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

[DYOR+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.

Do you know what our country problem is? It’s corruption. If we can solve corruption problem, then we don’t have problem in the country anymore. Either the economy will be built around agriculture or around crude oil, everything is going to be fine. Around 1956, Nigeria population wasn’t that much then, and corruption wasn’t that much during that period, and that was the reason why things were still working for Nigeria, if crude oil was discovered during that period, things will have been better because corruption wasn’t that much.

We have countries that depends on crude oil alone, and things are working so well in those countries, so corruption is just what’s affecting us, everyone cares about themselves, and they don’t even care if their actions will affect the country, and people leaving in it.

This said corruption is indeed a deteriorating factor when we talk about growth in Nigeria.  Just like mentioned before Nigeria gained a table independent from the British government,  i will same the leaders then where moved towards the transformation of the country from poor to rich that was why then Nigeria had one of the best economy many nations looked up to but now corruption has eaten up our leadership system and has affected all sector which is why it looks as if the presence of crude oil is causing harm to an extent to Nigerians. Just as mentioned,  if only corruption can be eradicated, Nigeria will become one of the best country in the world.

[terrific]

It's a gift of nature that Nigeria has but no longer a blessing to the country and the reason why I'm saying that Is because the country no longer benefits from this, only people of a particular group or holding positions of power in the country are using it for their own selfish interest. Nigeria has a very large amount of crude oil which is supposed to be able to build the country in terms of development of all kinds but it has become a medium that increased corruption.

They are the oligarchs and they're part of the corruption.
And the sitting officials are liking the situation because their pockets are filled with the money that comes from these corrupt.
Therefore, they are making themselves also part of the corruption that's stopping people to benefit from it.
It should be a resource that shall help everyone in any way that it can but, it's not. A blessing it is but not for the people.

[Churchillvv]

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.

Uranium is the raw material for solar energy generation? How? Do you mean solar panels or what? Because if you mean solar panels, then they are not made by Uranium as far as I know. I checked the ingredients for solar panels, and they are.

A typical solar panel is primarily made from silicon, glass, aluminum, plastics, and minor amounts of conductive metals like silver and copper.

Oh my bad, it’s used in generating the nuclear systems like the high demand weapons. China is ahead of this production and America too is a nation that uses uranium for nuclear weapon production. Most countries which are into the production of nuclear systems are seriously invested in Nigeria like America but comes in disguise and never accept their intentions and activities even though it’s published. So the misconception is silicon and uranium found is same axis of Nigeria.

[Oluwa-btc]

This is real problem and i think It should be easy for the Nigerian military to resolve the situation area per area, since Nigeria is not at war with another country. Allocating a large military force to the bandit area will not create sovereignty issues.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/398870445_Assessing_the_Impact_of_Bandit_Activities_on_Subsistence_Farming_and_Food_Supply_Chains_In_and_Around_Oyo_and_Kwara_State_Borders_in_Nigeria
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/403807802_Implications_of_the_Problem_of_Armed_Banditry_to_National_Security_in_Nigeria
https://leadership.ng/nigerias-emerging-ransom-economy/

Sadly, we have seen the opposite of this and we have seen the more deaths on the Nigerian Arny more than we have seen on these bandits committing these grave crimes to our great nation. Do you know why?! The senators and some military generals are well aware of the benefits that comes from sponsoring banditry in the middle eastern part of Nigeria and also the north. At the same time they are aware of the rare earth minerals found in these areas so using banditry is the only way they can help evacuate residents in that area while their Ngo's quietly mine out these rare earth minerals.

The president is also a slow and dullard who is a puppet to Emmanuel Macron and a CIA and FBI asset to the US Government. You will rather see him fight his Sahel brothers rather than fight and tackle these Jihad terrorist. Soldiers are being allocated, but I believe the location of these same Soldiers are given up. It bothers me why one of the best ground troops in the world has found it difficult to defeat these terrorist attacks ever since they kicked off in 2014.

They genuinely do not intend to see it curbed and combated.

[Makus]

The reason why crude oil in Nigeria has shifted from being a blessing to a curse is because of poor management basically, crude oil creates the biggest revenue In Nigeria but yet what the resources is used for in the state is not visible or seen, this is quite sad.  An oil producing country to have the highest rate of poverty in the world is really crazy. It has become a curse because it's seen as something that people want to acquire for themselves instead of using the resources to grow the country, if the people don't benefit from it is it really a blessing?

