A Historigraphic Assessment of the Petroleum Industry and Its Impact on the Nigerian Economy

Abstract

This paper examines the socio-economic impact of the petroleum industry on the Nigerian economy since the discovery of oil in 1956 to 2015, from a historiographical point of view. If historiography is the study of the way history has been and is written and interpretation of such in the works of individual scholars, then the aim of this work is to assess the writings of various scholars on the petroleum industry and its impact on the Nigerian economy. In essence, this work is a critical examination of sources and selections of particulars of authentic materials written by various scholars, the synthesis of which is the outcome of this narrative that sums up the impacts of petroleum industry such that can stand the test of critical methods.Fundamentally, then therefore, the paper traces the historical development of the petroleum industry with a focus on some of the problems of management of the wealth of resources accruable from the internal and external dynamics of the structure and its overall impact on not just the economy but to the Nigerian citizenry at large. Specifically, another problematic focus of the work has been to ascertain the extent to which corrupt practices, social and political mal-administration has led to the undermining of the economic benefits derivable to the people of Nigeria from petroleum resources which to a large extent shape their economic social well-being. The work, no doubt, undertook a critical re-appraisal of the underdevelopment of not just the Niger Delta crises but other issues arising from it, such as youth restiveness, pipeline vandalism, militancy and kidnapping of expatriate workers and how this has impacted on Nigeria’s image and foreign policy. The study further established that the multinational companies in the region, (despite their claims of justification for improving the welfare of the people) have to a large extent undermined the yearnings of the people by not giving adequate compensation to the problems generated by environmental degradation.The study relied mostly on primary and secondary data delivered through a content analysis of extant literature, Internet Reports Commissioned Projects, especially statistics from the Central Bank of Nigeria Bulletins Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Reports/ Bulletins and others from the National Bureau of Statistics and Nigerian Society of Economic Research (NISER).

Keywords: Petroleum, Nigerian Economy, Degradation, Exploitation