ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: WHEN NIGERIA SUDDENLY HAD MORE MONEY THAN IT KNEW HOW TO SPEND

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: WHEN NIGERIA SUDDENLY HAD MORE MONEY THAN IT KNEW HOW TO SPEND

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: WHEN NIGERIA SUDDENLY HAD MORE MONEY THAN IT KNEW HOW TO SPEND

In the early 1970s, Nigeria’s oil wealth exploded.

The global oil-price shock of 1973 sent the price of Nigerian crude soaring. Nigeria’s crude-export revenue jumped from about ₦1.9 bill!on in 1973 to ₦5.7 billion in 1974.

Suddenly, the govern’ment had money on a scale Nigeria had never experienced before.

It was during this period that General Yakubu Gowon’s famous remark became associated with the era:

“Money is not the problem of Nigeria, but how to spend it.”

And Nigeria began spending.

Major infrastructure and development projects expanded. The government invested heavily in roads, airports, education, housing, communications, industries and other public projects. The Third National Development Plan, for example, envisioned enormous spending on infrastructure, education, healthcare, transportation, water and industrialisation.

But there was a problem.

Nigeria was becoming increasingly dependent on oil while agriculture and other sources of export income declined in importance.

The country had discovered enormous wealth — but had not yet built an economy capable of surviving when that wealth fell.

So here is the question:

If you had been in charge of Nigeria during the 1970s oil boom, what would you have built first?

A national railway network?
World-class universities?
Hospitals?
Dams and irrigation?
Factories and industries?
Mass housing?
Or a huge sovereign wealth fund that would still be paying dividends today?

What do you think Nigeria should have done differently with its oil wealth?