Mismanagement of Oil and Gas Resource Revenues in Africa: Lessons for Ghana's Budding Oil and Gas Industry
Abstract
This thesis studied the mismanagement of petroleum resource revenues in oil-rich African countries to identify lessons for Ghana's nascent oil and gas industry. The countries studied were Nigeria in West Africa, Chad in Central Africa, and Angola in southern Africa. The research looked at the contribution of governance to the phenomenon, the effects of the mismanagement on the countries, and Ghana's laws for its oil industry regulation. The dissertation concludes that, the countries studied suffer the resource curse, caused mainly by weak institutions of state resulting in very high levels of corruption. After independence, these countries were unable to build state institutional capacity to handle the windfalls of the petroleum industry, predisposing them to classic resource curse problems. It has also been difficult for these countries to break the colonial legacy of being reentry states; their oil resources have only worsened this. On the contrary, Ghana had had half a century to develop its institutions before the oil find. It is thus much better placed to handle resource curse issues. Ghana should strengthen its state institutional capacity, diversify its economy and continue its efforts to reduce corruption in order to avoid the problems of other oil-rich African countries.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 13, 2013
- Accession Number
- ADA592219
Entities
People
- Ekow N. Mensah-yawson
Organizations
- United States Army Command and General Staff College