HOW OIL'S RIGGED AGAINST AFRICA

Nigeria is Africa’s biggest oil producer, but unlike other oil-rich countries, it remains relatively poor. One of the biggest reasons is its lack of processing facilities. As a result, it has to sell its unrefined oil to other nations who refine it and then sell it back at several times the price. Obviously a stupid system, but one perpetuated by Nigerian politicians.

In this clip, Zimbabwean entrepreneur and author Joshua Maponga runs through how foreign firms have been allowed to exploit Nigeria’s oil for decades at the expense of local interests. According to him, there’s only one solution. Governments need to wake up and take back control of their country’s resources. And if you want an example of what can be done, we should look at Burkina Faso and Mali, or even China.

Western nations have long blamed Nigeria’s oil problems on its fuel subsidies, which were recently scrapped. However, the result was an instant 175 per cent increase in pump prices for its citizens. Hardly a way of lifting its population out of poverty, 40 per cent of whom live on less than US$2 a day.

Maponga seems to be talking sense. Just run the oil industry as a proper business, which means refining the black gold yourself! Too simplistic? Give us your thoughts.