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Abstract: This study examines the dynamic relationship between oil revenue, government spending and economic growth in Nigeria. Since the discovery of oil, oil proceeds have dominated the country's federation account and have improved public spending. In this paper, we analyse if the huge government spending has improved the rate of economic growth. To do this, the multivariate vector autoregression framework with special attention to Generalised Impulse Response Function is adopted in analysing the annual data of oil revenue, total government expenditure and real Gross Domestic Product from 1980 to 2015. We find evidence that oil receipts remain the major route which public spending is financed and the fundamental source for growth. Hence, there is need for the government to diversify the sources of foreign exchange inflow of the country. The diversification of the economy is required to insulate it from external shocks. It is recommended for Nigeria to explore ways of reviving its huge agricultural potential which has been neglected since the discovery of oil in addition to exploring its rich untapped solid minerals deposit in order to promote diversification of the economy away from a mono cultural product base. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In academic studies of the interface between developing countries and large multinational oil corporations, scholars have noted that over time and through repeated interaction, the developing countries tend to negotiate better outcomes for themselves: they progress along a learning curve by incrementally improving their outcomes through bargaining and strategic interaction. This phenomenon can be demonstrated in a number of oil-rich developing countries. Nigeria's case, however, is more complex. During the two decades following its independence, the state successfully negotiated for more control over—made strides in the developing of the skills necessary to manage—its petroleum industry, as our model would predict. Then, in a puzzling late-1970s-to-mid-1980s change of course, the government abruptly gave back concessions, undermined local entrepreneurial endeavors, and repealed indigenization laws. This paper combines, in the analytic narrative tradition, the case study method with an extensive form game; it applies a dynamic bargaining model to Nigeria's historical experience, demonstrating that Nigeria improved its outcomes and ascended along the “bargaining learning curve,” only to reverse policy and “unlearn,” with serious consequences for the Nigerian population. Even so, the demonstration of both successful and improved outcomes in past negotiations give evidence that Nigeria could once again ascend its bargaining learning curve if the government were to re-commit to such a policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines three possible causal relationships between financial sector development, economic growth and crude oil price in Nigeria using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag ( ARDL) approach to cointegration analysis over the period 1981 to 2011. First, the causal effect of financial sector development on economic growth is found to be negatively insignificant in the long-run and negatively significant in the short-run suggesting the weakness of financial intermediary sector in resource mobilisation and allocation in Nigeria. Crude oil price is found to be the key driver of economic growth in Nigeria. Second, the causal effect of economic growth on financial sector development is as well found to be negatively insignificant in the long-run and negatively significant in the short-run. Third, the causal effect of crude oil price on financial sector development is found to be positive and significant in the long-run, suggesting that crude oil price is the underlying factor that determines the amount of economic activities passing through the Nigerian financial sector. The results highlight the need for a well-articulated policy framework that will lessen the high dependence of the Nigerian economy on crude oil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]