Political economy of Nigeria–South Africa foreign direct investment relations and challenges of the manufacturing sector in Nigeria, 1999–2017

ABSTRACT

Although there are existing scholarly works covering a wide gamut of Nigeria–South Africa bilateral relations post apartheid, not much has been done on their investment relations, particularly between the periods 1999–2017. As such, this study seeks to bridge this gap by examining the political economy of Nigeria–South Africa foreign direct investment relations and a challenges of the manufacturing sector in Nigeria. The study employed the qualitative method of data collection and the qualitative descriptive method of data analysis. Guided by the Marxist Theory of Structuralism, the study found out that institutional weakness accounted for the low level of South African investment in the manufacturing sector in Nigeria. As such, the study recommended that the state should adopt a developmental role by investing in targeted sectors of the economy like the manufacturing sector in other to catalyse industrialisation, and to place Nigeria on the path to sustainable development.

KEYWORDS:

• Political economy
• foreign direct investment
• manufacturing sector
• developmental state

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributor

John Onokwai is currently a doctoral candidate in the Department of Political and International Studies, Rhodes University, South Africa. His main research areas of interest are international political economy, African political economy, global governance, and global health studies.