Wealth changes nations twice. The first time is when they earn it. The second is when they begin to believe it will never disappear. Nigeria mastered the first. It struggled with the second.
The 1970s should have become Nigeria’s greatest economic turning point. Instead, they became the beginning of one of its greatest economic paradoxes.
Few countries in modern history have experienced the kind of financial windfall Nigeria enjoyed during the global oil boom. Crude oil prices surged. Government revenues expanded at an unprecedented pace. Nigeria suddenly found itself with the financial capacity to build the infrastructure, institutions and industries capable of sustaining prosperity for generations.
Half a century later, that same country has become one of Africa’s largest borrowers. What happened?
The easy answer is debt. The truthful answer is far more uncomfortable. Nigeria did not borrow its way into debt. It governed its way there.
The oil boom
This post was originally published on this site.
