The mystery of the Nigerian oil paradox continues to baffle many in the international community. There is a recent saying that Nigeria is the only country in the world that imports what it has and exports what it does not. Nigeria is today the sixth largest producer of crude oil in the world and the second largest supplier to the United States of America. However, the price of gasoline, diesel and other petroleum products continues to rise.

The wealth associated with exporting oil continues to elude most citizens. While the supply of electricity is drastically declining, the infrastructure is crumbling at a rapid rate, even as it is replaced. However, the country continues to reap more profits from exporting crude oil, which is becoming increasingly expensive on the international market due to huge demand from expanding economies such as China and India. As demand for oil grows in the West and reserves dwindle in Europe and the United States, energy companies have gone further afield, looking for oil in developing countries and increasingly under thousands of meters of ocean.

They are often welcome, as poor countries like Nigeria lack the capital and technology to develop their own resources. In Nigeria, the energy crisis continues to worsen despite government efforts to renovate the country’s power generating plants. Most of the power generating plants in the country are gas-fired thermal stations that run on natural gas, a by-product of petroleum, which the country has in large quantities. Recently, Nigeria’s power generation has dropped from a meager 3,000 megawatts to an alarmingly worse 2,500 megawatts.

Now, Lagos receives 450 megawatts compared to 800 megawatts last year. These figures have serious implications for infrastructure development and social welfare. However, Nigeria still supplies electricity to Togo, the Republic of Benin and Ghana. In Nigeria, the per capita income of $270 a year is lower than when oil was found in the 1950s. Since 1999, Nigeria has tried to recover up to $3 billion that disappeared during the four and a half years of former President Sani’s rule. Abacha.

Bloody clashes frequently break out near oil fields in the Niger Delta as tribes fight over meager incomes and jobs. Of the three main refineries in the country, none can be said to be operating at full capacity. This means that the largest percentage of petroleum products sold in Nigeria are refined outside of the country. Many people wonder why a country rich in natural resources can remain so poor.