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ties, this had the effect of undermining the spirit of dialogue that had been
established with beneficiary countries and their bilateral partners.
The economic crisis
The world economic crisis of the early 1970s, brought about by the increase
in oil prices and the decline in primary commodity prices, exposed the fragility
of African economies – many of which experienced a decline so severe
as to wipe out the social gains that were achieved following independence.
It also brought to light the many reversals that followed the failure of
policy prescriptions administered by the Bretton Woods Institutions in the
decade following independence.
Yet the economic crisis left the majority of African countries with no
alternative but to go to the Bretton Woods Institutions, on their terms and
conditions, to access the resources required to maintain basic social services.
The structural adjustment regime was thus started – a regime that would
deepen the dominance of the Bretton Woods Institutions. For Africa, it was
hardly a time to promote equality and dialogue, despite the enhanced abilities
and capacities of the beneficiary countries. Although new strategies and
options were clearly needed, it was also hardly a time to promote Africa’s
own development agenda – such as the Lagos Plan of Action, which grew
out of a process of dialogue among African policy makers.
At the 1979 OAU Summit, the African leadership adopted essential elements
of Africa’s first homegrown development framework, the Monrovia
Delegation. This was followed one year later, in 1980, at the OAU Summit
by the Lagos Plan of Action. This attempt by Africa to establish its own
development priorities was quickly undermined and dismissed without dialogue
or support by the Bretton Woods Institutions and their main bilateral
shareholders primarily because the agenda sought to transform African economies
from primary production to competing industrial states.
Similarly, the plan formulated by the Economic Commission for Africa
(ECA) to address Africa’s economic decline – the Alternative Strategies for
Structural Adjustment – was defeated by the Bretton Woods Institutions
leading in the process to the dismissal of the ECA head, Dr. Adebayo Adedji.
Both the Lagos Plan of Action and the African Alternative Framework
Structural Adjustment Programs for Socio-Economic Recovery and Transformation
are reflected, thirty years later, in the New Partnership for African
Development (NEPAD), the PRSPs and other development agenda which
stress Africa’s ownership and participation.
The period of structural adjustment also coincided with the period of political
havoc in the region, as several African countries had been taken over