Fifty years of oil exploration in Nigeria: The paradox of plenty

Abstract

It is expected that countries with an abundance of natural resources should prosper. Yet over many years, it has been observed that nations rich in oil, gas, or mineral resources have been disadvantaged in the drive for economic progress. The concept of resource curse which refers to the
observation that nations with rich endowments of natural resources [oil as in the case of Nigeria] often dramatically under perform economically relative to what one would expect was used in this study. The methods employed in data collection, primarily from secondary sources include; literature review of NNPC publications, national dailies and newsmagazines; internet reports on OPEC, oil production in Nigeria, etc. Descriptive statistic was used in data analysis. The results revealed that the oil wealth was initially well applied towards the development of the country. Overtime, successive governments began to mismanage it and a situation like this had given rise to other contemporary oil nations overtaking Nigeria. The consequence is that the early gains of oil disappeared in the face of declining quality of general infrastructure across the country. The growing
reliance of the country on oil and gas alone may undermine the democratic structure-rule of law, political stability [as in the case of militancy in the Niger Delta region], government effectiveness and the fight against corruption