Crude oil,a curse in disguise or a blessing to Nigeria

[hafiztalha]

Before crude oil was discovered in Nigeria in 1956, Nigeria's economy was built on agriculture and a few minerals. Basically Nigeria fed the world and built from the ground (soil). What happened, what changed now? Corruption before the discovery of crude oil was minimal but became a national anthem the moment crude oil was discovered. Suddenly everyone is a politician and that made Nigerians to abandon agriculture because there is free money from the dubious politicians to throw around. My question is should Nigeria go back to agriculture to compliment the crude oil? What is your take on this.

I think oil is both blessing and curse to Nigeria. It has created huge opportunities, it has generated enormous amount of revenue it has created a lot of jobs and financial infrastructure but I think the country is becoming too dependent on oil, while there are other issues like corruption and poor management and they also neglect their agriculture and the other productive sector which is becoming very serious issue for them. I do not think that they need to just abandon crude oil instead they should try to use the revenue that they are generating from oil as tool to diversify their economic condition.

Nigeria has a lot of fertile land so they need to strengthen their agriculture and their large population and the have the potential to produce food for itself and for exporting as well. They should also do investment in different sector in manufacturing, technology, education and renewable energy. Main problem is not crude oil itself but it depends on how resources are being managed. If the revenue that they are generating from the oil is being transparently invested into the other sector rather than being stolen or invested then crude oil can become blessing that can help Nigeria to go from being dependent on natural resources to stronger and more diversified economy.

[Audrey Simmons]

Before crude oil was discovered in Nigeria in 1956, Nigeria's economy was built on agriculture and a few minerals. Basically Nigeria fed the world and built from the ground (soil). What happened, what changed now? Corruption before the discovery of crude oil was minimal but became a national anthem the moment crude oil was discovered. Suddenly everyone is a politician and that made Nigerians to abandon agriculture because there is free money from the dubious politicians to throw around. My question is should Nigeria go back to agriculture to compliment the crude oil? What is your take on this.

How can a resource worth generational fortunes be considered a curse? Take note that Nigeria does not have the highest crude oil resource in the world, Nigeria is not even the highest in Africa, and we majorly focus on that aspect.

The government can do much more than depend mostly on crude oil, the only curse affecting Nigeria is bad government, with what the country is generating from crude oil, it is enough to develop the country, we are not holding the government accountable for how they spend the country's resources.

Oh, here is another example of Dutch Disease! Although crude oil initially came as blessing for Nigeria. Excessive greed and lethargy turned it into curse. Nigerian are no longer interested in hard work of farming.

Farmers are poor, the vast majority of Nigerians are willing to go into farming, but no aid, bad roads, poor structures, and high cost of transportation, the economy is totally unsettled for farmers, no farmer will succeed under such conditions.

[Oluwa-btc]

Before crude oil was discovered in Nigeria in 1956, Nigeria's economy was built on agriculture and a few minerals. Basically Nigeria fed the world and built from the ground (soil). What happened, what changed now? Corruption before the discovery of crude oil was minimal but became a national anthem the moment crude oil was discovered. Suddenly everyone is a politician and that made Nigerians to abandon agriculture because there is free money from the dubious politicians to throw around. My question is should Nigeria go back to agriculture to compliment the crude oil? What is your take on this.

Nigeria?! That must be exaggerated and I wouldn't say that. Maybe I will say that there was a time when European depended on the foods from Africa. ( During the time of colonialism).

What i was expecting to read was that Nigeria had enough money to be a super power in Africa and help aid other smaller African nations in debt but Nigeria feeding the world?! C'mon man! I do not even think crude oil was the reason why Nigeria dumped Agriculture. It wasn't,  I feel it had to do with a lot of importation of food from the west which affected our local farmers and food growers.

There are a whole lot to be done, we have brain rot political representatives in power and when you  have a good one with the interest of Nigerians, one way or the other, the west will try to kill them or even assassinate them.

[Churchillvv]

Nigeria as a country is suffering from foreign destabilization, if sovereignty was a guarantee in Nigeria or will be forcefully taken then all this nonsense you are blabbing would not exist, do you know how much foreign decisions that has been forced down the throats of Nigerian government that lead to the collapse of agriculture, the land where farmers are being forced to leave are used for mining owned by a foreign individuals or companies that has forced the owners of the land to leave farming because they face crisis in the area.

Secondly, crude oil was not discovered, it was found and documented in the moment that is recorded as its discovery, people have been living there and knows about crude oil but used in different local settings but was documented as a discovery which is a big lie.

Thirdly, Nigeria is facing imperialism and Neocolonialism which is the key reason for the collapse of the country and not merely bad leadership, some leaders are good but are forced to be bad by this foreign decision makers.
Example right now, IMF is forcing the government to start taxing its citizens and with this tax poverty will grow more and there will be no room for development.

