“Nigeria trapped in oil curse” – Ex-presidential candidate laments

Presidential candidate Christopher Imumolen of the Accord Party for the 2023 election expressed concern over Nigeria's reliance on oil, labeling it a curse that has fueled poverty, corruption, and institutional decay. Imumolen highlighted the country's economic stagnation since the 1970s oil boom, attributing it to extreme centralization and neglect of the productive sector.

Speaking at the 2025 Political Economy Leadership Summit in Abuja, he criticized the missed opportunities of the 1986 Structural Adjustment Programme and successive governments' mismanagement of oil wealth, leading to unsustainable debt and a highly vulnerable economy dependent on oil revenues. Imumolen emphasized the need for a shift towards a productive economy, with a focus on agriculture, manufacturing, and technology to break free from the resource curse and reduce income inequality and poverty in Nigeria.