Nigeria And Angol African Countries Plagued By The Resource Curse

Situated along the coast of the Gulf of Guinea is a region about the size of South Carolina that offers a land full of sweet, light crude oil, known as the Niger Delta (Delta). The Delta sits within the country of Nigeria in West Africa and is in a constant state of crisis, underpinned by a multitude of key issues. Those issues include severe poverty, soil and water contamination, high infant mortality rates, low life expectancy, depletion of natural resources, corruption, and armed militia groups. These issues have one thing in common: oil.

Niger Delta region, placing the Nigerian oil output down to a third of its capacity” (Klare 3).

A major challenge and cause of serious medical issues in Sub-Saharan Africa is the lack of access to a clean water supply. There are 345 million people that lack access to water in Africa. Unfortunately, when water is available it is high in contamination. When wells are built and water sanitation facilities are developed, they cannot be maintained properly to due to limited financial resources. Water quality testing is not performed as often as necessary and the people are unaware that the water may not be safe to drink. Oftentimes, when a source of water has been provided, the quantity of water is often given more attention over the quality of. Lack of clean drinking is the leading cause of diarrheal diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa and causes 7.7% of deaths in Africa. Diarrhea is caused by numerous bacterial, viral and parasitic organisms most of which can be spread by contaminated water. The importance of diarrheal diseases has mostly been overlooked. Through UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) there have been some accomplishments during the

Burkina Faso’s energy resources are limited to four (4) hydropower installations. All the hydrocarbons need to fuel the country are imported from the neighbouring countries having access to the sea, because Burkina Faso does not have any domestic oil resource (Ouédraogo, 2010). Burkina Faso is among the poorest countries in the world and the GDP is evaluated to $12.88 billion in 2013 (World Bank, 2013). Only 18% of the population has access to electricity including 40% in urban area and 3% in rural area. Burkina Faso has the highest electricity’s price in Africa; and is approaching 35 US cents the kWh due to the high price of the fuel imports (Briceño-Garmendia and Domínguez-Torres, 2011).

The oil age has become an age of inequality. The discovery of oil has brought the wealth of a few people, and has brought misery to most people. Many oil rich countries suffer from the distortion of the economic development, the financial instability, the increasing gap between the rich and the poor, the serious

Nigeria, with a population of 190,584,690 people is the most populous country in West Africa. Marked with huge reserves of oil and natural gas, oil exploration in Nigeria first began in the year 1908, with long breaks during the first and Second World War. After the further discovery of commercial oil fields in Oloibiri in 1956, crude oil has since being produced in large quantities. Today, the country produces a maximum capacity of 2.5 million barrels of crude oil per day, and is the world’s sixth largest producer of crude oil. Crude oil export, accounts for 90% of Nigeria’s earnings. Oil exploration occurs onshore, on land and swamps, while off-shore operations occur mainly in water depths reaching 2500m. Currently, crude oil is

The "Curse of the Black Gold" is what they call it. The greasy money-making liquid can also cause the undoing of countries. Oil companies like Shell sometimes make as much money as the country they do business in. The hazards that come with extracting oil is understated while the rewards are often praised. To the companies, we are not important, it is the money we carry in our pockets that they care about. Shell, a billion-dollar making oil company, is slowly gaining a lot of recognition in countries as it is causing a lot of corruption due to several accidents as well as its influence on global warming. The company is most known for its fracking practices as well as its impact on Nigerian villages.

In 1994, Equatorial Guinea was one of the most impoverished countries in Africa. During that time, the country had an incredibly low life expectancy of just 46 years, and the inhabitants were forced to survive on only $1 a day. Then, in 1995, they discovered a natural resource that would have the potential to change their economic well-being and quality of life forever. In this year, Equatorial Guinea discovered an immense amount of oil right off the coast of the country. Just nine years after this finding, all major US oil companies, notably Exxon-Mobile, Marathon Oil, and Amerada Hess, were drilling for oil in this once poverty-stricken country. After this notable discovery, Equatorial Guinea was generating $4 billion in revenue per year solely from the oil drilling industry. However, the inexperienced leaders that governed the country entered into a contract where they agreed to give 80%

Nigeria, located in West Africa, is a densely populated nation of over 100 million people. Since the nation’s independence from Britain in 1960, the country has been in the hands of various leaders ranging from religious to staunchly militant. Nigeria is the sixth largest producer of crude oil in the world and it has one of the largest deposits of natural gas (Wiwa, 2001). Oil accounts for ninety five percent of Nigeria’s foreign exchange earning and one-fourth of the country’s Gross Domestic Product comes from oil. A large percentage of this oil is located in the Niger Delta.

