ABSTRACT
Any country’s economic score sheet is influenced by the events within and from
abroad. The reality of globalization has come to mean that the former speaks
louder now than in the days past when domestic measures dictated matters. The
passion being expressed by the Nigerian government for foreign investments
needs to be examined in the context of the two tendencies broadly shown by a
nationalistic approach in which nationalization, indigenization and control are key
factors and by liberalization in which deregulation and privatization are notable.
Nigeria indeed practised the first hoping to achieve growth, development and self-
sufficiency that way before courting, gently at first, the second.
This study begins where the former stopped. It examines the high points of the
national approach which relied so much on domestic measures and legislation, in
this case exchange control and indigenization laws. It then considers the crisis
stage when Nigeria was torn between the two: this is shown for instance in her not
totally repealing the indigenization laws but conceding some participation without
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