THE INDIGENIZATION DECREE OF 1972: CLASS ISSUES, STATE AND ECONOMY

Ever smce Nigeria's independence in 1960, Leaders, Elites and Scholars have engaged in various debates on the notion that political independence without economic independence would be ridiculous. Which simply put, national yearnings and aspirations of Nigerian Leaders and Scholars have both economic and political connotations. There is this general consensus that where economic power is concentrated in the hands of foreigners, the economy 1s undersiege as foreign investors drain the resources of the nation. This could be in the forms of salaries and dividends repatriated abroad in addition to over-exploitation of non-replaceable natural resources and cause structural imbalance in the development of the economy as they operate only in most profitable sectors. Nigerian leaders equally contend that indigenous economic initiative and entrepreneurial growth are often submerged and dwarfed through direct and indirect activities of the foreigners. This paper has therefore defined the term indigenization, and grappled with issues like Imperialism, Colonialism Neo-Colonialism and the Nigerian State. It equally x-rayed the objectives, process and implementation of indigenization policy of 1972 bringing the various indigenization decrees into limelight. Thereafter, the impact of the indigenization decree on the Nigerian Society with its attendant class-issues was vividly discussed. With a highlight of its prospects and limitations on the economy.