Fourthly, crude oil, is just one of the many minerals that are found in Nigeria, uranium is way more expensive and abundant in Nigeria but not documented yet that’s the raw material for solar energy generation going right now. Their is a documentary online that says, western governments came together and had an agreement that Nigeria as a nation must not use its resources if not they will become one great economy that will power the whole Africa hence all the forceful destabilization of Nigeria is going on every now and then.

[Crypto_Timothy]

It's nothing much than greed when you want to discuss the issues of Crude oil in Nigeria, country that is blessed with so many natural resources that it's citizens are supposed to be enjoying in abundance, nevertheless the greed politicians have in Nigeria is something that will continue to hold the country back. They whole fact that we were buying and importing fuel although the natural resources was minted from Nigeria, when I got to understand that, I could not even imagine why...if we truly want to improve this country, we must call out our leaders and make them do the right thing for our benefit.

[viljy]

Does anyone still believe in the fairy tale about the "resource curse"? This is when a country has so much natural wealth that this wealth hinders the population from working and living a rich life. Recently, Trump freed Venezuela from the resource curse by placing the oil industry under American control. Now all the residents are happy - they’ve gotten rid of the income from the cursed oil. At the beginning of this century, the Rothschilds wanted to free Russia from the resource curse by taking control of all oil production. But Putin thwarted them and sent their representative in Russia (Khodorkovsky) to prison.

[YOSHIE]

Crude oil,a curse in disguise or a blessing to Nigeria

It is a great shame that the crude oil currently in Nigeria should be a blessing and a source of economic prosperity for the Nigerian people, but instead it has become a curse and a source of problems in the country. This is truly a great shame.

The worst impact of oil extraction is that it is very detrimental to Nigerian society, namely environmental damage and the death of the agricultural sector, As the OP said, previously the agricultural sector was an economic resource, but now it has been destroyed due to oil waste pollution, which is truly ironic and very regrettable, in addition to the damage to the ecosystem from the impact of mining and oil spills.

Not to mention the corruption that is rampant within the government, it does not actually have an economic impact on people whose poverty is worse than enjoying the fruits of their wealth.

[Somegory]

Nigeria is blessed and cursed at the same time, it has nothing to do with the crude oil and it has everything to do with the Nigerians, while everyone is pointing fingers to their leaders you will find out that mere people are worser.

I am not saying that every Nigerians are bad but the bad eggs are way higher in number than the good eggs, I am telling you for real that Nigerians are worse than their leaders, exchange them and see how bad they will perform.

Everyone is greedy in Nigeria, no one is going to lead for the sake of their people but for the sake of stealing from the country's resources and enrich their family, that's everyone's goal..

[aoluain]

Definitely a natural resource like Crude Oil is a blessing for any economy only if the population
of that country can benefit in a general way like proper infrastructure such as roads, hospitals,
and emergency services for example.

The curse comes from corruption of people when greed takes hold but this happens with almost
everything of value generally speaking

In terms of agriculture, its extremely important even from the simple standpoint of being able
to provide food domestically, to be self sufficient in part and not to be relying on imports which
carry an economic toll.

And this is going to get very pronounced in the coming months when there is a global food shortage.

[Marvelockg]

Does anyone still believe in the fairy tale about the "resource curse"? This is when a country has so much natural wealth that this wealth hinders the population from working and living a rich life.

Is this not insane? The thing here is that a a gold in the hand of someone that does not know it worth will not be so different from a non precious metal. that the holder of the resource lacks the capacity of making the best out of it does not make it a bad thing and does not still mean that if they deicide to use the resource the right way that because they have abused it in the past that anything good can not come out of it again.

Crude oil is not a curse to any nation that are blessed with it including the likes of Nigeria that though have it can not boost of a single refinery or a constant power supply. ignorant of the worth of the resource you are blessed with can lead you to under utilize it and over focus on it while neglecting other sectors, and that is where Nigeria has failed in. The financial incentive gotten from the extracted crude oil can further strengthen other natural resources in Nigeria that are still available and help in creating more revenue. unfortunately, the independence that they claim to have is still far from actual actualization.

[Majestic-milf]

 It's now looking like a curse because the citizens are not exactly benefitting from it, with the high cost in the price of fuel, it's hard for the average person to purchase without spending hugely on it. Also, with the high rate of energy, it causes poverty because families can no longer afford things with the way prices of goods have increased in the market. While the economy is receiving a boost from the sales of crude oil, the average citizen's state of living deteriorates so it's more like a curse than a blessing for most Nigerians.

