Nigeria is the most populous country in the West African region and ranks as one of the largest consumer markets on the African continent. Crude oil earnings remain by far the most important component of national GDP. Crude oil accounts for more than 95% of Nigeria’s exports and more than 80% of the country’s GDP. These figures would be enough to establish the importance of crude oil for the Nigerian people. Thinking beyond crude oil often becomes a challenge for the economy and this is why oil trading markets are often full of Nigerian sellers. Let’s dig deeper and highlight a few more points that govern the obsession with crude oil among Nigerians.

Excessive dependence on oil

As mentioned above, the income generation of the country’s economy is totally dependent on crude oil. According to the US Energy Information Administration, Nigeria is the world’s eighth largest oil exporter and the tenth richest country in oil. Nigeria is also a member of OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries), an organization that accounts for almost 80% of the world’s total oil reserves.

Lack of other avenues

Nigeria, despite being an oil-rich nation, has failed to generate alternative means of generating income other than oil. The country’s politics is also entangled around oil. After decades of obsession with oil, the common man also has a hard time thinking beyond oil and wants to find a way to get involved with this national trade.

lack of industrialization

It seems that the whole country was so busy and content with crude oil production that they missed the industrialization bus. The government is now gradually implementing policies and encouraging industrialization across the country.

Lack of foreign investment in non-oil segments

Foreign investors found Nigeria too attractive to invest in non-oil businesses. The high level of corruption and lawlessness in the nation was the main reason for this. Although Nigeria presented a good consumer market, the preferred mode of trade continued to be importing and distributing, rather than establishing manufacturing facilities.

All of the above factors combined have led to the emergence of a situation where avenues in non-oil business are very limited in Nigeria. More and more people are finding it comfortable to be associated with the crude oil business rather than doing anything else. The perceived easiest way is to somehow partner with NNPC and arrange allocation for buyers. Nigeria has many more crude oil agents or dealers than anywhere else in the world. That is the reason why we were able to come across many Nigerian sellers offering crude oil.