DOWNSTREAM OIL DEREGULATION AND NIGERIAN ECONOMY

James U. MONDAY, Moses Clinton EKPERIWARE, Bamidele R. MURITALA

Abstract


The Nigerian oil and gas industry has been experiencing a showdown since the announcement of the downstream oil deregulation policy. This paper, therefore, seeks to analyse the relationship between deregulation of the downstream sector and Nigerian economic performance using annual data from 1980 to 2009. The Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression method was employed to analyze the data. Chow Test was used to determine parameter stability of the regression model, while Granger Causality Test was used to predict the direction of influence. The findings reveal that increase in price of petroleum products and inflation rate were not as a result of deregulation, and deregulating price of petroleum products significantly influence economic growth with marginal inflation. The paper recommends that government should encourage private sector participation in the oil and gas industry.


Keywords


Deregulation; Downstream sector; Economic Growth; Unemployment; Inflation

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