Oil Economy, Corruption and Poverty: The Nigerian Experience

Abstract

Nigeria is perceived by analysts as a potential giant of Africa. This is attributed to the abundance of natural resources in the country. One of this natural endowments is oil. To be sure, Nigeria is the 8^thlargest producer of crude oil in Africa. However, paradoxically, the country remains one of the leading poorest countries in the world. Recent Human Index Report indicates that fifty four percent of its population is livingless than the international guideline for extreme poverty of $1 a day. There is a widening gap between the haves and have-nots. This paper within the context of resource curse theory, posits that oil economy is a major source of Nigeria's corruption and socio-economic woes. The study adopted political economy as its framework of analysis. Data were generated from secondary sources such as textbooks, relevant journals and magazines on oil. A content analysis of the data generated revealed that oil economy has thrown up a corrupt dependent capitalist class without entrepreneurial skill who feed fat on this freely given resource at the expense of the teeming majority of disillusioned citizens. It is thus recommended that for Nigeria to experience meaningful development that would impact on its citizenry not only must the oil industry be totally overhauled, other sectors like Agriculture and allied industries must receive priority attention. Moreover, the state anti-graft institutions must be strengthened to be able to arrest the menace of corruption that has become endemic in the polity.