Nigeria: April 21, 2002

Archives

Before oil was discovered in 1956, Nigeria was a food exporting country. But since the oil began to arrive, cheaper food imports, and no support for local farmers, has turned Nigeria into a large importer (including over $100 million a year in fruit juice) of food. The large unemployment rate is largely a result of the weak agricultural sector. Traditional African agricultural practices cannot compete, on price, with Western methods. But if the government provided training and capital for local farmers, the nation could become a food exporter once more. But the oil money that could have done this in the past was largely stolen by government officials. The current government, bowing to growing government anger over corruption, is increasing it's prosecution of corrupt officials, even going after senior people like government ministers and provincial governors. 

 

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contribute. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   contribute   Close