The expansion of oil revenues has fuelled a large amount of industrial and infrastructure development in Nigeria after independence: oil export revenue rose from 219 million Nira in 1970 to 10.6 billion in 1979 (Hutchful 1985). This increased surplus given the state an independent economic base in oil rents and has facilitated a geographical and structural diversification of the state apparatus. These positive issues are few and far between as the reality is that oil revenues have exerted a profound effect on the social and ecological structure of Nigeria. Michael Watts highlights the violence that this ‘black gold’ causes in terms of social development within the Nigerian nation state, as well as the ecological degradation on the environme
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