Abstract:

Over the years, studies have explored possible barriers to sustainable development in developing countries. Initially, the perspectives of dependency scholars on the contributions of slavery and colonialism was widely understood as major hindrances and made the standpoints of modernization scholars on lack of technical know-how and the consequence of definite features of the population untenable. Certainly, the general consensus that the horror of the two experiences could actually undermine Africa’s sustainable development and that Africa’s development within metropolis-satellite relations as argued by dependency scholars was practically impossible could not be disputed.  In contrast, the sudden rise of the South-East Asia in the same line of thought, leaving African countries, most especially Nigeria behind in the global societal quest for sustainable development has not only rendered the above general consensus useless but also raised a fundamental issue on the continual underdevelopment of Nigeria. The issue is borne out of the fact that Nigeria had the same colonial experience with South-East Asia. Besides, South-East Asia is not comparable with Nigeria in terms of natural endowments which can be adequately employed to achieve sustainable development within a short time. The question then is what could be responsible for the continual underdevelopment of Africa? It appears that the position of the modernization scholars, on the definite features of the population, mostly on cultural / traditional and attitudinal factors, earlier considered inessential could be a pointer to some clues. Nevertheless, it could be observed that such cultural and attitudinal factors are yet to be properly elucidated in contemporary times that all else seems to have failed in accounting for the continual underdevelopment of Africa. Therefore, this study asks: (i) What are the traditional and attitudinal factors that undermine sustainable development and how do they hinder the attainment of sustainable development? (ii) How can Africans tackle these factors in order to achieve sustainable development? This article used secondary data to provide answers to these questions, using Nigeria as a case study. The paucity of research on the traditional and attitudinal factors hindering the attainment of sustainable development in Nigeria must have prevented scholars and government policy makers from looking inward and not outward in providing solutions to the problems hindering sustainable development.