Avoiding the Natural Resource Curse: Lessons from Nigeria and Policy Implications1

Abstract

This article explores the curse of natural resources in Africa and the lessons that richly endowed countries can learn from Nigeria. The history of oil in Nigeria has been particularly characterised by violent low-intensity conflicts with mixed dimensions of environmentalist agitations, ethno-national protestations against collective marginalisation, low-intensity militia insurgency, criminal predation and obstruction of oil operations, as well as pro-oil violent reprisal by state security forces, This article discusses apparent policy lessons that any emerging oilrich country, especially those that have recently discovered commercial deposits (e.g. Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Uganda, DRC and Kenya), as well as other (non) volatile and emerging economies with abundant oil and/or gas endowments (e.g. South Sudan, Tanzania and Mozambique) could learn from the Nigerian saga.