Towards Utilizing Anthropological Knowledge for Wealth Creation in Twenty First Century Nigeria

The Nigeria society today places much emphasis on some academic disciplines such as Law, Medicine, Architecture, Pharmacy, Engineering, Computer Science, Information Communication TechnoIogy(ICT), Accountancy, Agriculture and so are to the detriment of Social and Behavioural science disciplines of which Anthropology is the most endanger of them all. From its earliest in-road into the Nigeria society, anthropology as an academic discipline had become unpopular because of the general belief on the part of nationalist leaders that the discipline aided colonialism and imperialism. This posture has continued since post independent years in Nigeria till this twenty first century. The paper examines the value of anthropology in human society; especially in the areas of urban studies and development programmes, cultural resource management (CRM), advocacy and implementation of government policies, preventive and curative healthcare amongst others. The paper also examines prospects and opportunities for wealth creation within the field of anthropology in Nigeria; and these include: working in international Development agencies, working as a Curator/Ethnographer in a government or private Museum, establish a consultant outfit, create employment/wealth through the art of photography among others. The paper recommends that financial assistance is given to fresh anthropology graduates in Nigeria to enable them create employment/wealth.