Oil Wealth In Nigeria Essay

At present Nigeria is the 13th oil producer and 5th largest exporter. The oil sector has played a pivotal and almost exclusive role in the economy, causing Nigeria to be subject to the volatile revenues of this sector.
The dependence of the country by oil revenues started in the mid of 1960s when the then Prime Minister Balewa started considering the potential impact of oil revenue on the balance of payments. In 1970s the country was suddenly awash with money arising from the impressive increase of oil price in the world market. and oil gained ascendancy over all other commodities as the largest contributor to the country GDP, and as a major foreign exchange earner taking the place of crops. The sharp increase in market price skyrocketed from

The federal system and its unfair distribution of wealth has always created an unbalance between the oil-rich states, especially those in the area of the Niger delta, and the non-oil states which struggle for a part of the profitable returns on investment and revenues for economic development. The disputes take the form of the push and pull of social movements intent on blocking continued oil extraction, which are also the cause of degradation, pollution and impoverishment of the environment. Nigeria’s oil wealth history has always led to social and political unrest, particularly in the Niger Delta. The Igbo efforts to secede from Nigeria, which led to the 1967-70 civil war; the unrest among the Ogoni and Ijaw peoples in the Niger Delta, due to their desire to gain a larger share of the region’s economic wealth, have been encouraged by the presence of oil. A number of academics have shown the nexus between mineral export dependency, atypical slow economical growth and political problems, which will continue to affect Nigeria if a drastic change is not going to