SEVEN years of IBB vol. 5:
Date
1993
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Lagos State: The Daily Times of Nigeria PLC.,
Abstract
Rural development planning: The DFFRRI approach; The better life programme for rural women; People's bank of Nigeria
Description
Seven years of IBB is to my mind a most commendable attempt to undertake a comprehensive and detailed assessment of the work and achievements of an incumbent head of state and government. The seven volume work with a picturesque compendium analyses virtually every initiative undertaken by the Babangida administration since coming to power in August 1985. The contributors to the work have presented a well-researched and analytical appreciation of the regime's bold effort at restructuring of the economy; its imaginative political initiatives designed to usher in lasting democracy and the administration's creative reorientation programmes intended to inculcate a new political culture conducive to the survival of democracy, and to the democratic way of life. They have also preferred suggestions on how to remedy the lapses they observed and identified.
History is a product of continuous interaction between man and environment. Seven years is nothing much in the life of a nation particularly one with the size and complexity of Nigeria. But a seven year period during which fundamental assumptions were challenged and modified, when phenomenal changes were effected in Nigeria's social, economic and political scene, and during which issues hitherto reserved for the esoteric class, corporate bodies, and campus eggs heads became subjected to public debate and reactions deserve to be carefully documented and rationally analysed. The 1985-92 period is one that will be a fascinating subject in Nigeria's history books. Historians and social scientists will find the sheer weight and volume of decisions taken, their immediate and lasting effect on the country's outlook, economy and body politic too attractive to ignore. Even before the Babangida regime signs off, the men who captained the ship of state the policies they enunciated, the manner of implementation, the intended and accidental consequences are already being studied.