[alastantiger]

Nigeria never left agriculture, (you asked should Nigeria go back to agriculture like Nigeria abandoned it)
Nigeria still invests in agriculture, As a matter of fact in August 2019 Nigeria closed land-border to encourage Nigerians to produce more food items like rice, beans etc locally. The idea was mainly to make Nigerians investment more in agriculture.

The closing of the boarders was done because more foreign products were being sold in Nigeria for cheaper prices than the home grown food hence Nigerians preferred foreign imported food than the local pnes and they were better too so it can be said that we did not encourage agriculture until the boarder were closed. Crude oil is a rich natural resources that should be making the country  of Nigeria money and then the government use that money to better their country and economy just as Qatar and Saudi Arabia has done for their country but that is not happening yet in the country because of how corrupt the government are in the country.

[Faisal2202]

Oh my bad, it’s used in generating the nuclear systems like the high demand weapons. China is ahead of this production and America too is a nation that uses uranium for nuclear weapon production. Most countries which are into the production of nuclear systems are seriously invested in Nigeria like America but comes in disguise and never accept their intentions and activities even though it’s published. So the misconception is silicon and uranium found is same axis of Nigeria.

Uranium is not only used in nuclear weapons production, it is also used for energy production. Iran was allowed to produce energy by processing uranium, but when the US found out their intentions to weaponize it, they started the war.

They just started the war because a country which openly threatened the US many times, for their plans of weaponizing uranium, so it is not only for weaponizing. Therefore, Nigeria and other countries that are small and under the influence of the US can't really weaponize it even if they have the resources.

Because US agencies are doing the right thing this time, they won't allow any of the countries they benefit the most to acquire it for weapons. This is getting off topic, but America never shows themselves in secret missions just like they show in the movies.

[gracreavix]

Oil, from the looks of things was a blessing and a curse. But something shifted. More money was made from oil than agricultural. That's where the shift came into play. People saw the reward from oil and noticed how massive it was and wanted that money. What the government could have done was to put effort in agriculture as it did oil. But greed crept in. That's the Nigerian story for you.

[Silverstonez]

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.

Before the discovery of crude oil in Nigeria, the country was already corrupt, so simply saying that the discovery of crude oil was what made Nigeria corrupt does not make sense without a clear explanation of how exactly it contributed to the problem .

Mind you, Nigerians is still the agricultural country you used to know, the things is crude oil has simply overshadowed agriculture,  which is why it looks as if agriculture is no longer a major part of the country’s economy and identity.

To answer your question,  Nigeria as a country can’t simply make agriculture its primary priority because agriculture is already a major part of the country’s economy.

[MainIbem]

The reason why crude oil in Nigeria has shifted from being a blessing to a curse is because of poor management basically, crude oil creates the biggest revenue In Nigeria but yet what the resources is used for in the state is not visible or seen, this is quite sad.  An oil producing country to have the highest rate of poverty in the world is really crazy. It has become a curse because it's seen as something that people want to acquire for themselves instead of using the resources to grow the country, if the people don't benefit from it is it really a blessing?

If you think about it, you'll get crazy from overthinking. Nigerians are not even supposed to be bothered about oil, it's supposed to be a blessing that would helped with development of our nation like it did with some oil producing nations but when we can't properly manage our resources but export it to foreign countries where it would be refined and imported back to our country then we'll have to suffer the consequences, Imagine a country with oil that the refineries are not functioning properly how would they progress in that sector, crude oil us really a curse in disguise to Nigeria.

[Churchillvv]

Oh my bad, it’s used in generating the nuclear systems like the high demand weapons. China is ahead of this production and America too is a nation that uses uranium for nuclear weapon production. Most countries which are into the production of nuclear systems are seriously invested in Nigeria like America but comes in disguise and never accept their intentions and activities even though it’s published. So the misconception is silicon and uranium found is same axis of Nigeria.

Uranium is not only used in nuclear weapons production, it is also used for energy production. Iran was allowed to produce energy by processing uranium, but when the US found out their intentions to weaponize it, they started the war.

