We have crude oil but we are still poor

[Nicho-brown]

We as Nigerians we have crude oil but our country is still poor and going backward on a daily. And the question is, is it suppose to be so as an oil producing country, states, LGA's and communities?

When you travel and log in to our local communities in the villages as SPDC Shell host communities that has now been taking over by Renaissance, you see that there's nothing to write home about.

The local content agreement has it that they will bring development to the Shell host communities, things like,
1. Electricity.
2. Good roads.
3. Scholarships.
4. Borehole's water.
5. Youths empowerments.
6. Employment in their companies.
7. Monthly stipends for old men/women
etc

But none of these is being carried out.

[PostQuantumBTC]

This thread belong to the politics and society (Naija).

Nigeria 90% export in 2024 was crude oil and this as been how it was before and in 2025 and also this year with only little changes in the percentage.

But crude oil only accounts for 4 to 5% of Nigeria GDP.

Go and develop other sectors in your country and not only be depending on crude oil.

[GeorgeJohn]

This thread belong to the politics and society (Naija).

Actually you're right, but he has the right to leave the thread here also...

Go and develop other sectors in your country and not only be depending on crude oil.

Nigeria is full of natural resources, it's not only exportation of crude oil that gives Nigeria income, they don't depends on one source of income, only thing is that they values crude oil more than other source of generating income...

[Nicho-brown]

Go and develop other sectors in your country and not only be depending on crude oil.

well, your advice is valid but do you realize that these oil exploration have made our mother farmless?

Do you also agree with me that our fathers can no longer go to the rivers for fishing again because there's oil spillage all over our rivers in our local villages?

Do you also agree with me that we do no longer have good water fetch from our Wheels and drink, all because of these oil exploration and gas flaming up and down in our local communities?

* Have we talked about the heat at night?
* How polluted the atmosphere is?
* What about the Uncalled-for diseases everywhere?
* Are you aware that Crop's are weathering?
* Are you also aware that Plants are no longer growing?
And many more...

So do you still think that we should stop talking about crude in our local communities and talk about something else?

[General_Bitcoin]

The local content agreement has it that they will bring development to the Shell host communities

Check out if the Host Communities Development Trust (HCDT) has been established under the Petroleum Industry Act 2021. The oil company is legally required to put 3% of actual operating expenditure from the previous year into trust for the host community. This will be used to invest in infrastructure, education, health and other initiatives.

Ask your community leaders about the trust, what have they received and how much have they spent?

[Freeveto]

Develop countries with good government that have lesser oil than Nigeria are doing very well, while other countries with no oil and depend on Nigeria for so many things are also doing well. So the thing here is, our government is the problem. We don’t have leaders, we have dealers because if a whole president if a country collaborating with a small country and own a refinery and was taking his country’s crude oil to refine and still sell at a very higher price to the country, and the country have no active refineries because the government is not willing to repair them since they are making huge amount of money from selling it out and buying back the product at a very high rate.

Nigeria have more than crude oil as natural resources, we have coal, gold and others, yet we are not doing well, we are rich but only our leaders benefit from all these. So nothing to do about it mate, the country is yet to have credible leaders.

[Doan9269]

We as Nigerians we have crude oil but our country is still poor and going backward on a daily. And the question is, is it suppose to be so as an oil producing country, states, LGA's and communities?

Nigeria is not the only country in Africa that is having crude oil abundance and still yet suffering underdevelopment, even though we can say that the leaders are mostly the ones behind all these because of the way the administered the leadership of the country, the moment you have some set of incompetent political elite that are only there to satisfy their personal interest, you can't expect much from them except to fulfill their own ambition instead of a nation-building agenda.

What is wrong with Nigeria having functioning refineries than when they decided to produce crude oil and export it abroad to be refined? How can you tell me that a single individual like Dangote is richer than a country called Nigeria to afford a refinery in Nigeria? There is more to the political shares we are seeing that really happens behind the curtain and is not made open to the public. The cabals know themselves and how they play their games, don't sleep on it.

[viljy]

Shell, Chevron, and other companies engaged in oil production in Nigeria have oil. The state itself also has a share, but these revenues are apparently spent on something else, not on improving the population’s living conditions. Why is that? Well, you’ll need to ask your government.

[Cryptomultiplier]

We as Nigerians we have crude oil but our country is still poor and going backward on a daily. And the question is, is it suppose to be so as an oil producing country, states, LGA's and communities?

