Sustainable management of Nigeria’s oil wealth: legal challenges and future directions

Abstract

Oil is a very important resource for Nigeria, as it remains the major economic driver and mainstay of the country. The unsustainable management of Nigeria’s oil wealth, rather than the availability of oil itself, remains the real cause of the challenges confronting the economic performance of the country. This article contributes to the debate on how Nigeria can develop more coherent and sustainable practices in the management of its oil wealth. It examines how policies and rules of law that promote mismanagement, corruption, waste and the fixation with the sharing of oil revenues at the expense of production are unsustainable and unethical practices that may continue to stifle sustainable development in Nigeria. The article discusses the need for stronger legal regimes for the efficient management of Nigeria’s oil wealth, and identifies the roles that active stakeholder engagement, such as the Nigerian public and civil society organizations (CSOs) should play. Keywords: CSOs, sustainable management, oil wealth, mismanagement, State theft, economic development