ABSTRACT

This study is designed to examine globalization and Nigeria’s development using Akwa Ibom State as a case study (1987-2010). The study investigates the submission of two schools of thought. The anti-globalization posits that it is the “mother” of the world’s ills. That it has widened the gap between the haves and have nots and viewed globalization as a paradigm set up by North to perpetuate their economic dominance of the South. Conclusively, sees no opportunity for Nigeria and of course Akwa Ibom State benefiting from it. This study reveals that the drawn conclusion was predicated to the period they reported on and moreover they failed to take cognizance of the fact that globalization is a process and as such dynamic. The proponents of globalization see it as the panacea for most of the world’s challenges and submitted that globalization has led to the prosperity of many overtime, thereby raising the living standard of many people. That it has opened many opportunities giving new power to good and bad. Finally, it is submitted that the merits of globalization have outweighed the demerits hence Nigeria and Akwa Ibom State in particular should embrace it. The methodology adopted for the study was descriptive and survey methods. The data gathering instrument for the study was in-depth interview conducted in the study area since it provides first hand information. In conclusion, globalization has started changing the face of Akwa Ibom with massive infrastructural provision paving way for economic growth and development.

CHAPTER ONE

1.1 INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY

One of the issues that is captivating international attention is globalization. Thus since the 1980s, the term globalization has become currency in the national and international discourses. Globalization according to Giddens (1990:14) is defined as the intensification of worldwide social relationships which link distant localities in such away that local happening are shaped by events occurring many miles away. Edmond and Marshall (1960:12) coined the popular phrase of the world being “a global village” when they argued that “post literate man’s electronic media contract the world to a global village or tribe where everything happens to everyone at the same time. Television gives quality of simultaneity to events in global village.

The available historical fact reveals that issue of globalization is not a recent phenomenon, its date back when trade link was established among nations of the world. It gains acceptability when in British industrial revolution gained momentum and other western countries before it expanded to the rest of the world including the African continent.

The 19th century set in motion the second phase of globalization process when Europe began the mass production of industrial goods. However, the sphere of globalization seems to be having the greatest impact on global economic system. The increasing interdependence of states provides the basis for globalization. The challenges of contemporary international political economy are in broad terms the coexistence of a territorially based political system with an economic system that is increasingly global in scope. The increasing interdependence of states has marked a movement from distinct national economies towards a single global economy.

Just as there are many gains and opportunities of globalization, so also are problems