MODE OF PRODUCTION

????? Considering the inadequacy of the dependency school in their assumptions on development, the mode of production scholars felt that more attention should be given to the dialectical relation between the "internal" and the "external" process in the Third World countries. Their main concern was the "articulation" of capitalist and pre-capitalist modes of production rather than the connection between the "centre and periphery" within the world capitalist orbit. While the mode of production school challenged the cultural parameters of the modernization school as a basis for resistance of change in societies, they also saw the need to study Third World countries and particularly Africa along the line of the

????? ... process of class formation as a necessary first step towards a proper grasping of the contemporary character of African societies.

?? However, the problem with this is their concentration on economic structures to the extent that no political relation seems to exist. In the process, they have left crucial issues on unfavourable balance of trade, inflation, social and political crises, etc. The broad spectrum of the present nature of development in Nigeria and other Third World nations is based on the following features of "monopoly capitalism" or imperialism identified by Lenin:

A. The concentration of production and capital has developed to such a high stage that it has created monopolies which play a decisive part in economic life.

b. The merging of bank capital with industrial capital and the creation on the basis of this "finance capital," a financial oligarchy.

C. The export of capital as distinguished from the export of commodities acquires exceptional importance.

d. The formation of international "monopolist combines" which share the world among themselves; territorial division of the whole world among the biggest capitalist powers.

????? From the foregoing and combined with Shaw's study of Kenya and South Africa and Galtung's categorization, Nigeria, for instance, is classified as "sub-imperial state" or a "go-between nation," joining regional influence (deriving from the size, population, and oil) with dependence on the global capitalist market. The Nigerian ruling class is also classified in this article as a "comprador elite," though Turner believes that there is a fraction of this class that would like to pursue a more reliant policy" and would advocate a reduction of dependence on Western technology, markets and values. The view that Nigeria is developing is ill-conceived and misguided. This view is based on the notion of development that commits one to a wholesale invitation of others and, therefore, a wholesale repudiation of our state of being. The goal is to catch up with the West. This kind of goal permits us to want passionately goods and services which we cannot create for ourselves with the resources at our disposal, and it causes us to neglect our local resources and basic needs". Actually, this is not a healthy notion of development. It dampens our sense of inferiority. As Ake further argues,

?????? "Even if catching up with the West were a legitimate goal, we do not help the achievement of this goal by cultivating our sense of inferiority and inadequacy.

???? Besides, Nigerian academic, social, political, and military leaders still look at development in terms of seeking to achieve many of the conditions of good life in Western Europe, America and Japan". These include industrialization, economic affluence, military hegemony, advanced technology, urbanization and the parliamentary political process". As Nnoli argued, development in Nigeria as in other Third World countries is that of artifacts.

????? ?The view of the leaders of these countries is one of a country that is increasingly acquiring more and more artifacts of the types seen in Japan and the Western countries which are created by the financial and industrial leaders of these foreign countries. These foreign societies are regarded as developed because they have large number of cars, roads, hospitals, television sets, airways, good houses, etc. It is presumed that the more of these artifacts a country has, the nearer she is to the standard of the West and, therefore, the more developed she becomes. Preference is, therefore, given to these artifacts over the basic necessities in the allocation of resources. It may not even matter if these artifacts are procured from, or created here for us by foreigners. The consequence of this is our powerlessness to use our own resources to transform our internal and external environments in the ways we need and desire. As Nnoli pointed out, under certain conditions, the artifacts spring from the development itself and in certain cases may have no relationship with the process". The artifacts reflect development only when they are the end-product of the efforts of the people in applying their creative labour to transformation of the local, physical, biological and socio-cultural environments for their own betterment and that of humanity at large.

?? ??In the conventional development theory, there is a difference between the theory and the reality in Nigeria and other Third World countries". The assumption of the conventional development theory is that a constant flow of large amounts of foreign capital is a necessary prerequisite for the achievement of economic development. However, the reality has shown that massive transfer of foreign capital to Nigeria and other Third World countries in the past few decades has led to underdevelopment engendered by debt crisis instead of development. Moreso, the conventional macroeconomic development theory indicates that aid loans to Nigeria and the Third World countries should be used for productive investment. However, this theory diverges from real world experience on the grounds that most loans to Nigeria and other Third World countries have not been invested in productive enterprises, and the earnings are not only meant to service the loan but to pay for all the borrowing for all the non-exporting, non-productive and wasteful projects on the country's bill within the borrowing period.

