Why oil-rich Nigeria has trouble exploiting its wealth | DW News

Why oil-rich Nigeria has trouble exploiting its wealth | DW News

Nigeria and its oil wealth is a complicated story. The west African nation is the continent's biggest oil producer, and it ranks eleventh in global terms.But it has a hard time attracting foreign investment - prompting President Muhammadu Buhari to free Nigeria's state-owned oil firm from state control earlier this month.Oil accounts for 90 percent of Nigeria's exports but it's had problems exploiting that wealth of crude - producing well under its daily OPEC quota.It's estimated that about a tenth of the oil pumped ends up stolen: In the first quarter of 2022 that was crude worth a billion dollars. Where it ends up is a dirty business. Illegal refineries mark Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta. Dirty and dangerous: Back in April, an refinery exploded, killing more than a hundred people. The government is cracking down on illegal refineries. But when DW correspondent Flourish Chukwurah visited the Niger Delta, she found that the problem is far from over.

Why oil-rich Nigeria has trouble exploiting its wealth | DW News