GHANA’S OIL DISCOVERY AND EXTRACTION AMIDST THE FEAR OF NATURAL RESOURCE CURSE SYNDROM

This thesis examines the special case of Ghana, who until recently joined the oil producing countries. While this new discovery and extraction has ushered in joy amidst hopes and high expectations from the projected 490 billion-oil reserves by the World Bank. This same newly found sector has also spur up insecurity and vacillations amongst the general public. These fears re as a result of many factors amongst which is the negative publicity of how such natural resources have turn into curses on the continent. From this perspective, I argue that Ghana, which stands out on the continent with a very strong democratic institutions, vibrant civil society groups and its strong emerging economy are some of the factors that can work in its favor. Furthermore, I argue that Ghana’s rich history and massive experience gained from the handling of natural resources such as gold and specifically cocoa in this thesis, points out positive indicators on how this new discovery can be properly handled to avert any possible Natural Resource Curse syndrome.