Theories of the Totemism Belief System

Theories of the Totemism Belief System Anthropology is crucial for understanding the contemporary world. Anthropology offers both things to think about and things to think with. Anthropologists would be interested in Totemism because they study people throughout the world, investigating their history, behaviour, how they adapt to different environments, communicate and socialise with each other, along with examining the biological characteristics that make us human, our physiology, genetic make-up, nutritional history and evolution along with social features like language, culture, politics, family and religion. Totemism is a belief system where humans are believed to have kinship or a mystical relationship with a spirit-being such as an animal or plant. The totem is thought to interact with a given kin group or individual and serve as their emblem or symbol. Totemism has been described as a cluster of traits in religious and in the social organisation of populates (Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, 2013). Totemism originates in populations whose traditional economies relied on hunting, gathering and mixed farming with the emphasis on rearing cattle. Totemism is a multifaceted set of ideas and ways of behaviour built on a worldview drawn from nature. There are ideological, mystical, emotional, reverential, genealogical relationships of social groups or specific persons with animal or natural objects, the totem. There is a difference between group and individual Totemism although they share a few basic characteristics; they happen with different emphasis and in specific forms. Generally societ ies have special names and emblems to relate to the totem, and those it sponsors engage in partial identification with the totem or symbolic integration to it. Usually, there is a taboo against people killing, eating, or touching the totem. Individual Totemism is articulated in an intimate relationship of friendship, respect and protection between a person and a particular species of animal; the natural object can grant special power to its owner. However, this relationship, in the case of the individual totem, begins and ends with the individual man, and is not, like the clan totem, transmitted by inheritance. An individual totem in America is: Usually the first animal of which a youth dreams during the long and generally solitary fasts which American Indians observe at puberty. He kills the animal or bird of which he dreams, and henceforward wears its skin or feathers, or sonic part of them, as an amulet, especially on the war-path and in hunting (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2013) Individual totems among the Slave, Hare and Dogrib Indians will always be a carnivorous animal, and must not be skinned, eaten or killed. A man will always carry a photograph of his totem; if they are unsuccessful in a chase he will smoke to it and make a speech. Group Totemism is the most widespread belief system. The totem is often an animal or plant that is respected by all members of the social group, because of a mystical or ritual relationship between the group, the spirit which embodies the totem represents the bond of unity within the tribe or clan. The group believe they are descended from a totem ancestor or that they and the totem are brothers. The totem can be viewed a group symbol and the protector of all members of the group. The animal or plant totem is the object of a taboo, just as the individual totem it is forbidden to kill or eat the sacred animal. It is possible for the totem symbol to be tattooed on the body, engraved on weapons or carved on totem poles. Males and females in some cultures have their own totem; however, typically Totemism is connected with clans or blood relatives. Marriage between members of the same totemic clan is totally forbidden. Group Totemism is usually associated with people in Africa, India, Oce ania, North America and some parts of South America. The first theory on Totemism was conducted by McLennan (1869) who searched for the origins of totemism, he belied that: The ancient nations came, in prehistoric times, through the totem stage, having animals and plants, and the heavenly bodies conceived as animals, for gods before the anthropomorphic gods appeared (LÃ ©vi-Strauss, 1969, p. 18) Many scholars believed this theory and set out with the assumption that some type of UR-totemism has existed, and that its faint contours could be discerned behind the left-over totemic systems fragments of present day (ibid, 18). McLennans theory was criticised by Taylor (1899) who discarded the confusion of Totemism with simple worship of animals and plants, and viewed Totemism as a relationship between one type of animal and a clan but he did argue with the idea that totems were the basis of religion. Franz Boas (1916) research was based on North West American Indians and he found a society employing a visual form of Totemism in the form of totem poles. The totem pole was made up of mystical characters from the tribes ancestral past. Item were chosen from nature and used for cultural purposes. Totem poles functioned as an emblem of a clan or family, showing its unity and the rights which each clan were entitled to, and as a reminder of each clans link to a spirit ancestor. Totems were also a form of communication as tribes had no written language, so the totem poles were used to tell their stories, legends and events. Totems could not only be for clans they could also be individual however, only the most affluent tribe members could afford to have their own totem carved. Boas (1916) argued against a psychological or historical origin of totemism because its characters could be linked with individuals, and are in every social organisation, appearing in various cultural contexts and would not be possible to fit all totemtistic phenomena into one classification. The first complete work on totemism was conducted by Sir James Frazer (1919) who developed several theories in regard to the origin of totemism. The first theory suggested