??? The foregoing shows that the imperial forces disarticulated the pre-colonial form of development in Nigeria and other Third World countries and established a mode of production that ensured that goods and services were produced in the Third World nations to service the industrialised countries of the West. At the post independence stage, the emphasis on development was on the encouragement of foreign private capital influx into the Third World countries, including Nigeria. Consequent upon the low foreign private capital, the various governments, particularly Nigeria, emphasised state intervention in the development of public enterprises. At this stage, development was seen as catching up with the industrialised countries by acquiring the technological artifacts. However, the failure of the state interventionist policy led to the retrenchment or withdrawal of the state from development endeavour in the public sector and the promotion of privatization and commercialisation of public enterprises which were recommended by the World Bank and IMF in the structural adjustment package which was adopted by Nigeria and various Third World countries. The introduction and adoption of the structural adjustment was, therefore, a reversion of development strategies to what was seemingly not completed at independence when the various colonial states were given the opportunity for self-determination in their respective policies.

???? "Autolytic" is a scientific term from "autolysis." Autolysis is the destruction of tissues or cells of an organism by enzymes that are produced within the organism." It is the self-destruction of the tissues or cells within the living body." An enzyme is a protein produced by any organism that behaves as a catalyst.40 A catalyst is a substance that causes speedy chemical reaction without being changed itself; it causes a change." Enzymes are cleaning agents that remove stains. Protein is an essential component of muscles, skin, bones and the whole body, required for the structure, function and regulation of the body's cells, tissues and organs. "Tissue is any group of cells meant to perform specific functions like bone marrow tissues and others." What then is the relevance of autolysis to the phenomenon of development.

????? The living body or organism is Nigeria, policies and programmes. The enzymes are pressure groups and individuals. The enzymes are divided into two. One set of enzymes is positively directed to work on policies and programmes that will bring positive change or development to the country. Any visionary political leadership, groups and individuals belong to this set. The activities of such ones are targeted at bringing change and development. The second set of enzymes is negatively directed with activities to hit the polity, policies and programmes in such a manner that such policies and programmes will become disarticulated, distorted and crushed to possible total extinction. Consequently, development will become disillusioned, distorted, weak and retarded. For further explanation, it will be expedient to define creative destruction.

?????? Creative destruction is derived from the economic theory of Karl Marx. It is the linked processes of the accumulation and annihilation of wealth under capitalism. "Marx and Engels described this in the Communist Manifesto in 1848. Creative destruction describes the way in which capitalist economic development arises from the destruction of some prior economic orders. "Marx further explains that creative destruction does not only imply that capitalism destroys and reconfigures previous economic orders, but also that it must ceaselessly devalue existing wealth either through periodic economic crisis or otherwise in order to clear the ground for the creation of new wealth. "The German Marxist sociologist, Wermer Sombart corroborated this and said, "from destruction, a new spirit of creation arises." "Joseph Schumpeter popularized it and used it to describe the disruptive process of transforma- tion that accompanies radical innovation. In Schumpeter's view, innovative entry by entrepreneurs was the force that sustained long-term economic growth, even as it destroyed the value of established companies and labourers that enjoyed some degree of monopoly power derived from previous technological, organizational, regulatory and economic paradigms.

?????? This economic theory of creative destruction has been sustained by such as David Harvey, Marshall Berman, Manuel Castells "and others. The differences in the usage of the theory of creative destruction between Karl Marx and Joseph Schumpeter have been synthesized by David Harvey in his submission that both Marx and Schumpeter wrote extensively on the "creative destructive" tendencies inherent in capitalism. "As Marx cherished the creativity of capitalism and emphasized its self-destructiveness, Schumpeter gloried in the endless creativity of capitalism while treating the destructiveness as mostly a matter of the normal costs of doing business.

???? A combination of autolysis and creative destruction is what has brought about what I call the theory of CREATIVE AUTOLYTIC DESTRUCTION. This is a self- destruction that brings about a new creation of better life. It is an evolvement of new policies and programmes as new orders over the old ones to produce higher and better development. This definition is also biblically credited from the injunction that when you put the new wine into an old wine skin, it will burst. The old order must give way for the new order to be able to achieve effective sustenance.