Nigeria is not the only country in Africa that is having crude oil abundance and still yet suffering underdevelopment, even though we can say that the leaders are mostly the ones behind all these because of the way the administered the leadership of the country, the moment you have some set of incompetent political elite that are only there to satisfy their personal interest, you can't expect much from them except to fulfill their own ambition instead of a nation-building agenda.

What is wrong with Nigeria having functioning refineries than when they decided to produce crude oil and export it abroad to be refined? How can you tell me that a single individual like Dangote is richer than a country called Nigeria to afford a refinery in Nigeria? There is more to the political shares we are seeing that really happens behind the curtain and is not made open to the public. The cabals know themselves and how they play their games, don't sleep on it.

You are right about the corruption of the cabal that control the country and its resources that they don't mind the poverty that's inherent when there's abundance, all because they see poverty as a tool of power and influence in a society that see these corrupt leaders as gods and would prefer to rally behind them than stand against them for the stipend they get.

A country still divided by religious beliefs and tribal sentiments, yet calls itself one, is a confused state with infused anarchy that makes only those who belong to a certain group benefit more than those who don't belong to them and that's the situation of the country where we have crude oil but refineries fail to work and the ones that do still can't refine enough for the country without needing to make gains from external and internal news that may or may not affect its own economic reality, all because they make more money this way than being prudent the right way.

[tabas]

But none of these is being carried out.

That is because it's not your country who benefits from your own natural resources, it is the other countries that are exploiting and raking the benefits from having your natural resources. If your government isn't corrupt and mainly focuses on the growth and development of your nation, you'll get all of those advantages for the people. But, what is happening is only the pockets of the politicians who are allowing these exploits to happen are getting filled. Instead of working for the people and making them the priority, it is the opposite that they do.

[YOSHIE]

We as Nigerians we have crude oil but our country is still poor and going backward on a daily.

When a country has abundant crude oil resources, economic therapy and the people are still in poverty, it is called the "natural resource curse." Such a situation is very ironic, the curse was created by themselves.

The reasons for this curse were caused by them themselves, such as corruption carried out by the country's government, poor governance such as funding, inappropriate targeting of subsidies, it is not transparent and unfair to the welfare of society from oil revenues, only enjoyed by a few people, so that promises remain promises that are never kept.

When this kind of phenomenon occurs in these countries and regions, the fact is that they have giant crude oil reserves, the therapy is that they live and are trapped in a prolonged economic crisis and the people actually live in mass poverty.

[MArsland]

I do not really understand how things are in Nigeria, there are still similarities because I live in a country that in fact has abundant natural resources but the condition of the people is also partly quite poor alias poor because the mining sector is controlled by companies, citizens are not involved in the management of these natural resources. In addition, mining areas are also controlled by a handful of conglomerates that aim to drain natural resources for their own interests and leave the rest of the land with holes. All that remains is drought, broken roads, people do not get compensation for the restoration of the environment.

Is the situation similar in Nigeria?
so this problem lies in government policies that do not control the percentage of Natural Resource revenues for producing regions. Or is it that the policy has been implemented but corruption is an obstacle?

[Mrbluntzy]

We as Nigerians we have crude oil but our country is still poor and going backward on a daily. And the question is, is it suppose to be so as an oil producing country, states, LGA's and communities?

Good ladership is a factor that contributes to fast development too, not just about the natural resources but about how well the leaders of your country are making good use of those resources to better the country and the life of citizens and not just focus on self gains. From your complaint, you expect that your state or community is supposed to be well developed than it currently is, right? Then ask yourself, what role is the state government playing towards that? How has they help the dwellers of that community to have good opportunities that will contribute to the development of the state? 

[AVE5]

This thread belong to the politics and society (Naija).

Actually you're right, but he has the right to leave the thread here also...

You MIGHT be right to refer this thread to the Nigerian Local board because from the look of things, it's a local economy matter which insiders can relate best at it.
It's also a good reminder that other countries such as the UK, Russian, UK, China, Japan etc as individual countries are brought here and Nigeria as a sovereignty country isn't bad at all to discuss its economic activities and news here.

Go and develop other sectors in your country and not only be depending on crude oil.

Nigeria is full of natural resources, it's not only exportation of crude oil that gives Nigeria income, they don't depends on one source of income, only thing is that they values crude oil more than other source of generating income...

Nigeria hasn't been depending on the crude oil infrastructure while also have some other natural resources like the Coal, gold, Tin, limestone, granite etc, they also Inevsts on Agricultures such as rice, beans, cocoa, yam cassava etc.
There's also high dependent on the national economy income generation in the humans resources and taxes.
Too many sectors that generates income for Nigeria.
The problem in the description of the OP is an error in the governing system. So I recommend why this post can also reflect to the political board.