They just started the war because a country which openly threatened the US many times, for their plans of weaponizing uranium, so it is not only for weaponizing. Therefore, Nigeria and other countries that are small and under the influence of the US can't really weaponize it even if they have the resources.

Because US agencies are doing the right thing this time, they won't allow any of the countries they benefit the most to acquire it for weapons. This is getting off topic, but America never shows themselves in secret missions just like they show in the movies.

Yeah it’s getting out of topic but however will love to continue this discussion somewhere else maybe another thread if possible, moving forward contracts are getting signed for Nigeria to hand over both crude and lithium for the American mission which is very disappointing to have ourselves still under the neo colonialism in 2026 so the abundance of crude is now a less desirable commodity but however the general minerals are more valuable in the market, China, United Kingdom, USA, France etc are all in the race of scrambling the mineral resource of Nigeria however it’s promising whoever is going to sign the agreement individual wealth while selling out generations, which the current president is a good asset for that by using his supposed criminal record to persuade him into signing the agreement (MOU) but I pray we are able to remove him so someone can partner with Russia and get more freedom in Nigerian economy.

[Bright0515]

Having crude oil in Nigeria is a blessing but it doesn't seem like it because the people are not benefitting anything from it, only the elites are using this to enrich themselves because they decided to monopolize it. Asides from crude oil there are also other resources that Nigeria has as well but the people don't benefit from it. Crude oil is actually a blessing and a curse at the same time, it generates revenue for the country but at the same time the government use up all the money they get from it for their selfish interests instead of developing the country.

[abhiseshakana]

Sadly, we have seen the opposite of this and we have seen the more deaths on the Nigerian Arny more than we have seen on these bandits committing these grave crimes to our great nation. Do you know why?! The senators and some military generals are well aware of the benefits that comes from sponsoring banditry in the middle eastern part of Nigeria and also the north. At the same time they are aware of the rare earth minerals found in these areas so using banditry is the only way they can help evacuate residents in that area while their Ngo's quietly mine out these rare earth minerals.

The president is also a slow and dullard who is a puppet to Emmanuel Macron and a CIA and FBI asset to the US Government. You will rather see him fight his Sahel brothers rather than fight and tackle these Jihad terrorist. Soldiers are being allocated, but I believe the location of these same Soldiers are given up. It bothers me why one of the best ground troops in the world has found it difficult to defeat these terrorist attacks ever since they kicked off in 2014.

They genuinely do not intend to see it curbed and combated.

Because the safety of lives is priority, I hope many people in Nigeria migrate to obtain citizenship elsewhere through official/legal route. My consideration Because our lifespan and productive years are limited and matter of fact transforming the economic and political conditions in which corruption is deeply and widely rooted takes a long time and has a very low success rate.

Is doing simultaneous demonstrations safe and effective there? A bloody protest (Several students and civilians died, shot by the military)  took place in my country in 1998 and succeeded in toppling the corrupt regime that had been in power for 32 years. This protest initiated and spearheaded by the student movement. The protests lasted for seven days, culminating when tens of thousands of students occupied the House of Representatives building. We call it the reformation era.

[Curious T]

Natural resources can never be a cause, especially one that is so much in demand. It has the poer to make the country great and the lives of the people better, but the greed of certain people in that country would not let it happen. If the leaders of the country wanted to use the proceeds of crude to make the country better, they would, but they are too selfish and greedy to think about anything other than themselves. This is why it is very easy for developed countries to bribe and manipulate them into selling the country's resources.

A country like Nigeria can't get working refineries to refine its crude. They sell the crude and then buy the products of the crude from foreign countries. That alone shows how broken the system is. It's not like they don't have the money to build the refineries and make sure they work, but every money budgeted for the refineries would be stolen. What's worse is that these politicians have shares in other refineries that they helped build outside the country, so they love that the oil is being sold to these foreign companies because they benefit from it.

[Grace333]

Starting with the reason why I think that it is a curse to Nigeria, over the years there's been a lot of things that has happened because of crude oil in Nigeria and this issues are basically because the elites are trying to monopolize this resource for their own good and also you have other people that are trying to exploit it for their own profits, this is what leads pipeline vandalism, they channel oil from one point to another and they do their best to hide from the government because they know that it is illegal. Crude oil is a blessing to Nigeria because through the revenue that has been generated from it through exportation it has aided infrastructural development in the country, although this isn't enough because there is a lot the country is lacking.

