 Learning and adopting the technological resources and skills was a protracted and costly process, something African states were unable to capitalise on, due to the lack of domestic savings and poor literacy rates across the continent.Externally, the oil shocks of the 1970s and subsequent economic stagnation of the west reduced the ability of oil exporter states such as Nigeria, to balance their payments through oil production.The global ramifications of these oil shocks also reduced the imports of capital and intermediate goods into African economies, as donor states became increasingly inward looking throughout an economically tumultuous period.