The Effect of Natural Resource Endowment on Economic Performance: The Case of Nigeria

This study analyses the impact of natural resource endowment on Nigeria's economic performance using data from 1996 to 2024. Despite Nigeria's rich resources, it suffers from high unemployment and poverty. Various statistical tests, including AutoRegressive Distributed Lag and Granger causality, were employed. Long-term results suggest that natural resources positively influence economic performance but with weak significance (β = 1.919, p = 0.160). Conversely, short-term effects show a negative impact on GDP per capita (ΔNRE = −0.237, p = 0.017; ΔNRE(−1) = −0.464, p = 0.0001), highlighting the need for policies such as sovereign wealth funds and economic diversification to stabilise the economy and minimise vulnerability to price shocks.