Against the background of Nigeria’s substantial rise in oil income, under three distinct chapters, this thesis analysed poverty mobility, inequality, and developments in oil industry. Given that the rate of progress against poverty is considered to be an increasing function of growth (Ravallion and Chen, 1997; Ravallion, 2001; Dollar and Kraay, 2002, 2016); and based on documented evidence on the negative effect of oil intensity on growth, it is hypothesized that: (a) ‘resource-curse’ makes it harder to grow the economy (e.g Gelb (1988) and associates, Sachs and Warner (1995, 1997, 2001), Auty (2001); Gylfason (2011; 2001), and Sala-i-Martin and Subranmanian (2013)); (b) inequality is growth-impeding and also make it harder for the growth that occurs to help poor people (Ravallion, 2007). Therefore, the presence of ‘resource-curse’ and the high level of inequality in Nigeria could explain the country’s inability to address its rising poverty incidence, given its enournous oil wealth. In other words growth drives poverty reduction. Growth is crowded-out by ‘resource-curse’ (or oil intensity). Therefore oil intensity harms poverty reduction. To provide the contexts for these hypotheses, we open the thesis by clearly laying out, in Chapters 1 and 2, the groundwork for the analyses that follow: respectively, general introduction, and review of relevant literature. We analyse the evolution of welfare of households according to the demographics of the household heads in Chapter 3. In Chapters 4, 5 and 6, we asked the following questions and try to address the questions using original survey data on Nigeria and aggregate-level data on oil-related variables. What is the current extent of poverty and inequality in Nigeria? How have these evolved through the years? Is there micro-based evidence of the ‘curse-effect’ of oil on the average living standards of households in the country? Since a static poverty profile understates the extent of poverty, in Chapter 3, we construct and used a synthetic panel to measure poverty dynamics (i.e. the rates of poverty transitions, movement in and out of poverty or individual poverty experiences through time) in the country. In addition, we model the determinants of poverty dynamics using Censored Least Absolute Deviation (CLAD) estimator. The chapter produces evidence that there were more transitions [into] than exits from poverty over 1980-2010; and, as a result, absolute poverty incidence has risen by nearly four-fold over the period. We also find evidence that much of the observed poverty in Nigeria is chronic than transient and the determinants of transient and chronic poverty are not congruent. For instance, the dummy coefficient for households living in oil producing states indicate stronger impact on transient than chronic poverty. Finally, drawing on six sweeps of household surveys of Nigeria that together span 1980–2010 with a pooled sample size of about 97,000 households and data on Nigeria’s age-gender-specific life expectancy from the World Health Organization, this paper shows that about 72 percent to 91 percent of Nigeria’s poor are at risk of spending their entire life below the poverty line. To show this, I estimate the duration of poverty spells and link this to the average age of the poor and to the life expectancy. I find that the poor are expected to escape poverty at the age of 85.46 years on average. However, there is heterogeneity in the exit time, with the transient poor averaging 3–7 years below the poverty line and the chronically poor averaging 37 years or more. Given these exit times and life expectancy, the mean age of the poor at their expected time of escaping poverty exceeds the average life expectancy, meaning some of the poor are not guaranteed to escape poverty in their remaining lifetime. The implication is that growth in Nigeria has not been sufficient nor has it demonstrated the potential to help the poor break free from poverty. However, like Brazil, Nigeria can significantly reduce poverty without absolute reliance on economic growth by reducing its high inflation rate and substantially expanding its social security and social assistance transfers. In Chapter 5, using household surveys of Nigeria, we link and analyse the evolution of poverty in Nigeria to the response of poverty to growth. In particular, we test two hypotheses [put forward by earlier studies]: (i) "Growth is still good for the poor" - (Dollar, Kleineberg, & Kraay, 2016); (ii)" Inequality is bad for the poor" - (Ravallion and Chan, 2007). In a two-fold aim, we estimate the various measures of distribution in order to see how inequality has evolved over 1980-2010 on one hand, and link this evolution to the response of poverty to growth, on the other. Based on the findings, our measures of distribution are all in agreement that Nigeria is less unequal in 2010 than it was in 1980. This decline in inequality, we found, was partly driven by contractions in average living standards, 'pro-poor' growth during 1996-2004 and redistribution of welfare among the non-poor rather than, as expected, redistribution between the non-poor and the poor. Also, we found that the changing pattern of inequality has mitigated the impact of contraction on the poor and in another period, countervailed the gains of growth that should have accrued to the poor. We investigate in Chapter 6, at a micro-level, the hypothesis that the abundance of natural resources (e.g. oil) exerts a depressing effect on growth. Instead of growth in GDP per capita, growth in PCE was used as the LHS variable in the growth regression. Because the surveys in Nigeria are not panel, we follow Deaton (1985) to construct a pseudo panel for the above exercise. This chapter did not find – as far as our leading measures of oil intensity are concerned – negative effects of changes in oil intensity on changes in household consumption. However, growth in the country’s oil revenue is found to be growth-impeding in household consumption. For instance, based on our POLS (FE) results, a 1% rise in real oil revenue is associated with decline in per capita expenditure of households by 0.35%. The impact of the variable that measures oil output (in barrels) per person per day, is negative both for POLS and FE estimations and significant at 1% levels. This result has two implications. First, the country’s population size has been growing at a rate faster than the output from oil, i.e the country’s major source of revenue. More clearly, the more Nigerians there are, for every barrel of crude produced per day, the slower the growth in household welfare. Precisely, if the number of citizens for every barrel of crude produced per day grows by 100%, household welfare will decline by 52%. We provide general policy conclusion in Chapter 7.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010. / Full text also available online. Scroll down for electronic link.