[Jaycoinz]

I think something that's lacking in this discussion is to not consider agriculture and oil as competitors. The true potential is in investing in infrastructure that will increase the productivity of agriculture, including storage, irrigation, roads and processing facilities, using the oil money. That would mean Nigeria not only gets income from export of raw agricultural products but also processed agricultural products. Meanwhile, the fact that government revenue is largely dependent on oil prices makes it susceptible to fluctuations in the price of oil. Diversification would thus not only change one sector for another but would make the economy more resilient.

I think that's one thing we are neglecting, the primary focus on Crude oil and mineral resources overshadowing other sector is the major problem of Nigeria. But it's something that can't be salvaged as the elitist and ruling class are neck deep into this quick money called oil that they can't help in fostering this abundant resource in Agriculture.

If am not mistaken Nigeria use to be one the biggest suppliers of cocoa and other farm produce but now everyone's ambition is on the oil and gas, Nigerians should fight for sustainable diversification

[Smartprofit]

There's such a thing as the resource curse.🙋

When a country has large reserves of natural resources, officials begin to look down on their citizens. They know that the budget is funded not by taxes collected from individuals and businesses, but by natural resource rent. Yes, the country's constitution usually states that the earth's resources belong to the people. However, officials don't care. Since they control the extraction and sale of minerals, they believe that this income effectively belongs to them. And the people are a bunch of slackers who need to be fed.

As a result, countries with large reserves of natural resources usually have very high levels of corruption.

Also, authoritarian or even totalitarian regimes are often easily established in these countries. The reason is the same. If citizens are perceived not as creators but as parasites, this is a pretext for restricting their civil rights. And the enormous revenues from the sale of natural resources can be spent on police and troops to protect officials from the wrath of the people.

Of course, not all countries are subject to the resource curse. For example, Norway distributes national wealth very fairly among its citizens. The size of the country also plays a significant role here... The smaller the country, the harder it is for officials to become corrupt. Because everyone knows each other, everyone lives as a single community. But when a country is large, it's very difficult to escape authoritarianism or totalitarianism.🤷

[DiMarxist]

Crude oil has never and will not be a curse in disguise to any country in the world. I have heard this type of statements from many Nigerians and each time I hear it I just wonder were it's coming from. Ask yourself if Nigeria is the only place were crude oil has ever been discovered, and the answer is no . There are several countries around the world that oil was discovered and these countries are managing it well and putting the profit that they make for national development but, this is not the case with Nigeria.

We all know the problem of Nigeria and that is corruption, lack of accountability and bad management of resources. A country like Nigeria can't develop with the current state were they are , were corruption is celebrated and those who steal the common wealth of the Masse's are shared by the political class.

[Dareo]

Starting with the reason why I think that it is a curse to Nigeria, over the years there's been a lot of things that has happened because of crude oil in Nigeria and this issues are basically because the elites are trying to monopolize this resource for their own good and also you have other people that are trying to exploit it for their own profits, this is what leads pipeline vandalism, they channel oil from one point to another and they do their best to hide from the government because they know that it is illegal. Crude oil is a blessing to Nigeria because through the revenue that has been generated from it through exportation it has aided infrastructural development in the country, although this isn't enough because there is a lot the country is lacking.

It would not be right to call natural resources a curse outright, the real problem is when there is corruption and lack of accountability in the system of managing those resources. If oil money can be used properly, then long term development in infrastructure and other sectors is possible. And as far as I know, there have been 19 pipeline thefts in 2025 and 5 so far in 2026. So the problem is not in the oil, but in how the resources are managed.

[Fortify]

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.

"Fed the world" is a bit of an over exaggeration and there would be nothing stopping them from doing the same now if it were true. Oil only impacts a small percentage of farming land but can bring a country way more riches. Especially if you consider Nigeria would not be using advanced automated technologies compared to many other countries, so there is a much higher labor cost. Corruption might flow from money, but it is Nigerians that ultimately sold out other Nigerians if this is true. If the country were more unified and had established strong institutions then it would have had a better defense to fight this off, it had a long time to put such processes in place. Nigeria actually exports very little when you compare the size of the land and the amount of people living there, but that is not necessarily anything to do with the oil industry - they have every opportunity to diversify, so it's just an excuse for laziness or poor innovation.