Economic Globalization and Poverty: A Case Study in Nigeria.
When Nigeria attained independence, more than 70 percent of its GDP came from agriculture and non-oil sectors of the economy. However, shortly after independence, Shell Petroleum discovered oil for the first time in a viable quantity in Nigeria. A decade later, petroleum products supplanted agriculture as the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy. In 2006, more than 80 percent of Nigeria’s revenue and expenditure were derived from proceeds generated through petroleum products. The shift from agriculture and non-oil sectors of the economy to petroleum economy will soon open the floodgate of Nigeria’s economy to trade openness. As the below figure demonstrates, from 1970 to 2012, the country’s …show more content…
For example, roughly 73 percent of the Niger Delta residents in Nigeria depend on the forests in the Delta region to meet their energy needs. However, charring forests in the process of oil exploration corrodes the individual safety net the natives once derived from the environment. Unlike advanced economies where the unemployed is primarily provided for, in societies such as those in Nigeria, such social safety nets are nonexistent. Unlike the labor-intensive local economy, which depends on farming and fishing, petrol-capitalism offers few employment opportunities to the natives displaced from their land. With about 40 percent having a family size between 13-20 persons per household, most indigenous population derive supports through subsistence agriculture rather than earned wages. Thus, even families lucky to gain employment through oil corporations soon realized the earned wages were inadequate for sustaining their large households. The adverse effects of ecological damage because of oil exploration on agriculture and fishing has not been offset by the addition of new jobs in the oil industry. Consequently, an area whose ecosystem provided as much as 80 percent employment for its people can no longer do so when the local economy becomes globalized. Once the heart of the local economy can no longer sustain the local communities, little …show more content…
Nigeria gained trillions of dollars from global trade. However, the gains from trade have no influence on cutting the national poverty rates. Consistent with the statistical analysis, equitable distribution of national income is important for poverty eradication, as only the corruption variable attained statistical significance in the model. Also, it seems that identifying the nature, and drivers of economic globalization are important in fighting poverty. If developing countries opened for trade, and in the process, destabilize the local sources of livelihoods, it will be difficult to reduce poverty rates. As developing countries make the choice to embrace global trade, they should do so in a sustainable
When Nigeria attained independence, more than 70 percent of its GDP came from agriculture and non-oil sectors of the economy. However, shortly after independence, Shell Petroleum discovered oil for the first time in a viable quantity in Nigeria. A decade later, petroleum products supplanted agriculture as the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy. In 2006, more than 80 percent of Nigeria’s revenue and expenditure were derived from proceeds generated through petroleum products. The shift from agriculture and non-oil sectors of the economy to petroleum economy will soon open the floodgate of Nigeria’s economy to trade openness. As the below figure demonstrates, from 1970 to 2012, the country’s …show more content…
For example, roughly 73 percent of the Niger Delta residents in Nigeria depend on the forests in the Delta region to meet their energy needs. However, charring forests in the process of oil exploration corrodes the individual safety net the natives once derived from the environment. Unlike advanced economies where the unemployed is primarily provided for, in societies such as those in Nigeria, such social safety nets are nonexistent. Unlike the labor-intensive local economy, which depends on farming and fishing, petrol-capitalism offers few employment opportunities to the natives displaced from their land. With about 40 percent having a family size between 13-20 persons per household, most indigenous population derive supports through subsistence agriculture rather than earned wages. Thus, even families lucky to gain employment through oil corporations soon realized the earned wages were inadequate for sustaining their large households. The adverse effects of ecological damage because of oil exploration on agriculture and fishing has not been offset by the addition of new jobs in the oil industry. Consequently, an area whose ecosystem provided as much as 80 percent employment for its people can no longer do so when the local economy becomes globalized. Once the heart of the local economy can no longer sustain the local communities, little …show more content…
Nigeria gained trillions of dollars from global trade. However, the gains from trade have no influence on cutting the national poverty rates. Consistent with the statistical analysis, equitable distribution of national income is important for poverty eradication, as only the corruption variable attained statistical significance in the model. Also, it seems that identifying the nature, and drivers of economic globalization are important in fighting poverty. If developing countries opened for trade, and in the process, destabilize the local sources of livelihoods, it will be difficult to reduce poverty rates. As developing countries make the choice to embrace global trade, they should do so in a sustainable