo’s anticorruption policy, see Toyin Falola and Matthew Heaton, A History of Nigeria(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), 241, 271–274.

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  58. There were eight African states that signed the Yaounde Convention: Togo, Ivory Coast, the Central African Republic, Congo Brazzaville, Gabon, Chad, Upper Volta and Malagasy, states that, according to Okigbo, were under the “metallic grip of France.” See Okigbo, Africa and the Common Market, 52.

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  59. Okigbo, Africa and the Common Market, 73.

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  60. Okigbo, Essays in the Public Philosophy, vol. 5, 73.

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  61. Ibid., 9.

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  62. Okigbo, Essays in the Public Philosophy, vol. 4, 219.

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  63. Okigbo, Africa and the Common Market, 138.

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  64. Okigbo, Essays in the Public Philosophy, vol. 5, 99–100.

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  65. Okigbo, Africa and the Common Market, 154. 67. Ibid., 157.

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  66. Some have pointed to the experience of east Asian countries, commonly referred to as the Asian Tigers, which with their small internal markets, pursued export trade with the global markets and consequently expanded beyond their domestic markets. A World Bank report indicates that these countries’ rapid economic growth was as a result of their outward orientation toward the global markets rather than their involvement in regional integration through the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). See World Bank, The East Asian Miracle: Economic Growth and Public Policy(New York: Oxford University Press, 1993).

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  67. See Samuel M. Makinda and F. Wafula Okuma, The African Union: Challenges of Globalization, Security and Governance(New York: Routledge, 2008); Said Adejumobi and Adebayo Olukoshi, eds., The African Union and New Strategies for Development in Africa(Amherst, NY: Cambria Press, 2008); Ibrahim Gambari, “The OAU and Africa’s Changed Priorities,” Transafrica Forum 6, no. 2 (1989): 3–14; David F. Luke and Timothy M. Shaw, eds., Continental Crisis: The Lagos Plan of Action and Africa’s Future(Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1984).

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  68. Okigbo, Essays in the Public Philosophy, vol. 5, 75–78.

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  69. Okigbo, Essays in the Public Philosophy, vol. 4, 272.

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  70. Okigbo, Essays in the Public Philosophy, vol. 3, 275–276; Essays in the Public Philosophy, vol. 5, 111–112.

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  71. Pius Okigbo was a strong advocate for the South–South cooperation, especially in fiscal flows and investment, science and technology, and in human resources development. With the assistance of Malaysian Mahathir Mohammed, Tanzanian Julius Nyerere and others, the South–South cooperation and its think tank South Commission came into existence in 1987. Okigbo was one of the 28 members of the South Commission drawn from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and southeastern Europe. At the end of a three-year mandate, the Commission produced a report that articulated the needs, problems and the road to economic development of the South as well as how to strengthen the South in relation to the North. The Commission called for the cancellation of all official debt of 47 low-income debtdistressed countries, 22 of which were then in Africa; and emphasized the need for a people-centered and self-reliant development including maximum exploitation of the tremendous opportunities, resources and complementarity offered by the South. See Okigbo, Essays in the Public Philosophy, vol. 5, 318–321, 331–353.

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  72. Okigbo, “The Future Haunted by the Past,” 38.

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  73. Similar argument has been echoed by Africanist scholars. See, for instance, J. E. Inikori, Africans and the Industrial Revolution in England: A Study in International Trade and Economic Development(New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002); Walter Rodney, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa(London: Bogle-L’Ouverture Publications, 1972).

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  74. Okigbo, “The Future Haunted by the Past,” 28–31.

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  75. Okigbo, Essays in the Public Philosophy, vol. 2, 218–219.

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  76. Clement Adibe, “The State-Business Nexus in Nigeria: The Role of Indigenous Consultants,” in Guyer and Denzer, eds., Vision and Policy, 108; Nnadozie, “Okigbo’s Legacy,” 97.

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  77. Adibe, “The State-Business Nexus in Nigeria,” 108.

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  78. Jane I. Guyer, “Preface,” in Guyer and Denzer, eds., Vision and Policy, viii, ix–x. This book came out of the one-day conference on “Vision and Policy in Nigerian Economics: The Legacy of Pius Okigbo,” at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, June 9, 2001.

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  79. Wolfgang F. Stolper, “Development Planning in Nigeria: A Memoir,” in Guyer and Denzer, eds., Vision and Policy, 15.

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  80. Nnadozie, “Okigbo’s Legacy,” 87.

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  1. Gloria Chuku
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  1. University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA

    Gloria Chuku (associate professor of Africana Studies with a specialty in African history, affiliate associate professor of Gender and Women’s Studies, and affiliate associate professor of Language, Literacy and Culture PhD Program) (associate professor of Africana Studies with a specialty in African history, affiliate associate professor of Gender and Women’s Studies, and affiliate associate professor of Language, Literacy and Culture PhD Program)

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© 2013 Gloria Chuku

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Chuku, G. (2013). Pius Nwabufo Okigbo: A Pragmatic Economist and an Intellectual Giant. In: Chuku, G. (eds) The Igbo Intellectual Tradition. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137311290_8

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