Nigeria's Third National Development Plan is based on the proposition that judicious use of current oil revenues to build social and economic infrastructures, and to radically transform the nature of economic activity, represents the quickest and most effective means of development.1 Top priority is to be given during the period 1975 to 1980 to manufacturing in the belief that an industrial base is the firmest foundation for self-sustained growth.

The Soviet Union is not able to replace western economic investments even in those African countries which become its affies. Therefore its influence is limited to the political sphere, mainly to inter-party relations. By playing a crucial rôle in Southern Africa and Ethiopia, the Soviet Union has accomplished an important step in its global strategy.

Dependency theory has sometimes been called a perspective, rather than a theory, due to the multiplicity of often contrasting arguments attributed to it. Nevertheless, the theses of such well-known authors as Samir Amin and Cohn Leys have gained general recognition as representative of the theory. Both attempt to explain the general causes of underdevelopment, notably those factors underlying the poor sectoral articulation, skewed demand profile, and uneven economic growth of many Third-World countries. They argue that their long-run development is stifled by certain domestic class formations and relationships with international capital, thereby producing dependent economic structures.