[Alpha Marine]

Does anyone still believe in the fairy tale about the "resource curse"? This is when a country has so much natural wealth that this wealth hinders the population from working and living a rich life. Recently, Trump freed Venezuela from the resource curse by placing the oil industry under American control. Now all the residents are happy - they’ve gotten rid of the income from the cursed oil. At the beginning of this century, the Rothschilds wanted to free Russia from the resource curse by taking control of all oil production. But Putin thwarted them and sent their representative in Russia (Khodorkovsky) to prison.

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or you're serious.
The only reason the "resource curse" works is because of poor management and corruption, and not because the people in the country get lazy or don't want to work. Politicians refused to make good use of the money gotten from the resources, which is oil in this case. The money could have been used to develop better infrastructure, invest in the economy, create jobs and make the lives of the people easier, instead, the money is shared among the politicians and their friends and family.

In my opinion, Trump didn't free Venezuela. He just replaced one bad leader with another. This is like slave masters swapping. Nothing has changed. The proceeds from the oil are still not going to the people on aking theor economy better. It's the same old, same old.
This is why I couldn't tell if you were being sarcastic.

[fruktik]

Before crude oil was discovered in Nigeria in 1956, Nigeria's economy was built on agriculture and a few minerals. Basically Nigeria fed the world and built from the ground (soil). What happened, what changed now? Corruption before the discovery of crude oil was minimal but became a national anthem the moment crude oil was discovered. Suddenly everyone is a politician and that made Nigerians to abandon agriculture because there is free money from the dubious politicians to throw around. My question is should Nigeria go back to agriculture to compliment the crude oil? What is your take on this.

There is no question about it. A return to agriculture is absolutely essential. Oil extraction does not hinder this; on the contrary, it facilitates soil cultivation by enabling the use of machinery powered by gasoline and diesel fuel.

Why do you believe corruption was minimal in the past? No, it was widespread back then too, but no one knew about it because there were no modern technologies for accessing information from alternative sources. Official propaganda certainly wouldn't talk about such things, as doing so would discredit the authorities themselves.

[Mayor of ogba]

Crude oil is a big blessing to Nigeria and not a curse, since it was discovered in Nigeria in 1956 it has gone to become the pillar of Nigeria's economy. Had the been Nigeria leaders are using the money they are getting from the sell of crude oil for the betterment of the country just the same way Saudi Arabia did you won't be asking if crude oil is a curse disguise or blessing to Nigeria. Even though as crude oil has taken the place of agriculture which Nigeria where depending on to build its economy, Nigeria can still go back to agricultural. I just believe Nigeria going back to Agriculture depend on Nigeria leaders, like any day Nigerians elect a president who wants to build Nigeria's economy with crude oil, natural gas, and agriculture Nigeria will go back to agriculture.

[knowngunman]

I am a Nigerian and honestly i feel so bad anytime I think of this crude oil, we are not yet independent that is why our government cannot do anything to solve this problem. The international monetary fund and World Bank are the people behind all the suffering that we are going through, which anytime I see AIDs from all this organizations, I laughed because we all know that they are here to take all what we have so that we will be left with nothing.

I hate to see NGO because this is the organization that they are using to create uncomfortable in our places, they are all in places where the terrorists are disturbing, which was why I believe they are just there to park our mineral resources, I hate them because they come in disguise thinking that they are here to help us not we knowing that they are here to destroy our lives and properties just for their own benefits. We are losing lives everyday and this people are in our community for a very long time and there is no any improvement when it comes to protecting our lives and properties.

If we compare Nigeria condition to other oil producing countries like Saudi, United Arab Emirates, one would assume that it's not the same oil we are producing. Other countries are using their oil revenues to create more wealth and investment for their citizens but Nigeria is spending their own lavishly on government officials. Isn't it funny that Nigeria extract the crude oil, export the crude oil and then import refined petrol that costs them extra expenses while they have refineries that allocate money for it maintenance every year but still can't produce a litre of petrol? That's ridiculous!

How the IMF, World Bank and NGOs come into this discussion is what I still don't understand. I know quite alright that most of this foreign institutions don't have our interest at heart but we can not just accuse them unless you have evidence (yes, convincing evidence) to back it up. Are they responsible that our refineries are not working? Are they responsible for the oil theft and pipeline vandalism happening in the East? Do they dictate for our government to spend the revenue lavishly?

The IMF and World Bank never beg us to come take loan from them. We willingly go for the loan despite knowing their condition and implications but we still go for it anyway.

The NGOs is a two way road. They're benefiting from us and we are benefiting from them too. So many schools and hospitals are now still functioning because of aids from NGOs. I'm not defending them but I won't just buy any claim without evidence.

I see it as if we are trying to run away from responsibility anytime I see things like this blaming external organisations for underdevelopment. We are independent but we don't know how to manage our resources yet. We should hold our leaders accountable instead of shifting the blame innocent organisations.

