The Nigerian-American Chamber Of Commerce And Its Impact On The Development Of The Nigerian Economy 1960-2006

ABSTRACT

The formation and operation of the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce is the Nigerian private sector's expression of bilateralism in the Nigerian economy. Bilateralism like multilateralism is a global phenomenon. They are manifested in different dimensions: economic cultural and political at public and private sectors' levels. In its economic dimension, bilateralism at government level involves trade and investment relations between two sovereign nations with the objective of stimulating, supporting and strengthening economic development of the nations. Economic relations between the nations constituted the environment of operation for their private sectors. Thus, at the private sector's level, a bilateral Chamber of Commerce promotes these relations. Bilateralism is therefore a web in the global business networking with the aim of providing information on overseas markets and discussing issues in bilateral economic relations.

Being a developing country, Nigeria relied on the developed countries such as those of North America and Western Europe and recently on some Asian countries for the importation of capital and consumer goods as well as technological know-how (through foreign private investment) to stimulate growth in sectors of her economy. Several arguments have been raised for and against economic relations between two nations with wide differential levels of economic developments. The position of political economists is that economic relations between the developed and developing nations will continue to create a lopsided economic development to the disadvantages of the latter. My thesis is that the benefits of the Chamber are double edged sword.