How Oil Sector Perpetuates Corruption In Nigeria

The Nigerian Political Scientists Association (NPSA) has asserted that the oil sector fosters and perpetuates public corruption in the country.

The association equally said that the goal of economic diversification remains unattainable in the country 65 years after attaining independence.

It, however, noted that the official source said that about 48 percent has been recorded in 2025 from non-oil exports.

NPSA disclosed this in a statement titled, “Reflecting on Nigeria @ 65: Economy and Its Management: Progress, Falters, and Disappointments” and signed by its president, Prof. Hassan Saliu.

Saliu said:” Sixty-five years after attaining Independence, that goal of diversification remains unattainable. However, we have received information through official sources that the nation has achieved tangible progress (about 48% has been recorded this year for non-oil exports).

“Essentially, the opaque oil sector fosters and perpetuates public corruption in the country. Citizens were only upset about the gargantuan corruption that characterised the issue of oil subsidies, a minor irritant under the Obasanjo civilian government.

“However, it later became cancerous due to the nature of the state in Nigeria, which portrays it as a depot for corruption, primarily due to its secretive operations. Various forms of corruption occur in the sector, including its external dimension, which affects Nigeria.

This point came to the open with the start of operations by the Dangote Refinery Limited.

“Although not much can be said about the Dangote company in general, being a favoured child of the state, its public appearances on the issue of refinery suggest that the running of the Nigerian economy does not always follow elementary economic principles.

“Despite the company’s functionality, the domestic price of PMS remains over N800 per litre, a price that ordinary Nigerians are feeling the impact of, whether as a car owner or not. One would be correct to observe that Nigeria is one of the few countries that has spent a fortune on its refineries and makes yearly budgetary allocations to non-operational refineries. Consequently, the nation, until very recently, was importing oil that it has in abundance, while it tries to export democracy that it does not have in full.

“Given its overwhelming influence on the economy (contributing over seventy per cent of Nigeria’s total export earnings in 2024), we have dedicated significant space to the issue of the oil sector in this release.

“This is further underscored by the culture of successive Presidents serving as petroleum ministers without seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. The same lackadaisical approach that characterises the management of the oil sector has been extended to all other sectors that the isolated oil sector in Nigeria has put at risk,” Saliu said.

The association noted that the industrial sector is not performing as expected, despite the plethora of policies and agencies established to accelerate its development.

“Taken together with the other leg of the real sector – agriculture, not much is happening in the two sub-sectors to ensure more production. It is instructive to note that the agricultural sector generated less than 6% of Nigeria’s total export earnings in 2024 but contributed 29.44% to the GDP. The share of non-oil exports in total has risen to 48% this year, a development that has brought joy to official circles.

“The clear evidence on the ground is the high prices of goods that insecurity and low production levels in the country have led to. Additionally, Nigeria is facing a debt crisis due to the low productive capacity of its real sector, making borrowing, albeit with its inconveniences, somewhat necessary to stimulate production,” it added.