Title

The nigerian "one percent" and the management of national oil wealth through nigerian content

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-1-2013

Publication Title

Science and Society

Volume

77

Issue

3

First Page

315

Last Page

341

Abstract

Five decades of oil production in Nigeria have failed to produce meaningful economic or social development. Instead, the country has become a laboratory for economists proposing policy solutions to the "resource curse." To increase the benefit accruing to the nation from its resource wealth, Nigeria has adopted "local content" policies, seeking to domicile in Nigeria oil-related economic activity previously located abroad. The stated aim of the Nigerian Content Act (2010) is to promote the utilization of Nigerian human and material resources and services. With passage of the NCA, Nigeria has reached a crucial juncture. "Nigerian content" policies have the potential to succeed where previous policies have failed to translate resource wealth into economic and social development. However, a close reading of the genesis of these policies in light of current unrest in Nigeria suggests that Nigerian content is also a project to direct increased benefit to the domestic elite from the country's petroleum wealth.

DOI

10.1521/siso.2013.77.3.315

ISSN

00368237

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