Oil Centrism and Nigeria’s Political Economy

Having established the importance of the political economy approach as a framework to analyse federalism in Nigeria, this chapter presents a detailed analysis of the structure of the Nigerian political economy and its great influence on the politics and society. In this regard, attention is paid to the salient features of Nigeria’s political economy, namely, over-dependence on oil and economic statism. The aim of this chapter is to analyse the inherent contradictions in Nigeria’s oil-centric economy, the impact of oil rents on Nigerian politics, as well as impacts on the federal system. The centrality of oil to the political economy of the country, and the intrinsic relationship between this natural resource and the Nigerian state cannot be overemphasised. The state’s pre-eminent role in the distribution of the country’s resources, especially the oil wealth, is at the heart of the practice of federalism in Nigeria.