THE IMPACT OF OIL REVENUE ON THE ECONOMIC GROWTH IN NIGERIA (1980-2010)

This research work was conducted to investigate the impact of the oil industry on the economic growth performance of Nigeria. In the process of the research, the ordinary least square (OLS) regression technique was employed. Considering the impact of time on changes in economic variables, the analysis was carried out using the simple regression method in which Gross Domestic Product (GDP), proxy for economic growth was used as the dependent variable, while the oil Revenue (OREV) and time appeared as repressor’s. A two-tailed test of 5% significant levels were conducted indicating that the two explanatory variables did not have any significant impact on growth performance of the Nigerian economy within the same period. The researcher therefore recommends that government should formulate appropriate policy mix that would motivate the firm in the oil sector to enhance improved performance and contribution of the sector.

The economy is the backbone of any nation. Nigeria, like other development

countries of the world is paying more attention on how to accelerate the rate of development through the various sections of the economy.

Oil, a very versatile and flexible non-productive, depleting, natural (hydrocarbon) resource is a fundamental input to modern economic activities providing about 50% of the total energy demanded in the world excluding the former centrally planned economy. Oil exploiting countries of the world depend heavily on oil revenue for foreign exchange earnings and for the government budget, in most cases, reaching 90% or above Petroleum or crude oil is an oily bituminous liquid, consisting of a mixture of many substances mainly the elements of carbon and hydrogen, and thus known as hydrocarbon. It also contains a very small amount of non-hydrocarbon element, chief amongst which are sulphur, nitrogen, and oxygen. Petroleum industry covers the exploration and production of crude oil as well as petroleum refining, marketing and servicing.

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