AFRICAN ALTERNATIVE FRAMEWORK TO STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT PROGRAMME FOR SOCIO-ECONOMIC RECOVERY AND TRANSFORMATION: A CASE STUDY OF NIGERIA 1989-2009

The Orthodox structural adjustment programes, by that very design, assume that the classical instruments of control of money sleply, credit squeeze, exchange rate and interest rate adjustment, trade liberalization which may be valued in well-structured economies, could bring about positive results in African economies characterized by weak and disarticulate structure and balance of payment crisis. However, there are documented evidence that in almost all cases, the sustained economic growth has not materialized, the state of investment had decreased, budget and balance of payments deficits have widen. The social impact even raised more doubt and questions as per the efficacy of structural adjustment programme. The overall assessment of the structural adjustment programmes has led to the conclusion that although these programmes aim at restoring growth through the achievement of fiscal and* external balances and the free play of market forces, these objectives were not achieved. In the face of the dismal failure of the programme, the economic commission for AFSTCA, with the financial support of United Nations Development Programme embarked on a search for an African Alternative Framework to structural adjustment programme that would address simultaneously both adjustment and structural transformation of African economies. This work is a critical assessment of the macro-economic framework. The work in its findings submit that the alternative framework to SAP did not only failed to address adequately African economic crisis but compounded the problem and made African economies to face more serious and accete economies problems.