[CryptoBuds]

How can a resource worth generational fortunes be considered a curse? Take note that Nigeria does not have the highest crude oil resource in the world, Nigeria is not even the highest in Africa, and we majorly focus on that aspect.

The government can do much more than depend mostly on crude oil, the only curse affecting Nigeria is bad government, with what the country is generating from crude oil, it is enough to develop the country, we are not holding the government accountable for how they spend the country's resources.

Nigeria has the largest crude oil reserves in Africa and ranks 11th in the world, with around 2.1% of the world's total reserves. And that can be more of a curse than a blessing.

If you look around, Nigeria isn't the only one. Countries with huge oil reserves but without the military or technology to match them, like Libya, South Sudan, and Venezuela,,,are still poor and full of problem.
Another thing you'll notice is that most of the big player exploiting oil in these countries are from the West.  I don't think all of that is just a coincidence.



https://www.worldometers.info/oil/nigeria-oil/

[Y3shot]

My question is should Nigeria go back to agriculture to compliment the crude oil? What is your take on this.

Since agriculture has been the major source of the Nigerian economy, it would make sense for the government to look back at the agricultural sector again, and I don't expect the government to have not gone back until this time.

The discovery of oil caused the Nigerian government to show less concern about agriculture because of the money oil was generating, so they felt the oil money was enough. This can be a mistake anyone can make, but going back will really make sense; it will not just provide food but also reduce unemployment.

It makes sense why the government relies on different sectors because this is what boosts the economy. Relying on just oil means that whenever the market is affected, it also affects the economy too.

[stompix]

If we compare Nigeria condition to other oil producing countries like Saudi, United Arab Emirates, one would assume that it's not the same oil we are producing. Other countries are using their oil revenues to create more wealth and investment for their citizens but Nigeria is spending their own lavishly on government officials. Isn't it funny that Nigeria extract the crude oil, export the crude oil and then import refined petrol that costs them extra expenses while they have refineries that allocate money for it maintenance every year but still can't produce a litre of petrol?

Oh god, why do people always poeple compare it things just on the surface and not dig into the math for it!

So let's break this down without colonialism, tinfoils and stuff like that:
Assuming $100 per barrel.

Nigeria 1,675,090 barrels a day, $ 61 billions a year, 243 million population, a flat $250 per year per capita!
Saudi Arabia, 11,213,958 barrels a day, $409 billions a year, 35 million population, $11 650 per year per capita!
Norway, 2,051,848 barrels a day, $74 billions a year, 5 million population, $15 000 per year per capita!

So Saudi Arabia produces and earns 46 times more from oil per capita than Nigeria, Norway earns 60 times more from oil per capita than Nigeria!
For Nigeria to earn the same as Saudi Arabia, it would need to produce 77 million barrels a day, roughly 3/4 of the world's production to compete with Norway it would need to produce more oil than the entire world's consumption!

[BitBakerr1]

Nigerians are still farming however they are not doing it like before, and the government is not even supporting the farmers this is because crude oil has been discovered in Nigeria, and the government is now focusing all their attention into crude oil because there is much money in that area than agriculture.

The reason why Nigeria’s are now more focused on Crude oil than agriculture is because of foolishness of our Nigerian leaders, we don’t have good leaders in Nigeria if we had good leaders in Nigeria, we would focus on crude oil and also focus on agriculture equally and things would have been better for Nigeria.

We have corrupt leaders and as long as they continue existing Nigeria we keep having issues.
Right now, farmers are not even going to farm because of bandit and the government is doing nothing about it.

[Promocodeudo]

My question is should Nigeria go back to agriculture to compliment the crude oil? What is your take on this.

Op going back to agriculture does not stop corruption, although it will help in strengthening the economy of our nation more, what kept Nigeria the way it is as we speak, is the high level of corruption, Nigeria can be great again if we can get rid of corruption, I was having a discussion related to this same topic with someone IRL, the person said our people has become lazy due to the fact that we have crude oil, I disagree with him, most of us that came from the oil rich zone of Nigeria, we were mostly into fishing, we aren't lazy but what happened was that, due to government and the oil exploration companies carelessness, we experienced oil spillage in our water where we fish, and government did nothing about this on time, which affected both the fish and all aquatic animals, the government negligence has been a problem in Nigeria.

If we have to go back to a full scale agriculture, there's enough land for that, but do you think the government is ready to back to agriculture?
Are they done importing everything to make life miserable for the common man, even though we go back to Agriculture, there are much things to do, if we want to make things right, Nigerian government is full with people that has no knowledge of how to strengthen the economy.
We have major farmers in the northern part of our country Nigeria, what has the government done to protect them from the Islamic extremist that has been terrorizing them in their farms, of course nothing has been done, I do not think the government can go back to major farm as it used to be back then, I think farming will remain an individual thing because the government of Nigeria has no interest in that, borrowing money to share among themselves has taken over such idea.