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(Received 17 March, 2009; Revision Accepted 19 June, 2009)
ABSTRACT
It is expected that countries with an abundance of natural resources should prosper. Yet over many years, it has been observed that nations rich in oil, gas, or mineral resources have been disadvantaged in the drive for economic progress. The concept of resource curse which refers to the observation that nations with rich endowments of natural resources [oil as in the case of Nigeria] often dramatically under perform economically relative to what one would expect was used in this study. The methods employed in data collection, primarily from secondary sources include; literature review of NNPC publications, national dailies and newsmagazines; internet reports on OPEC, oil production in Nigeria, etc. Descriptive statistic was used in data analysis.
The results revealed that the oil wealth was initially well applied towards the development of the country. Overtime, successive governments began to mismanage it and a situation like this had given rise to other contemporary oil nations overtaking Nigeria. The consequence is that the early gains of oil disappeared in the face of declining quality of general infrastructure across the country. The growing reliance of the country on oil and gas alone may undermine the democratic structure-rule of law, political stability [as in the case of militancy in the Niger Delta region], government effectiveness and the fight against corruption
KEYWORDS: Resource curse, Nigeria, Oil and Gas, GDP, Infrastructure, Corruption
INTRODUCTION
The history of oil exploration in Nigeria could be traced to the first decade of the last century when oil seepages were seen at Araromi in the present Ondo State. Encouraged by this occurrence a German company, the Nigerian Bitumen Corporation started exploration in that area in 1908 in the very first attempt to search for hydrocarbons in Nigeria. Unfortunately, this pioneering effort did not last long, and the company terminated its operations at the outbreak of the first World War in 1914.
Two decades passed before another major exploration effort was embarked upon. An Anglo -Dutch consortium, came to Nigeria as Shell D' Arcy[ the forerunner of the present Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria] to start exploration activities in 1937 after being awarded the sole concession rights covering the whole territory of Nigeria. Shell D'Arcy's...