But for the recurring wastefulness of federal government, the country could have used about $1 trillion it earned from its production and sale of crude oil in five different oil booms to develop and diversify its economic base, a report titled “Stabilising Nigeria’s Volatile Economy”, has disclosed.
The report which was co-authored by a former Vice President of the World Bank, Africa Region, Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili; former president of the Nigerian Association of Energy Economics (NAEE), Prof. Adeola Adenikinju; Prof. Andrew Onyeanakwe of the University of Ibadan, and Mr. Bode Longe, an economist, explained that between 1970 and 2014, Nigeria benefitted from five oil booms but refused to use the huge revenues earned from these booms to expand the nation’s economic base.
The report, which was funded by the Nigeria Natural Resource Charter (NNRC) and the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Foundation, stated that Nigeria’s failure to manage these oil prosperity cycles has delayed her economic rise.
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