ledare: Nigeria Must Convert Oil Wealth into Lasting Economic Value

Stories by Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

A foremost petroleum economist and Professor Emeritus of Petroleum Economics, Prof. Wumi Iledare, has said Nigeria must move beyond merely producing hydrocarbons and deliberately convert its petroleum resources and revenues into lasting productive wealth.

Iledare, who marked his 75th birthday on September 6, said his reflections on Nigeria’s petroleum industry were shaped by decades spent watching the country evolve from the optimism surrounding early oil discoveries into an economy heavily dependent on crude oil revenues.

In a press commentary titled: “PEWI @75: Reflections on Nigeria’s Petroleum Industry, Value Creation and the Unfinished Economic Journey,” Iledare said the fundamental question confronting Nigeria was what the country had truly gained after almost seven decades of commercial petroleum production.

Iledare, a fellow of several organisations argued that while petroleum had generated substantial foreign exchange, public revenues, infrastructure and professional capabilities, Nigeria had yet to fully convert its vast resource endowment into sustainable economic value.

“Production is not prosperity; revenue is not development; and resource abundance is not wealth,” Iledare stated.

According to him, petroleum policy should focus not simply on maximising government revenue from every barrel produced, but on creating an environment that encourages investment and maximises the present value of public revenue throughout the life of petroleum resources.

He described the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 as a major milestone, saying the legislation had sought to reset Nigeria’s petroleum governance framework through institutional, fiscal and regulatory reforms.