This study discusses the performance and prospects of the Nigerian economy in the wake of the oil euphoria. It produces some empirical evidence for the rapid destruction of Nigerian agriculture in the past ten years or more and it demonstrates that the plight of the Nigerian economy in general and the rural sector in particular was in part a direct consequence of the increase in oil revenue which pushed up the exchange rate and made it unprofitable to grow crops for export. It concludes that unless a radical change in government policy is effected to revive the agricultural sector, Nigeria will experience a depletion of both her oil and her agricultural resources to the extent that the economy could eventually face a food crisis like those recently experienced in Ethiopia, Sudan, Mali or Chad, and without an industrial base. The study argues that contrary to the view commonly held in Nigeria, the benefits in the medium and long term of devaluing the Nigerian currency(naira) will greatly outweigh the costs which are likely to be only temporary. We use the term "Dutch disease", as it was in the Netherlands, that the phenomenon of the adverse effects on the rest of the economy of a rise in the exchange rate, brought about by the discovery of natural gas, was first observed.

Plus de cinquante ans après leur indépendance, la majorité des pays de la région Afrique du Nord et Moyen-Orient (MENA) demeurent tributaire des revenus générés par l'exportation des hydrocarbures. Ces pays peinent à développer leurs économies malgré les grands potentiels (humains et naturels) dont ils disposent. L'indice de développement humain dans beaucoup de pays pétroliers de la région est plus inférieur que dans certains pays de l'Afrique subsaharienne ou de l'Amérique latine. Les gouvernements de ces pays sont confrontés aujourd'hui, plus que jamais, aux problèmes de chômage, de la corruption, de l'économie informelle, etc. L'épuisement certain, dans les quelques années à venir, du pétrole, ainsi que la chute des prix depuis mi 2014, sont les raisons essentielles qui devraient pousser les gouvernements de ces pays à préparer l'après pétrole, à travers la promotion des investissements nationaux et étrangers, le développement des autres secteurs d'activité, hors hydrocarbures, comme l'agriculture, l'industrie et le tourisme. Les mutations que connaît la région MENA, depuis les soulèvements populaires de 2011, ainsi que l'avancée de l'État Islamique, freinent considérablement les réformes économiques entamées dans nombreux pays tels que la Libye, l'Irak (depuis son invasion en 2003) et le Yémen. Les rivalités entre les autres puissances comme l'Iran et l'Arabie Saoudite, ainsi que l'Arabie Saoudite et l'Algérie n'arrangent pas non plus la coopération intra régionale, d'où la nécessité pour les pays arabes de s'allier et de coopérer, en matière économique comme politique, afin de développer l'économie de l'ensemble des pays de la région. / More than fifty years after their independence, most of the countries of Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region are still subject to the revenue generated by the export of hydrocarbons. They have difficulty to develop their economy in spite of their important capacities (natural and human). The IWD in those petroleum countries in this region is lower than some countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. Nowadays, Governments are facing to unemployment, corruption, informal economy, etc. And, the clear depletion of oil in the future, as the falling oil prices since 2014, are critical reasons to encourage Governments in a reflexion on the post-oil, through the promoting of national and international investments, the diversification of lines of business, non-hydrocarbons, as agriculture, industry or tourism. Mutations in MENA region, not only popular uprising in 2011 but also the advance of Islamic State, are a brake on economical reforms started in Libya, Iraq (since 2003) and Yemen. The rivalries between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and Algeria and Saudi Arabia damage the intra-regional cooperation. That is why those regional countries have to connect and collaborate, on economical and political subjects, in order to develop the economy of the entire region.