Expert Says, “Nigeria Is Oil Dependent Not Oil Rich”
A full-time member of the faculty at the Lagos Business School and former member of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Monetary Policy Committee, Dr Doyin Salami, has described Nigeria as an oil-dependent country and not an oil-rich country.
He said this while speaking on ‘Charting 2019: The economic outlook’, at the Business Breakfast meeting organised by the NASD Plc Exchange company in Lagos.
Salami said, “They say Nigeria is oil-rich, Saudi Arabia is oil-rich, Nigeria is oil dependent. Nigeria does two million barrels of crude oil per day, then at least 365 days roughly 800 million barrels of crude oil annually. If there are 200 million of us, that means each person (Nigerian) is entitled to four barrels of crude oil every year,
“Saudi is doing 10 million barrels of crude oil daily, and that is being conservative by the way. So four billion barrels annually and they have 30 million people to share it. For succeeding in waking up every morning, each Saudi is entitled to roughly six thousand US dollars; now we can decide which one is oil-rich and which one is oil dependent.” he said.
Salami, who was the keynote speaker at the business meeting, gave predictions on the different factors that would drive Nigeria’s economy in 2019.
He said they were “price of oil, from which the country derived most of its revenue, a successful general elections, which would indicate to investors of the country’s stable political climate, the policy direction of whoever wins the elections, domestic policy including the annual budget, interest rates in Nigeria will remain up, increase in taxes among others.”
These key factors would be important for investors looking to invest in the country in 2019, he added.
The NASD Plc Exchange company is one of Nigeria’s OTC exchange platforms.
It was registered as an SRO with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Nigeria in July 2013.
The Managing Director NASD Plc, Bola Ajomale, said the company had been able to leverage fintech to provide platforms for unlisted companies in the secondary market.
He said, “The first, NASDeP – the NASD Enterprise Portal (NASDeP) is a platform designed for earlier stage entrepreneurial companies seeking for funds. It is also for managers who are looking to invest, and already know what to invest in.”
