Nigerian Governance Challenge: Exploring the Role of Natural Resource Rents

Nigeria is a glaring example of a country where weak public institutions are pervasive in spite of its huge natural resource wealth. The presence of natural resource abundance has exacerbated the overwhelming development challenge in the economy. While the upshot of most empirical findings of the resource impact covers how the growth path is determined through the channel of institutions, the question as to why resource rents often fail to stimulate improved governance is more critical than ever. Hence, the study examines the effect of natural resource rents on the quality of governance in Nigeria for the period 1984–2017, using ARDL bounds test approach, Dynamic Least Squares (DOLS), and Granger Causality test based on Vector Error Correction Model (VECM). Results reveal that natural resource rents have an insignificant effect on governance indicators in the long-run as well in the short-run, suggesting that natural resource windfalls have a shallow effect on the development of good governance. However, further evidence indicates that pervasive institutional gaps in Nigeria could be stimulated or caused by the overdependence on natural resource rents and entrenched mismanagement tendencies. Thus, the study suggests that maintaining strong political commitment, curtailing overdependence on natural resources, and ensuring sound management of natural resource wealth are central for improved governance.