Nigeria needs an oil change
The West African nation is in a recession. However, can Nigeria be really called "poor"?
Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari’s recent admission that the country had "suddenly become poor", is a startlingly frank comment on its economic slide. The West African nation is under severe pressure. The oil price drop has caused government revenue to tank — 70% of state income is from crude oil sales. The drop has also resulted in the devaluation of the naira, which was recently allowed to float freely following decades of being pegged to the US dollar. Nigeria’s banking sector is under the whip as well. Nonperforming loans (particularly in the oil sector) are expected to jump to 12.5% of total loans this year. Since the president made that comment at a meeting with the UN Fund for Population Activities, citizens have debated the question: is Nigeria really poor? Or is Buhari’s comment an example of presidential hyperbole? The reality comes down to definitions. Nigeria ranks low in human development, which is illustrated by its 152nd position out of 188 countries measured in th...
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