?????? Though creative autolytic destruction can cause temporary economic distress, or severe hardship in the short-term, which is the price it carries, the economy will eventually generate new opportunities for workers or the citizenry to participate in more creative and productive enterprises. For example, it was reported that 90% of Americans were farmers in 1790, and 2.6% of Americans were farmers in 1990. Over the 200 years, farm jobs were destroyed by exponential productivity gains in agricultural technology and replaced by jobs in new industries. Present day farmers and non- farmers alike enjoy much more prosperous lifestyles than their counterparts in 1790.

??? The whole human society has been going through creative autolytic destruction in the process of development consciously and unconsciously from the beginning of creation to date. Various nations have been undergoing this process over time. Every epoch that gives way to another is a manifestation of creative autolytic destruction.

????? The development process of Nigeria from pre-colonial time to date is the process of creative autolytic destruction. The various regimes from Governor General Nnamdi Azikiwe to President Goodluck Jonathan have experienced creative autolytic destruction to come to the current stage of development. The downstream petroleum sector has been experiencing creative autolytic destruction. Corroborating the facts published by Punch Newspaper," fuel price has changed from one regime to another. Under the administration of General Yakubu Gowon (rtd), the fuel price was changed from about 3kobo to 6 kobo. Under Shehu Shagari, it was from about 9 kobo to 15 kobo. Under General Ibrahim Babangida (rtd), it was from 15 kobo to 70 kobo. Under Chief Shonekan, it was from 70 kobo to N5.00. Late General Sanni Abacha changed it from N5.00 to N11.00. General Abdulsalam Abubakar moved it from N11.00 to N20.00. President Olusegun Obasanjo moved it from N20.00 to N70.00. While late President Musa Yar'adua moved it from N70.00 to N65.00, President Goodluck Jonathan moved it from N65.00 to N141.00 and later reduced it to N97.00. Other changes had occurred in various sectors in Nigeria over time. The educational system was changed from 7-5 system to 6-3-3 system. The various changes in the price of fuel over the years were marked by different percentages. These changes were meant to usher in new life and better development based on the theory of creative autolyticdestruction.

??? One of the major factors that makes creative autolytic destruction to succeed as a development paradigm is leadership trust. The electorate must trust the leadership. The current situation of the deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector should be weighed on the platform of creative autolytic destruction. The best way to assess a regime is to allow it to implement its policies. If the performance is less than the content of the policies, the electorate could hold the regime responsible for failure. But where there is no implementation of policies and programmes, there will be no basis for assessment. Besides, every regime should be evaluated on its own right.

?????????? Every regime is different from the other. Every regime has its own vision. There will be a misjudgment in a situation where a preceding regime is used to judge the performance of its successor. In fact, such judgment is against the principle of creative autolytic destruction which even sees the preceding regime as inadequate to cope with the upcoming policies and programmes of the successor.

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CONCLUSION

??????????? The key to successful development is LEADERSHIP TRUST. The initial agitations are natural and are expected in creative autolytic destruction process. But TRUST should neutralize the tension or pressure or uncertainties. The enzymes that are otherwise minded should embrace Trust to prove the worth or reliability of the leadership. The opportunity to perform is enhanced by TRUST. The crisis of development in Nigeria will, therefore, become a thing of the past if this theory of creative autolytic destruction is understood, considered and applied. Development should, therefore, be understood as the effort of the people, promoted by government, in applying their creative energies to transformation of the local, physical, biological, socio-cultural, economic and political environments for their own betterment.

Development should be seen as a phenomenon associated with changes in man's humanity and creative energies, not in things. It is the continual improvement in the capacity of the individual and society to control and manipulate the forces of nature as well as themselves and other individuals and societies for their own benefit and that of humanity in general." It is a process of actualizing man's inherent capacity to live a better and more rewarding life. It applies increasing skill and capacity to do things, greater freedom, self-confidence, creativity, self-discipline, responsibility, and material well-being." Mere superstructural arrangement of economic diversification, fiscal balance and reduction of balance of payment deficit will only be rhetorics and not development. The tapping of potentials in the individuals and the natural resources will cause mass production of goods and services that will meet the needs of the people, especially when they are equitably distributed and managed. Consequently, entrepreneurship will be promoted and fiscal balance as well as balance of payment deficits will be ensured.