'TINA', Aids, and the underdevelopment problem in Africa

Oyelade

et al. 2020

IJSSP

Self Cite

PurposeThe index case of COVID-19 in Nigeria was reported on 27 February 2020. Subsequently, the exponential increase in cases has brought about the partial and total lockdown of cities, the closure of all schools and the shutdown of government offices in order to curtail the spread of COVID-19. COVID-19 and its subsequent drastic curtailment policies have implications on vulnerable groups, especially, informal workers who constitute about 70% of the active working population in Nigeria. This reflective discourse critically engages the plight of informal workers in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria.Design/methodology/approachThe research was guided by the epistemology of pandemic interpretationism. It engages contextual reflections of the plight of economically vulnerable informal workers in Nigeria. Data were collected from secondary sources while rapid case studies were conducted with ten informal workers in Lagos and Ibadan. Afterwards, data were contextually analysed.FindingsEconomically vulnerable informal workers in Nigeria have contextually interpreted COVID-19 as an elite disease, imported into Nigeria by the wealthy. In addition, the mass population views COVID-19 containment measures such as lockdowns, movement restrictions and stay-at-home orders as elitist policies, which are aimed at protecting the wealthy and frustrating the poor and economically vulnerable who live on the fringes of poverty. Many informal workers have slipped below the poverty line while struggling to supply livelihood needs, as they were unable to earn daily income and cannot access palliatives. Consequently, they are of the opinion that “Hunger Virus is deadlier than Corona Virus”.Originality/valueThis paper is a contextual reflection on the plight of economically vulnerable informal workers during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and movement restrictions in Nigeria. It presents pandemic interpretationism as an epistemological guide and reflectively examines the poverty impact of COVID-19 on the Nigerian informal sector via contextual analyses of secondary data and rapid case studies. The paper uncovers various COVID-19 livelihood experiences and the responses of the informal workers; furthermore, it provides policy recommendations.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contextual reflections on COVID-19 and informal workers in Nigeria

Oyelade

et al. 2020

IJSSP

Self Cite

“…Modernization approaches were largely ontological and epistemological instruments to legitimise, propagate and drive projections of regions as Occident and Orient for economic and political gains of the West. Interestingly, the contextualization, contestation and propagation of these gains practically and ideologically subsist (Olutayo, Olutayo and Omobowale, 2008) even in 21 st century and development scholars and practitioners must be conscious of this and they must be continuously appreciated and factored into scholarly and practice interventions.…”

Section: Labinjoh and The Thought Precursors Of Modernization: Orientalism And Occidentalismmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These Western thoughts remain dominant in global development research and policy as they have been uncritically accepted by developing nations' leaders as sacrosanct. Despite the dominance of these ideas for more than a century, the Third World has had little development success, failing to "close development gap" (Olutayo, Olutayo and Omobowale, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modernization and Development: A Historico-Contemporary Approach Through Justin Labinjoh’s Narratives

Olutayo

Adetola

et al. 2017

NJSA

Understanding development is a strategic issue in every human society. This is because central to humans is the need to develop, which is why societies over the ages have not only sought to develop, they have also attempted to understand what development is all about, how best to develop and what the outcomes of development should be. This is why scholars and nations have commonly categorized countries/societies as developed and developing/underdeveloped. Of interest however are continuous scholarly attempts at unravelling trends in development discourse. This article therefore engages the contributions of Justin Labinjoh, a foremost development thinker and scholar at the University of Ibadan until his death in 2001. Focussing on his unpublished manuscript ‘Development: A History and Critique of an Idea’, the paper reviews how the history of Western Europe informed, and is still informing Sociology as a discipline, its theories and, by extension, Sociology of Development which has been dominated by modernization theory.

“…Inicialmente, nos anos 1920, haviam sido investidos valores estimados em um milhão de libras anuais, que chegaram a aproximadamente cinco milhões no ano de 1940 e 120 milhões em 1945. Em 1947, a lei conhecida como Overseas Development Act criou uma instituição, a Colonial Development Corporation, cuja função era coordenar tais projetos nas colônias britânicas, além da Overseas Development Corporation, a fim de promover a cooperação para o desenvolvimento em outros Estados soberanos (Olutayo et al, 2008). 2 Houve cooperação entre o bloco soviético e países em desenvolvimento (nos casos do Egito, da Índia, por exemplo), porém a institucionalização foi mais avançada e organizada no campo liberal ocidental; é dela que falamos ao tratar da CID no momento pós-segunda guerra.…”

unclassified

Aprendendo com a história: críticas à experiência da Cooperação Norte-Sul e atuais desafios à Cooperação Sul-Sul

Milani

2012

Cad. CRH

O principal objetivo deste artigo é, com base nas limitações críticas apontadas à experiência histórica da Cooperação Norte-Sul (CNS), analisar alguns dos dilemas com que se confrontam as atuais estratégias de Cooperação Sul-Sul (CSS), concebidas e desenvolvidas por países comoBrasil, México, Índia, China, Turquia ou África do Sul. O autor defende a hipótese de que a diferenciação entre CNS e CSS é fundamentalmente empírica, devendo, porém, também ser pensada à luz do legado do ativismo multilateral de alguns desses países e do novo papel econômico e político que desempenham no cenário internacional. O argumento é construído no sentido de que, por terem sido (e ainda serem) beneficiários da CNS, tais países deveriam atentar para os riscos de reprodução de um modelo de cooperação que eles próprios criticaram no passado recente. O que haveria de singular e distintivo nas práticas de CSS desses países? Quais seriam os riscos de que suas práticas de CSS sejam menos solidárias do que as promessas anunciadas por seus dirigentes e representantes políticos?