that men have totems because they expect benefits from them: The connection between a man and his totem is mutually beneficent; the totem protects the man, and the man shows his respect for the totem in various ways, by not killing it if it be an animal, and not cutting or gathering it if it be a plant (Frazer, 1887, p. 3) His second theory was that totemism was a system of magic intended to provide a supply of food for someone else (Hopkins, 1918, p. 153), this was disregarded in place his final theory which was more radical than the others and based on the fact that: Some savages believe their offspring comes not from intercourse between man and woman, but from the spirits of animals or quasi-animals seen by the woman or from the food she eats. They think that the spirits which thus become their children are really the animals they have seen or whose flesh they have eaten before conceiving (ibid, p. 153) This is what Frazer called the conceptional theory. Totemism at this point had come under attack from American anthropologist Goldenweiser (1910) who began by listing five key characteristics believed to be symptomatic of totemism, an exogamous clan ( people marry outside of their own social group), the name of the clan derived from the totem, a religious attitude toward the totem; as a friend or brother or protector, taboos or restrictions against the killing and eating of the totem, a belief in the decent from the totem (ibid, p. 182-83). Goldenweiser (1910) concluded that: Each of these traits..displays more or less a striking independence in its distribution; and most of them can be shown to be widely-spread ethnic phenomena, diverse in origin not necessarily coordinated in development, and displaying a rich variability of psychological make-up (ibid, p.266) Although not willing to give up the idea totally he proposed an alternative definition of totemism in terms of the association between definite social units and objects and symbols of emotional value (ibid, p. 275). Lowie (2009) was more radical arguing that totemism did not exist and for all intense and purpose was an invention of anthropologists. Durkheim in his book The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1915) presented the most influential interpretation of religion from a functionalist perspective stating society was the soul of religion and was the foundation of all religious beliefs. Durkheim (1961) said all societies divide the world into two categories: the sacred and the profane. Religion is centred on this division; it is a unified system of beliefs and practices related to sacred things, things which are set apart and forbidden (Haralambos, 2001, p. 432). Thus to comprehend the role of religion in society, the connection concerning sacred symbols and what they signify must be determined. Durkheim used the religion of Australian aborigines in order to explain his theory. Durkheim referred to their religion as totemism stating it was the most basic and simplest form of religion. Aboriginal civilisations were divided into numerous clans each having duties and obligations towards their members, one of which is exogamy, where members are not allowed to marry within their clan. Each clan has a totem usually that of an animal or plant which is the emblem of the clan, a sign where each clan can distinguish itself from the others. The totem is the most sacred object in aborigine ritual. The totem is the outward and visible form of the totemic principle of god (ibid, p. 432). Durkheim argued if the totem is the symbol of god and society, therefore society and god are one. So people who are worshipping god are in fact worshipping society therefore, society is the real object of religious worship. Sacred things are considered superior in dignity and power to the profane and part icularly to man, thus, in relation to sacred things individuals are inferior and dependent (p.432). Durkheim said primitive man came to view society as something sacred because he is totally dependent on it. Furthermore, Durkheim argued the reason why society invents a sacred symbol like a totem is because it is easier for a person to visualise and direct his feelings of awe toward a symbol than towards so complex a thing as a clan (ibid, p.433). Durkheim believed in the collective conscience a set of shared values and moral beliefs, religion reinforces the collective conscience. The worship of society strengthens the values and moral beliefs that form the basis of social life. However, Goldenweiser (1910) said: The appearance of Durkheims brilliant but unconvincing treatise on religion brings home the fact that one of the phases of socio-religious thought, namely the problem of totemism, remains as replete with vagueness and misunderstanding as ever (ibid, p.288) Boas (1916) aiming at Durkheim as much as Frazer, denied that cultural phenomena could be bought together into a unity (LÃ ©vi-Strauss, 1969, p. 79). British anthropologists were less ready to give up on the concept of totemism. Malinowski (1925) gives an uncomplicated analysis of totemism relating to the function it has in a given society. Totemism plays a significant role in the ordering and control of nature by man (ibid, p. 22-23). The kind of mans attention in the totemic species shows also the kind of belief and cult to be there expected. Since it is the desire to control the species, dangerous, useful or edible, this desire must lead to a belief in special power over the species, affinity with it, a common essence between man and beast or plant (Malinowski, 1954, p. 45). Totemism as a style of social organisation maintains the status quo in society while as the same time serving as mans interests in a much deeper way: From the survival point of view, it is vital that mans interest in the practically indispensable species should never abate, that his belief in his capacity to control them should give him strength and endurance in his pursuits and stimulate his observations and knowledge of the habits and natures of animals and plants (ibid, p. 46) A criticism of Malinowski is he is guilty of operating