Defense Expenditures And Private Capital Accumulation In Nigeria

Pita Ogaba Agbese, University of Northern Iowa

Abstract

In a dependent capitalist state, state policies, particularly government expenditures, are the fundamental basis for private capital accumulation. The Nigerian Civil War provided the objective conditions and the quadrupling of oil prices provided the resources to fund defense expenditures. Cost over-runs, outright frauds, and corruption are endemic in the defense procurement process in Nigeria. The article argues that these are devices deliberately designed to facilitate private enrichment. The final section of the article examines the contradictions that the use of defense expenditures for private capital accumulation inflict upon the Nigerian economy. © 1988, Brill.