[AmaGold70]

Nigeria doesn't lack the natural resources that will enable them grow, but what they lack is good governance and that is the main reason they are living like a nation without oil in their land. Good leadership far better than numerous natural resources because wrong leaders will always exploit those opportunities. There are other oil producing nations in the world who are really doing well from the oil they produce such as Saudi Arabia, Water etc. these countries are rich because of oil production, but in the case of Nigeria the reverse is the case because their is an error in their leadership system.

[Charles-Tim]

Shell, Chevron, and other companies engaged in oil production in Nigeria have oil. The state itself also has a share, but these revenues are apparently spent on something else, not on improving the population’s living conditions. Why is that? Well, you’ll need to ask your government.

Government are only after taxes than thinking of developing the country. I will also blame people on this for not developing the technological part and some other areas that they lag beginning Nigeria. The government can not be doing everything, but the government have huge part of the blame for not encouraging the rich people. Many among the rich people especially the politicians prefer to make money in the country and use the money to establish something in other countries.

[serjent05]

@OP even the richest-resource country can still be poor.  This all comes down to how the government manages these resources.  We all blame corruption as the main culprit why a country is poor but it is not the only one that is making a country poor.  Incompetent leaders also make a country poor.  Leaders who have no vision and muddle headed, letting foreign investors take advantage of and exploit their resources, are also one of the reasons why a country stay poor.

Shell, Chevron, and other companies engaged in oil production in Nigeria have oil. The state itself also has a share, but these revenues are apparently spent on something else, not on improving the population’s living conditions. Why is that? Well, you’ll need to ask your government.

Government are only after taxes than thinking of developing the country. I will also blame people on this for not developing the technological part and some other areas that they lag beginning Nigeria. The government can not be doing everything, but the government have huge part of the blame for not encouraging the rich people. Many among the rich people especially the politicians prefer to make money in the country and use the money to establish something in other countries.

Government take lead, people follows, we cannot blame people for not developing technology if the government does not support it. In my country, we have lots of genius scientist developing and creating inventions, just to be ignored by the government.

At the national level, the government must take the initiative in advancement because they are the ones who hold the  reigns and people follows.

[Fortify]

We as Nigerians we have crude oil but our country is still poor and going backward on a daily. And the question is, is it suppose to be so as an oil producing country, states, LGA's and communities?

When you travel and log in to our local communities in the villages as SPDC Shell host communities that has now been taking over by Renaissance, you see that there's nothing to write home about.

But none of these is being carried out.

There seems to be three kinds of government when it comes to managing oil wealth: democratic and sensible (rare, see Norways sovereign wealth fund). Organised but authoritarian (more common, an example is Saudi Arabia) and then there are simply poorly organized, corrupt and usually incompetent. An example of that would be Nigeria which struggles with intense competition because it is so highly populated and densely packed in the major cities. That creates an environment where the politicians look out for the people closest to them because that's how you get elevated in politics and stay in power longer than others. Which means that when oil companies came in to negotiate oil rights they effectively cut deals with the few key decision makers who were caught up in this corrupt system but knew how to apply the levers of power in the right way or would use the military to suppress anyone who didn't conform. Now a lot of the oil is gone but there is also a big mess left behind. You'll be glad to know that many "more developed" countries also squandered their wealth earned from oil rather than using it for their citizens like Norway did.

[Oshio-man]

Bad government is the cause of those challenges people are facing in the country op, but is not only Nigeria that is facing the hardship in the world despite they have resources that will make the youths to enjoy the sacrifices they have made for the betterment of the country, for Nigeria to eliminate poverty from their country, I think good leaders need to be taking some political position to be able to challenge those corrupt leaders to be able to remove them from power because as long there are bad leaders in the position it will be difficult for the country to eliminate poverty, and it will make their economic not to grow like other develop countries of the world.

[STT]

Rather then exclusively just the raw commodity extraction, the greater profits would come from refinery processing of the oil.  This would expand the economy and widen the benefit. This should be done and markets pricing its obvious right now with heating oil and diesel being too expensive.
  Its always true anyway just the raw product is not often the majority of profits possible, its just the easiest quickest part perhaps.

   Any economy built on commodities has to be careful to develop the resources further or it can become negative for various reasons like the possible inequality stated sounds very familiar.