This is from the Vice President of Nigeria, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, breaking down how much money Nigeria has made over the years from oil. He relied on OPEC data. Looking at the numbers, Nigeria does not look like a poor country but a country that is poor on efficient management of resources.
- Babangida/ Abacha administrations (1990 – 1998), Nigeria realized $199.8 billion from oil
- Under the Obasanjo / Yar’Adua governments (1999 – 2009), $401.1 billion
- Jonathan administration (2010 – 2014), Nigeria got $381.9 billion dollars
- Buhari (second) government (2015-2017), 94 billion dollars
To give you a good comparison: the total value of the Nigerian Stock Exchange today is not up to $40 billion. But that is the exchange that powers our private sector. Technically, all our companies (the key ones are publicly traded) have not created enough value for what we make from oil in some good years.
Now, I understand better: If oil gives you $76 billion per year (using 2010-2014 numbers) and all the public companies (Nigeria Stock Exchange) are worth $40 billion, no one needs a seer to understand why successive governments have not bothered on how to deepen the competitiveness of the Nigerian private sector through provision of amenities like electricity, good roads, etc. That is unfortunate: this oil could be a curse indeed!
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Good people, Nigeria is NOT a poor country; we are just poor in the right things.
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