Business Day: Falling oil prices: A blessing to Nigeria

Oil prices are dropping. August 1st, $104 per barrel; October 28th, $82 per barrel; and on December 15th, the price stood at approximately $58.65 per barrel. Are we at the bottom? Can it get worse than this? The prophets are prophesying already, “Doom awaits Nigeria”. Really? As an econo-jurist of this great nation, I hereby dissent.

Nigeria is a nation richly endowed with a variety of valuable resources. All 36 states of the country can boast of at least three, which range from minerals to metals to stones. It is pertinent to state here that crude oil and gas are only a tip of the iceberg compared to unexploited reserve of limestone, marble, iron-ore, lead/zinc, gold, gemstone, coal, kaolin, rock salt and more which are existent in Nigeria.

In addition, the country also prides itself with over 40 million active young population that are creative and filled with untapped potentials. An interesting quote from Myles Munroe reads: “One of the greatest tragedies in life is to watch potential die untapped.” It is therefore important that we learn from this and begin to maximize the potential in the intelligent young workforce we have.
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