Paper short abstract:

Capitalism, introduced to Africa through historical violence, shapes contemporary Nigeria. This study delves into mining, oil, environment, gas, and trade, examining its impact through the lens of racial capitalism, exploring its potential for development.

Paper long abstract:

Capitalism as an economic, social and ideological system is not indigenous to Africa. Its appearance in much of the African continent was accompanied with violence and other subtle means systematically through the engagement of European traders with African communities in slave trade, colonial enterprise and post-colonial economic, ideological and social structures. This history provides a reflection of the connection between yesterday and today. However, the focus of this study is not the history but the contemporary manifestations of capitalist means of production and its mode of accumulation in Nigeria. Capitalism is a global system that manifest peculiarly in different national sub-systems. The empirical dimension will focus on mining, oil, gas, the environment, industry and trade. This paper seeks to explore this particular social and economic manifestation of the system in Nigeria and the potential it nurtures for development. Through the anti-capitalist framework of racial capitalism propounded by Cedric Robinson, the prospect of development through modern capitalist logic is critically examined.

Keywords- racial capitalism, environment, accumulation, means of production, and Nigeria