Oil Exports: The Panacea of Economic Growth in Nigeria (1980-2017)
Osinusi K. Bankole and Kehinde A. Jaji
ABSTRACT
There is no doubt that crude oil production and exportation is as critical to Nigeria as oxygen is to life. In fact, crude oil notwithstanding current effort of government remains the driver of economic policies of government. But the overdependence on it has created vulnerability to the every sector of the Nigeria economy particularly the general hardship in the country now. Agasint this backdrop, this study examine oil export and economic growth in Nigeria within the period of 1980-2017. Secondary data was used for the study and data were collected from CBN Statistical Bulletin and National Bureau of Statistic (NBS). The study applied the ADF unit root tests to ascertain the stationary of the time series and also employed Johansen and Juselius (1990) trace and Maximal Eigenvalue tests to ensure long-run relationship among the variables under the study. Finding from the Augmented Dickey Fuller test (ADF) shows that the variables are stationary and reliable for forecasting. The result of the study shows that there is a significant relationship between GDP, oil revenue, government expenditure and government revenue in Nigerias. These findings are consistent with economic theory and aprior expectation. Based on the findings, the study recommends among that there is need for the country to diversify its export revenue base as a means of minimizing reliance on crude oil and petroleum product. This will further shield the economy from the impact of oil price shocks on the economy, and thus prevent the negative effect of the shocks from attaining and achieving significant growth and development in various sectors of the economy.
