When I was in secondary school my economics teacher gave me an insight towards answering lots of questions in economics. He said "anytime I need to write the disadvantage and lack of certain things all I need to look at is Nigeria as a whole". e.g the problems of agriculture, problem of demand and supply, problems with governance, problems with market and its structure, problems with democracy, etc.That gave me an insight up till today. Now Anytime I need to write about problems, challenges, disadvantages and lack of certain social welfare all I need to do is to look back at Nigeria even without prior experience in such field. Nigeria is a good example of lacking and lagging

No. All that God does is good. He gave Nigeria oil as He saw good, as also He gives each other countries one thing or another or more things or natural resources.
But Nigerians or almost all of us are corrupt and so we are cursed for cursed are corrupt and wicked people. If corrupt people are placed in the richest land in the world, they will make it a barren land by their corruption, wickedness, selfishness, greediness and all such things. The blessings of God became curse for us because we are corrupt, wicked, unjust, merciless, unrighteous and so on. Woe unto us because we Nigerians are wicked.
But now let us turn from our wickedness unto the right and good ways that God may then relent from destroying us and from cursing us and then heal our land and bless us. Because really and truly, it is our wickedness that is destroying us. E.g., the money for health was stolen by the leaders and so many people are dying unnecessary because of bad health services, the money for roads construction and repairs were stolen by the leaders and many people, Nigerians are dying in road accidents, money for security was stolen by the leaders and police officers and co and so many of us are dying because of lack of security. And also the general public preferred the leaders who are looters and thieves than those who are honest and say looters are the most dangerous criminals and looting is evil but the general populace can never understand why because they are all wicked and corrupt. So you see that it is our wickedness that is destroying us in this country.

sorry1:
I didn't read this article because even the title is flawed

Oil in Nigeria is never Nigeria's own!!! When last did we hear statements like "Nigeria's Fulani cattle a curse or a blessing?" or "Nigeria's -northern- cash crops a curse or a blessing" or "Even -yorubas'- self acclaimed sophistication a curse or a blessing?"

Until then, all the political activities in Nigeria has been a ponzi scheme. If the title had had "crude oil in nigerdelta region of Nigeria a curse or a blessing" or "Nigerdelta's crude oil a curse or a blessing to Nigeria" maybe I would've taken the article very seriously.

Until we start putting little things like this into consideration in this country, things won't cease to fall apart!

Glaring u did not read!

Just don't know why u had to comment!


Something is definitely wrong!

maclatunji:
By Idris Abubakar Katagum

First discovered in Oloibiri, a village in the creeks of Niger-Delta, crude oil or black gold as nicknamed in comparison with the precious metal has been a source of controversy for many years, as regards its impact on the development and general economy of the Nigerian nation. Many a pundit has fruitfully argued that oil has been more of a curse than a blessing to Nigeria. Others are of the opinion that oil can never be a curse, since it has brought riches and fame to this part of the world. Whether oil is a curse or a blessing depends on the spectacle through which one chooses to view the entire phenomena behind the three (3) lettered word.

The oil boom, over four (4) decades ago, has brought about dramatic increase in revenue generation and further brought the country in to limelight as the largest producer of oil in sub-Saharan Africa. According to the oil and gas journal, the Nigerian government has received over 500 billion US dollars in oil and gas revenues over the last forty five (45) years. During this time, Nigeria was globally recognised as the largest exporter of crude oil in Africa and was ranked sixth (6th) largest exporter in the world, and as such the country has gained a louder voice in the community of nations.

However, despite the huge wealth and fame it has brought, oil has also brought misery, wretchedness, woes and war. Even with the prodigious revenue realised as the proceeds of oil exploration and processing, Nigeria has over the years sustain a progressively elevated level of abject paucity, underdevelopment, augmented corruption as well as total and senseless defilement of the natural environment. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), 112.519 million Nigerians live in horrible poverty as at 2012, and a 2014 report by World Bank put the Nigeria’s poverty rate at 33.1%.

The quest and subsequent exploration of oil has brought about issues of environmental degradation, which has continued to leave sour spots across many oil communities. Ogoniland, which until recently was left in anguish as a result of oil spillage, is an example of communities that have suffered serious damages. Many plants and animals species, which are extremely beneficial to man, are day-by-day being confronted with imminent danger of extinction due to the action of harmful chemicals and other hazards, associated with oil drilling and processing. Gas flaring, another lethal operation in crude oil refining has in no small measure polluted the ambient air with carcinogenic and a good number of other deadly substances, beyond the threshold limit value (TLV), thereby rendering it unsafe for inhalation, and at the same time increasing the concentration of greenhouse gases, which are responsible for the incessant warming of the globe. While oil may arguably be a decent source of revenue, the impairment it causes to the environment cannot be quantified in monetary value.

The decline in the competitiveness of other economic sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing was also as a result of the oil boom. The unearthing of oil has deterred us from painstaking planning needed to craft a robust economy that will provide job for our teeming population, generate reasonable revenue for the government and earn the country sufficient foreign exchange. Agriculture which the country was widely known for, prior to the advent of the black gold has now virtually fizzled out, and we have become radical importers of all sorts of foods. The groundnut pyramid in the north and the colossal farming of cocoa in the south have all, to some extent, largely owed their disappearance to the overdependence on oil revenue.

Another woe associated with oil is war. Severe internal crises have continued to thrive in most oil producing communities. The immediate and remote cause of militancy in these regions is nothing but oil. The people of these regions feel marginalised in sharing the resources they considered theirs, and hence their decision to take up arms against the perceived biggest beneficiaries of the oil proceeds.

Even with all these atrocities perpetrated as a consequence of oil, it will amount to blasphemy for one to out rightly infer that “oil is a curse than a blessing”. As countered by many, it is the management of this resource that is a curse rather than the oil itself. But without oil, perhaps one wouldn’t have to bother about the management.

Source: http://www.opinions.ng/nigerias-oil-curse-blessing/

it is a blessing. we only had leaders whose personal gain overided their interest in nations development, thereby abandoning other sector of the economy that could as well provide earnings and employment for the country thereby improving the living standard of people.

fill this form and pass to others as I have done.
https:///forms/F3ETBfNxv27DvOkk2

juman:

@bolded
You are totally wrong.
North can be very successful country if they have REAL leaders to direct their country affairs.

I mean determined leaders like lula da silva.
I mean dedicated leaders like awolowo.
North has more than what it takes to be one of the best country on earth.

But presently they have bad "leaders" like other parts of the country.

Determined leaders like Lula who has just being convicted on corruption charges?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/former-brazilian-president-lula-convicted-of-corruption-and-money-laundering/2017/07/12/dd3b7e72-672d-11e7-94ab-5b1f0ff459df_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories_brazil-310pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.ca35325c7f59