The Minister for Solid Minerals, Dele Alake, says Nigeria failed to utilise revenue from the oil sector in the many years when the economy depended solely on income from oil and petroleum.
The minister stated this during his presentation at the ongoing Ministerial Sectoral Update to mark the first year in office of President Bola Tinubu held at the Radio House in Abuja.
He added that the country also failed to use its humongous “petrodollars” to develop other sectors of the economy, particularly the solid minerals industry, and the agricultural sector, adding that while other countries diversified their economies to generate greater revenue across sectors, Nigeria failed to do the same.
“In my own considered estimation, Nigeria over the decades failed woefully to efficiently utilise the revenue that accrued to us from the oil sector. And how did we fail to utilise that? We failed to utilise the humongous amount of petrodollars that came into the coffers of this country. We did not utilise this money to sufficiently create a very solid structural economy in other sectors.“
“And one of the most critical sectors that we failed to address over the decades is the solid mineral sector and agriculture as well. In other climes, the monies derived from oil, the monies were used to develop other sectors of the economy such that as revenue flowed in from one, revenues were also flowing from these other critical sectors, but our story was not like that,” he said.
He, however, noted that since May 29, 2023, when the Tinubu-led administration took office, there had been changes with the introduction of the Renewed Hope Agenda, which contained a plan to diversify the economy.
The minister also said that other economies of the world had gradually shifted from the oil economy, because of the implications of global warming, and that Nigeria was doing the same.
“As we say in our own clime, the past is history, the future is a golden area that we are foretelling. So therefore, since May 29 last year, on the resumption of our President, there has been a major plank of the Renewed Hope Agenda, which is contingent on the diversification of the economy, away from oil. And in any case, the reasons are not far-fetched, because the whole world is moving away gradually from oil because I’m sure you all know what is called global warming,” he stated.