The issue of price deregulation in the downstream oil sector of Nigeria through gradual subsidy withdrawal has generated a heated debate in the country with the government claiming that it will guarantee long term stability in product, supply and price. This will translate into economic growth and development. Others, especially the organised labour, claim that deregulation will lead to higher product prices, higher cost of production, and cut of jobs and will bring about recession in the economy. Therefore, this thesis employs Vector Auto regression Model using Variance Decomposition, Impulse Response Function and Granger Causality tests to assess the effect of price deregulation through gradual subsidy withdrawal in the downstream oil sector of Nigeria on four macroeconomic variables which are; GDP, Inflation, Unemployment and Minimum wage. The research finds evidence that changes in oil price, as a result of subsidy withdrawal, is the major source of variation in GDP, Inflation and Unemployment, while it is not found to be a significant source of variation in minimum wages. The result also reveals that there is positive impact of oil price changes on GDP and Inflation but negative impact on Unemployment and Minimum wages at the beginning of the observation period which became positive in the later stage of the observation. Finally the Granger causality test indicates unidirectional causality running from Petroleum prices to GDP and from Inflation to Petroleum prices while there is no evidence of causality on Minimum wage and Unemployment. The result of the granger causality test is an indication that the positive effect of changes in petroleum prices on GDP is not as a result of increased economic activity but a result of increased government spending due to increased revenue available to it as a result of subsidy withdrawal. The study suggests that countries wishing to deregulate their downstream oil sectors should evolve ways that will reduce the impact of the policy on cost of production, protect jobs, control inflation and protect real wage. This will mitigate economic recession and promote growth.

