Engaging the Environment from the Macro-Economic Angle: Economic Management after Independence

Economic growth has been at the top of the agenda of governments from the immediate post-independence period to the contemporary era, and will continue as a dominant issue for the foreseeable future. This is the rationale behind the attention that this chapter gives to Nigeria’s development planning and management experience over the past 45 years. Proceeding from the position taken in the preceding chapter, the chapter notes that the discovery of petroleum in commercial quantities was a fortuitous event, but one that policy missteps eventually turned into a curse.