Crude oil production and exportation has been the mainstay of the Nigerian economy since shifting from agriculture to oil. Before oil was first discovered in 1956, the Agricultural sector was our major foreign exchange earner and pillar of the Nigerian economy.
Nigeria was the highest producer of palm oil in the world until 1934 when the British colonial administrators took the plant to Malaysia in 1934. However, Nigeria continued to take the lead in the global production and exportation of palm oil until 1966 when Malaysia’s total oil palm production surpassed that of Nigeria.
Furthermore, we had the groundnut pyramid in the North which constituted a major aspect of our agricultural exports to the world. However, the oil boom in Nigeria resulted in the abandonment of key research and agricultural infrastructure such as the groundnut pyramid and The National Institute for Oil Palm Research.
Subsequently, Nigerian economy became a mono and an oil-based economy as the production and exportation of oil became the major source of foreign exchange and national wealth.
As the world research and seek for cleaner alternative to fossil fuel, for the implementation and realization of the SDGs for a sustainable future, several questions are raised on how Nigeria is strategizing and preparing for this future that would be driven by the upsurge of renewable energy and production of electric cars, to attain environmental sustainability for use by future generations.
Economic diversification and public-private intervention in the renewable energy sector remains key in the development of strategies that would prepare us for the future through transitioning from oil-based economy to a more diversified economy.
- Read more; IMF Emergency Financing – Mozambique Gets $323.7mn; Nigeria Fate Yet to be Decided
- How much is the business worth?
For instance, The UAE used its oil wealth to pursue infrastructural development and economic diversification during the oil boom as they diversified into other sectors such as tourism and technology, bracing up for the future.
Currently, UAE is now a top holiday and tourist destination as a result of a vision driven leadership and good management of their oil resources for the social and economic development of the country.
In the final analysis, as we continue to run an oil dependent economy a time will come when the use of oil will become obsolete as the world intensifies its effort for cleaner and sustainable sources of energy for the SDGs by 2030.
The question remains, what are the proactive measures and strategies in place to ensure that the Nigerian economy is not hit by this global move for the implementation and realization of the SDGs through renewable energy and the phasing out of fossil fuel driven cars for electric vehicles?
Written by
Ojo writes (creative writer @inspire_mention)
