The Marshall Plan. Europeanizing Nigeria

By

Bello I. Mohammed, MD, MS.

drbelloim@yahoo.com

 

[RUSSIA]

 

If you consider the fact that the so called developing world is a vast source of raw materials for western companies and also a vast market for western products ¡­ just tell me how and why the west should develop them. In my kind opinion it is utter stupidity and an indication of abysmal failure for the government of any developing nation to expect that the western nations will develop it and hence destroy the current status quo in the community of nations that will be in favor of the weaker nations. To me that is unnatural.

 

Talking about development¡­.. I often ask my self the question, why we are not developed and why can¡¯t the common man be able to afford the basics of life the men of the west take for granted¡­..? So much social, as this question could sound, one needs to fear the practices of globalizing this hitch to include the problems of the whole of humanity. Why  we are this poor and why is the other group this rich? And what will turn the people from the left be like the people on the right? But ab initio what made the right really right that the left lacks. Consequently, I considered it more appropriate to concentrate more on a country naturally so blessed but lacking in terms of development. So what is really the problem?

 

To begin with, as the statement goes, let us all sit down to see were we all stand. What kind of progress do we have in mind? Is it economic progress or do we mean social? For indeed,  if progress,  is to be authentic, it must be all-embracing, advancing all men and the whole of humanity. He will not truly feel at home with any vision of the any government provided by the means of neither social communication, nor profit by it, unless it helps us to progress in their true light. This vision must also help us to discover - without complacency or bitterness - the worth of other civilizations. It will help us take our destiny personally in hand, rather than putting our destiny in other people¡¯s hands,  it should further more help to achieve our goals  in fraternal cooperation with other fellow country men and women.

 

It is indeed dangerous to foster in a people a spirit of self-sufficiency and extreme regionalism and tribalism or even nationalism. On the other hand, it is no less important to aid a nation to discover with legitimate pride, the material, intellectual and spiritual talents with which it has been endowed by the Creator that it might bring these talents  to full realization for the good of the entire communities of the nation, be it socially, economically or politically.  

Politics, ideally is something that should be used to enhance socio-economic development of nations, to maintain peace and security of the country practicing it and should never be a tool to divide society along any line or incite violence. Too much politicking will divide  the people into the number of political parties involved, hence the more the number of political parties  in the nation, the less united the nation  is. According to many opinions, economic developments has nothing to do with multiparty democracy and there was vivid examples that show that underdeveloped countries had well advanced democracy as opposed to some developed countries but you see  a lot of   developed nations having only two opposing (or so it seems) political parties.

In a country like Nigeria were people lack what is basic ¨C in terms of bread, knowledge and even the spiritual light people brag about - it would be a serious fault to tickle the taste for pleasures by multiplying empty and enervating amusements of the social advancements obtainable in  the west.

Though, by this temptation, a great enterprise will lie before the citizenry as they can do so much to voice the appeals of humanity in distress, to put in bold relief the efforts at cooperation, the initiatives and strivings for peace, so as to awaken a healthy and helpful rivalry. So much as the social structures are in place.  But as of now they aren¡¯t. This is the reason why we need to strategize our efforts towards the creation of this social structure that could lay the foundation of our development. I do not in the least possible way believe in a blind ideological commitment or too many ¡°blah-blah¡± speeches that produce no fruits. But alas, I believe only in strategies that work.

We are now talking about strategies. Strategies that have become an indispensable resource for citizens who want to think, so that they could become engaged, thoughtful, independent and resourceful not only for themselves but also for the generality of humanity. 

To be a little fair to the question, actually there are quite a lot of ways to approach these particular problems. Some of which so far available in the published literature includes studies on the role of education, development of the press, democratizations, military empowerment, social and infrastructural advancements, some even went on to quote the role of what I will consider spoon-fed development programs as in the case with the Morgenthau Plan, Bakker-Schut Plan and the Marshal plan  in Europe of  July 12th, 1947. But this actually worked.

Although the main objective in my opinion of the Marshal plan among others was to give a boost to the European economy: to promote European production, to bolster European currency, and to facilitate international trade, especially with the United States, whose economic interest required Europe to become wealthy enough to import U.S. goods and the containment of growing Soviet influence in Europe, the plan yielded a lot of fruits which inevitably is seen even today, the emphasis was in the creation of wealth for the nations (recalling the works of  Adams Smith¡¯s writings- An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations). This they achieved through industrial growth which gave rise to the blue-collar jobbers, who inevitably grew to become the elites we have today.

Now, the Marshall Plan aid was mostly used for the purchase of goods from the United States. This actually exploits the Europeans, because they have to work to earn the cash necessary for the purchase of American goods. On the other hands this lifts up the standard of the Europeans because now they can afford what they basically could not afford after the Second World War was over, in addition to they now can eat and dress up like the Americans (actually Europeans on the American continent, if you recall Columbus).

At the onset the plan was mainly on the import of basic much-needed staples such as food and fuel following the devastating effects of the war, later on the plan directed itself on the reconstruction needs as was originally intended by the plan. Over half of these funds had to be invested in industry. This was prominent in Germany, where these government-administered funds played a crucial role loaning money to private enterprises which would spend the money rebuilding. These funds played a central role in the reindustrialization of Germany. The companies were obligated to repay the loans to the government, and the money would then be lent out to another group of businesses. This process has continued to this day in the guise of the state owned KfW bank (Kreditanstalt f¨¹r Wiederaufbau, German for ¡°Reconstruction Credit Institute¡±), A far less expensive, but also quite effective, initiative was the Technical Assistance Program. This program funded groups of European engineers and industrialists to visit the United States and tour mines, factories, and smelters so that they could then copy the American advances at home. The Marshall Plan aid was divided among the participant states on a roughly per capita basis and by the time the Marshal plan ended in 1958, it has achieved both political and economic successes.  Industrial growth has kicked up above 30-35%, rapid increase in social standards that brought about unity and integration as a consequence of improvements in the social standards.

Irrespective of the fact that the plan is wholly capital intensive and requires the use of a large amount of liquid money, it had one of the greatest impacts on development the world has ever witnessed. It still, amongst many, acts as a possible route of developing a nation. Nigeria and other countries could learn from the project to afford its citizenry cross the bridge to the right. These projects should mainly be directed towards energy, security, health effective communication (road, rail, air and water transport), Stabilizing the agricultural sector, Encouragement of small and medium scale, then large scale industrial development, Creation of a capital source for individuals and industries, Education and training. In  my opinion these should be able to make a lot of us cross from the left to the right. And bring about independent and permanent developmental roots in to my country called Nigeria.