entirely within the world of nature and his theory leaves us to explain why totemism, if it responds to human needs is not universal (Leach, 1969, p. 130). Evans-Pritchard (1951) said, Malinowskis theoretical conclusions are no more than descriptions in more abstract language (p.95). Radcliffe- Brown (1929) explored totemism from a structural functionalist perspective; he did not attempt to understand totemism in terms of beliefs, but as a collection of practices that serve to uphold the solidarity and equilibrium of the social group. Radcliffe- Brown described totemism as that circumstance whereupon: Society is divided into groups and there is a special relation between each group and one or more classes of objects that are usually natural species of animals and plants but may occasionally be artificial objects or parts of an animal (Radcliffe-Brown 1965, p. 117). Radcliffe-Brown (1965) said totemic objects are objects which have been accorded ritual value (ibid, p. 123) and he argues that: Any object or event which has important effects upon the well-being (material or spiritual) of a society, or anything which stands for or represents any such object or event, tends to become an object of the ritual attitude (Radcliffe-Brown 1965, p. 129). Here, Radcliffe-Brown comes really near to the utilitarian theories offered by Frazer and Malinowski however; this hypothesis does little to the general understanding of why particular plants and animal species have such a high ritual significance. In a further essay Radcliffe-Brown (1956) highlighted the significance of the conclusions about the relations between humans and animals. Moreover, after listening and examining stories told about animals by Australian aborigines, Radcliffe-Brown concluded they had one theme, and added the resemblances and differences of animal species are translated into terms of friendship and conflict, solidarity and opposition Radcliffe-Brown, 1958, p. 116). Overall concluding, the world of animal life is represented in terms of social relations similar to those of human society (Radcliffe-Brown, 1958, p.116). Radcliffe-Brown proposed the central terms in his version of totemism are opposition and integration adding Totemism stopped being a type of rel igion but was instead a mode of thought where nature had become an object of contemplation for the expression of socio-cultural differences (Tremlett, 2008, p.47). Radcliffe-browns previous idea that objects become totems because they are of ritual interest to society can be turned around: why are they not of ritual interest because they have been designated as totems? (ibid, p.130). Questions have been asked about the integrity of his studies because some anthropologists have accused him of appropriating other peoples research and passing it off as his own. The Australian anthropologist Elkin (1933) said there are many forms of totemism in Australia specifically: Individual, sex, moiety, section, subsection, matrilineal and patrilineal social clans, localised cult clan and dream-totemism. Elkin denied the unity of totemism but sought to preserve its reality on the condition that he might trace it back to a multiplicity of types he stated there is no longer one totemism but many totemisms, each in itself a single irreducible whole (p.113). Elkin (1933) denied the unity in totemism as if he thought it possible to preserve the reality of totemism on condition that it be reduced to a multiplicity of heterogeneous forms (Levi-Strauss, 1969, p. 35). For Elkin (1933) there is no longer one totemism but many totemisms, each in itself a single complex whole. LÃ ©vi-Strauss (1962a) says Elkin instead of helping to slay the hydra (of totemism) has dismembered it and made peace with the bits (ibid, p.66). Evans Pritchard in his book on Nuer religion (1956) regarded totemism as a symbolic formulation of intellectually constructed relationships, (Strauss, 1962. p. 27). He wanted to comprehend totemism in terms of extensive Nuer Beliefs about Kwoth which stands for God or Spirit; there were two manifestations of spirit, higher and lower, with the totemic spirit being the spirit of the below. Evans Pritchard noted that Nuer totems were not symbols of linages, because some linages had none and other linages shared the same totem but did not otherwise acknowledge kinship with each-other. Nor did the totems signify Spirit as such, but rather the connection between God and a specific linage. So, such a study fixed totemism within the religious beliefs and practices of a particular society. Levi-Strauss was very critical of the reality of totemism for him the totemic illusion is the product of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century effort by scientists to relegate the primitive outside the realm of culture (Leach, 1962, p. 127) because they wanted to protect the Victorian world-view by maintaining the Christian distinction between man and nature, thus, by failing to recognise the similarities between Western and primitive codes, scholars created false taxonomies and blurred the universal logic behind all so-called totemic phenomena (ibid, p. 127). Levi-Strauss was inspired by Radcliffe-Brown, whose analyses he attempted to expand upon. LÃ ©vi-Strauss was the leading academic in contemporary structuralism believing human minds have certain universal characteristics which originate in the common feature of the homo-sapiens brain (Haralambos, 2001, p. 910). These common mental structures lead people everywhere to think similarly regardless of their society or cul tural background. LÃ ©vi-Strauss developed a system to show the abstract divisions that he saw in totemism as a phenomenon in human nature. His system was implemented in a table of oppositions or mutual relationships. The basic relationship was between the binary opposites such as nature and culture. On one side there were in nature certain realities such as species of animal, or plants and specific animals and plants. On the other side, there was in culture various groups and individuals who identify themselves with particular species