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The idea to write on the above theme derived fundamentally from a piece of article written by Lawrence Mbae, dated March 4th, 2014. It was written under the caption "Industrialization in Africa: Can the Continent Make it? The attention of this writer was thus captured by the piece and although various reasons were advanced for and against by the said writer, this paper is not intended to serve as a rejoinder to the independent views raised by the author, neither is it meant to join issues with him. Rather, as an academic research work, this paper fundamentally aims to investigate why more than fifty years since independence, post-colonial African economies have not yet fully industrialized. The paper also seeks to examine whether or not the inherent reasons hindering Africa´s actual industrial take off are internal, external or a combination of both. The various arguments to be raised against the inability of African economies to industrialize will be premised on a case study approach, with emphasis on historical experience of South Korea.

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Shehu, Bala
Shehu Bala graduated from Department of History, Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, Sokoto State, Nigeria.

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