The Political Economy of Natural Resource Revenues

The impact of natural resources on development has been a controversial issue for decades. Natural resources revenues, for most LDCs, have shown to generate adverse economic and political outcomes. The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) was launched in 2003 as an international policy and institutional intervention aimed at mitigating the negative effects of resource abundance by promoting the transparency of resource revenues and accountability of the governments in resource rich states. Nigeria signed on to the global EITI process, following an official launch in 2004, which led to the establishment of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI). The objective of the study was to assess the impact of NEITI on natural resource revenue governance in the Nigerian oil and gas sector. Survey design was employed as the research methodology. Data analysis was done by use of descriptive analysis. The data analyzed revealed that NEITI has enhanced natural resource revenue transparency but has not enhanced natural resource revenue accountability in the Nigerian oil and gas sector.