The Niger Delta is a region of Nigeria that is very rich in crude oil and gas. Crude oil and gas make up 70% of the country 's revenue and 95% of it 's export earnings (Ezekoli, 5608). Those percentages are incredibly high and represents large amounts of money that can be found in the region. However, the people of the Niger Delta never see the wealth that comes from their natural resources. The wealth instead goes to the oil companies set up in the area as well as the pockets of a few elite government officials. The disconnect between the people of Nigeria and the oil companies and governments is incredible (Ezekoli, 5609). The effects are slum turned neighborhoods, increased poverty, and job loss. In order to improve the conflict in the Niger Delta, the government and oil companies need to allow more involvement of women and people as voters and elected officials, and create or adhere a sustainable environmental regulations plan.

Nigeria and Angola are both West African countries plagued by the resource curse. The countries are teeming with oil, ranking Nigeria as Africa’s largest oil producer and Angola as the second largest oil producer. In 2014, it was reported that Nigeria was responsible for producing 2.4 million barrels of oil per day and Angola produced 1.8 million barrels of oil per day. While these numbers have fluctuated greatly in the past, both countries still remain at the top as Africa’s oil producers (Carpenter; Ajayi). The production of oil in Nigeria and Angola has brought in a great deal of profit to both countries, however, it has also come along with a number of complications. As Ajayi writes, “fuel abundance in less developed countries tends to

The discovery of oil in a low-income country is often met with both excitement and dread. Many theories circle around the idea of a “resource curse” that supposedly affects countries with large amounts of resources. The resource curse essentially dictates that a country with large amounts of resources is not as likely to thrive as a country with low levels of resources. The issue with this view is that it generalizes too much; there is just as much variance in the levels of economic success between resource-rich countries as there is between them and resource-scarce countries. This is why this newly found oil in this country does not necessarily need to be met with dread, as there is a chance for success. However, this newly found potential for wealth needs to be handled with extreme care. In the following memo I will outline what the resource curse is, why some countries are affected by it and others not, and finally I will outline how this country should handle its newly found oil wealth.

The world as we know it is heavily dependent on oil as our primary energy source, even though we are in constant search of alternatives. After nearly 100 years of searching for something different, oil remains the most reliable. Oil is used for everything from technology to transportation to food and business, yet it is not in a never-ending supply. This is where the politics come into play. According to the International Energy Agency, oil comprises 31% of the total world energy supply, as of 2013. (Walker, Andrew.) So when the world needs oil as 31% of its energy needs, it is clear how powerful this non-renewable energy source truly is. (Center for Climate and Energy Solutions.) As J. Paul Getty stated, “Formula for success: rise early, work hard, strike oil.”

Nigeria is the 7th world largest oil producer and is a major player in the world energy market. Oil and gas is Nigeria’s main source of revenue. It accounts for about 40% of the Gross Domestic Product and 70% of government revenues (Lawal 2004). Crude oil was first discovered in 1956 by Shell British Petroleum in a small village called Oloibiri present day Bayelsa State. Two years later oil in larger quantities was discovered in Ogoni.

Even though it has caused Ghana 's economic growth to slow, Ghana 's economy has been able to persevere through the global recession. This is through the exportation of oil. (Isser) In recent years Ghana 's industrial sector has grown consistently especially in 2011 with 36% increase. Besides oil, mining and quarrying have been quite productive by growing by over 250%. Ghana happens to be a large exporter of plastics and electronic goods, as it is home to Volto Aluminum Company (VALCO), a large distributor of electronic goods (AEO.) It is expected that Ghana has a fruitful future when discussing oil. It is "on the verge" of being a significant producer of oil. (GPJ)