This thesis examines the intersection of oil enclave economy and the phenomenon of sexual liaisons in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region. The particular focus of this thesis is on the extent to which oil enclavity contributes to the emergence of sexual liaisons between local women and expatriate oil workers. Despite the fact that the Nigerian oil industry has been subjected to considerable scholarly debate for over five decades, this aspect of the social dimension of oil has not received adequate scholarly attention. Gender-specific discourse has tended to focus more on women protest. Other aspects, such as gender-specific violence that women in the region have had to live with, are either ignored or poorly articulated. Picketing of oil platforms by protesting women is celebrated as signs that women are active in the struggle against oil Transnational Companies (TNCs). While women protest is a significant struggle against oil TNCs, it has the potential of blurring our intellectual focus on the specific challenges confronting women in the Niger Delta. This study shows that since the inauguration of the Willink Commission in 1957, national palliatives meant to alleviate poverty in the Niger Delta region have not been gender sensitive. A review of the 1957 Willink Commission and others that came after it shows that the Nigerian state is yet to address the peculiar problems that the oil industry has brought to the women folk in the region. The paradox is that while oil provides enormous wealth and means of patronage to the Nigerian state elite, the oil TNCs, and better paid expatriate oil workers, a large section of the local Oil Bearing Communities (OBCs), especially women and unemployed youth, are not only dispossessed but survive in an environment characterised by anxiety and misery. With limited survival alternatives, youths resort to violent protest including oil thefts and bunkering. Local women are also immersed in this debacle because some of them resort to sexual liaisons with economically empowered expatriate oil workers as an alternative means of survival. This study therefore shifts the focus to women by exploring the extent to which sexual liaison reflects the contradictions in the enclave oil economy. The study employed an enclave economy conceptual framework to demonstrate that oil extractive activities compromise and distort the local economies of OBCs. This situation compels local women to seek for alternative means of survival by entering into sexual liaisons with more financially privileged expatriate oil workers. The study reviewed relevant secondary documentary sources of data. Further, it employed primary data collection techniques which include in-depth interviews/life histories, ethnographic observations, focus group discussions, and visual sociology. Besides obtaining the social profile and challenges facing the women involved in sexual liaisons with expatriate oil workers, the study provides an outline of participants’ narratives on the different social and economic dimensions of the intersection of oil enclave economy and sexual liaisons. The study found that some of the women involved in sexual liaisons with expatriate oil workers have been abandoned with ‘fatherless’ children. Some of them have also been rejected by their immediate family members and, in some cases, by their community. The study also found that the phenomenon of sexual liaisons and the incidents of abandoned ‘fatherless’ children that result from the practice, has over the years been played out through local resentment against oil TNCs and their expatriate employees. This finding helps to fill the gap in narratives and to make sense of the civic revolt and deepening instability in the Niger Delta region.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2003. / The relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and competitiveness in South Africa and Nigeria was investigated. Existing data available in literature was used to analyse trends with regards to FDI and competitiveness in South Africa and Nigeria over the last 10 years. According to the UNCTAD report (2002) in 1997, FDI in Africa was concentrated on five countries namely, Angola, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa. Nigeria in the last ten years has consistently outperformed South Africa with regards to the amount of FDI received; yet South Africa outperforms Nigeria on all the competitiveness indices. This has been primarily due to the fact that Nigeria's main source of FDI is the petroleum sector. In Africa 75% of FDI goes into countries endowed with petroleum and mineral resources with very few of these strangling to meet the above list of WAIPA reasons favourable for FDI. The ultimate goal of a nations competitiveness is to increase efficiencies under free and fair market conditions through foreign trade, production and investment. Main results of this study have been the following; • Oil is a major FDI attractor of FDI in Africa, and explains why Nigeria receives more FDI than South Africa. • Although Nigeria does not have a good competitive record relative to South Africa it does however offer competitive fiscal terms to IOC's to explore and exploit the countries abundant petroleum resources. • Oil wealth struggles to filter down to the people of the country, as Nigeria's per capita income remains about fifteen times lower than South Africa's, with its more efficient economy. • This study confirms the fact that many MNC's especially in Africa tend to be driven by resource-seeking opportunities and rather than efficiency seeking opportunities. Unfortunately many of the petroleum exporting countries are unable to use the wealth generated by the petroleum industry to enhance their global competitiveness. The problem is that many countries are not diversified enough and rely extensively on commodities to generate much needed revenue.

The purpose of this dissertation is to utilize a historical comparative analysis to examine how capitalism influenced the growth of the nation, its effects on culture, politics and the economy. The study will examine the shift of the economy under varying governments (civilian, presidential and military), as well as the economic effect of an oil economy on the politics and development of the country. This dissertation included an analysis of the historical implications of imperialism as well as the current implications of foreign interference. The research further explored the historical effects of colonialism on a newly independent nation attempting to govern and unite different ethnic groups as one nation as well as the effects the discovery of oil had on the precarious undertaking of establishing and maintaining democracy. This dissertation found that after independence the country shifted its focus in the agriculture sector from production for consumption to export for capital gains. This shift led to infrastructure development such as building roads, railways, and other essential structures for the transportation and exportation of cash crops. The downside in the shift from consumption crops to export crops was the occurrence of food shortages during the seventies. The discovery of oil in 1956 also changed the direction and strength of the economy and eventually led to an unstable and under-developed nation. This dissertation will also examine the initiatives towards development and national unity as the nation struggles to stabilize economically and politically.

Bibliography: leaves 651-699. "Through case studies of three emerging economies - Ecuador, Nigeria and Russia - this thesis analyses the factors present to a greater or lesser degree in emerging economies, such as severe foreign indebtedness and the absence of the rule of law, that undermine the effectiveness of the legal system in protecting indigenous peoples from oil exploitation. Having identified these factors, I propose that a dual approach to the protection of indigenous peoples' traditional lands and their environment be adopted, whereby international laws that set out the rights of indigenous peoples and place duties on states in this regard, are reinforced and translated into practice through the self-regulation of the international oil industry through a voluntary code of conduct for oil companies seeking to operate on indigenous peoples' traditional lands."

Bibliography: leaves 651-699. / 2 v. (x, 699 leaves) : col. map ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / "Through case studies of three emerging economies - Ecuador, Nigeria and Russia - this thesis analyses the factors present to a greater or lesser degree in emerging economies, such as severe foreign indebtedness and the absence of the rule of law, that undermine the effectiveness of the legal system in protecting indigenous peoples from oil exploitation. Having identified these factors, I propose that a dual approach to the protection of indigenous peoples' traditional lands and their environment be adopted, whereby international laws that set out the rights of indigenous peoples and place duties on states in this regard, are reinforced and translated into practice through the self-regulation of the international oil industry through a voluntary code of conduct for oil companies seeking to operate on indigenous peoples' traditional lands." / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Law, 2001