Is oil a blessing or a burden for Nigeria? Explain your answer

The discovery of oil in Oloibiri, Nigeria in 1956 has been a blessing and a burden for the nation. The revenues from petroleum exports has enriched the nation’s coffers and provided capital for national development. Unfortunately, these national funds have been siphoned by leaders into their personal bank accounts and wasted on white elephant projects instead of being invested in key areas. Education is one key area that has been neglected since independence and as a result Nigeria’s huge human capital has not been maximised.

I reckon that past Nigerian leaders’ mismanagement has set back the nation’s educational progress by at least one generation. The current educational system is on life support and the diagnosis is bleak unless current Nigerian leaders get their act together.

The myopic dependency on a natural resource (oil) has had a negative impact on the long term maximisation of the nation’s human resources. A nation’s greatest resource is not natural which is finite but human which is infinite.