ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the economic reforms introduced after the Babangida regime came to power. The budget marked a compromise between homegrown nationalist forces and the views of those like Finance Minister Kalu Idiku Kalu who were anxious to pursue reforms in line with International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank thinking. With the political unacceptability of the IMF, the World Bank took the lead in writing and working towards the introduction of a Structural Adjustment Programme that would prove acceptable to the IMF and the Nigerian government and open the way to rescheduling. The move to privatisation in Nigeria was part of a broader movement that extended beyond the sale of publicly owned assets to private interests. The reforms highlight contradictions between international capital and national interests. The emphasis on foreign finance and investment in the Structural Adjustment Programme runs counter to a viable path of national accumulation.