or with specific animal and plants. LÃ ©vi-Strauss (1962a) noticed four types of relationship between nature and culture within totemism: A species of animal or plant identified with a certain group; a species identified with an individual and finally a particular animal or plant identified with a group of animal or plant identified with an individual, a particular animal or plant (p.18). LÃ ©vi-Strauss (1969) stated each of these four groupings correspond to the phenomena that are to be seen in one people to another (ibid. 84). For the first grouping he suggested the Australians, for whom natural entities are linked with cultural groups (p.84); the second grouping was the individual totemism of North American Indians where an individual is linked with a species of nature (p.84). The third grouping the Mota people from the Bank Irelands of Melanesia named: a child is thought to be the incarnation of a specific animal, plant or creature which was found and eaten by the mother when she first found out she was pregnant(p.84). The final groupings were from Polynesia or Africa where fixed individual animals formed the groups support and worshbluefrost13ip (p.84). In conclusion LÃ ©vi-Strauss stated the difference between the classes of man and animal serves as the conceptual basis for social differences. Thus, for LÃ ©vi-Strauss totemism is an illusion and a logic that classifies- a post hoc explanation in which the structure of social relations is projected onto the natural phenomena, not taken from it. In conclusion, totemism is a belief system where the traits in the social organisation of people are believed to have kinship or a mystical relationship with a spirit-being such as an animal or plant which serves as the group or individuals emblem or symbol. As anthropology tries to understand different cultures and provides knowledge about cultural variation in the world through details studies anthropologist would find totemism an interesting topic which has been proved by the number of studies which have been discussed. The first study on totemism was undertaken my McLennan in (1889) who explored the origin of totemism. Boas (1916) studied American Indians and their totem poles, concluding the totem poles functioned as the emblem of the clan showing unity and the rights each clan was entitled to. Frazer (1919) gave the first comprehensive work on totemism; he came up with three theories the final of which saw the origin of totemism as an interpretation of the conception and birth of children a belief he called conceptionalism. Durkheim (1915) hoped to discover a pure religion in a very ancient form and claimed to see the origin of religion in totemism. In 1925 Malinowski explored totemism as a function in a given society. Radcliffe-Brown (1929) researched from a structural functionalist perspective explored how totemism upheld the solidarity of the social group. Elkin (1933) explored numerous forms of totemism. Evans-Pritchard (1956) explored Nuer religion and the symbolic nature of totemism. The final theory discussed on totemism was by Levi-Strauss (1962a/1969) who explored totemism from a structuralist perspective. He gave the most incisive critique of totemism by denying its reality stating totemism is an illusion. Investigations of totemism has decline in recent times, those which have been undertaken have moved away from its universality toward explorations which consider totem structures in a more precise context.

Geothermal energy

Environmental Ecology 25, October, 2013 Geothermal Energy Geothermal Energy is energy that is made from heat and comes from the interior of the earth. Just about everywhere the earth keeps a constant temperature of 50 and 60 degrees and heating pumps can tap into this and use this heat. This type of energy also doesn't produce the greenhouse gases, which harm the earth. The biggest reason I can think of to use this type of energy is that it is a renewable resource that will never quit producing because earth is a 365, day a year energy source.In the winter, geothermal energy can be a huge help because these heating pumps can actually pump heat from the earth through pipes to your homes air delivering system, this can also be reversed in the summer where the heat is actually pumped from inside your house toa heat exchanger. When this happens you can actually use this heat for hot water. When using geothermal energy you it doesn't produce harmful gases that the burning of fossil fuels causes. Instead it only produces a vapor that is harmless to the earth.These geothermal plants are also powered by streams, and nothing from the lant needs to be transported to another location because the source and everything needed is right under the feet of the plant. Right now pollution is thought of as a serious problem, and with how much money there is put into a cleaner earth, you would think they would use it for geothermal plants. This type of energy source is renewable, they have done studies that show that even with constant extraction process of heat from the earth, it still wouldn't effect the earth or run out of heat.The absolute only way we would run out is if the core of he earth turned cold. And if this happened we would have much more problems than producing energy on earth. A lot of people would expect this to be expensive but its actually cheaper than your standard fossil fuel systems in homes. It costs less to install. And energy bills are cut in half, accordin g to a woman that has owned one for about a year. With this system in your house they say it will have paid for itself in the first 10 years of owning one. Not only is the cost of this low, but it would eliminate our dependency on foreign oil which would be a huge plus. Geothermal energy Environmental Ecology 25, October, 2013 Geothermal Energy Geothermal Energy is energy that is made from heat and comes from the interior of the earth. Just about everywhere the earth keeps a constant temperature of 50 and 60 degrees and heating pumps can tap into this and use this heat. This type of energy also doesn't produce the greenhouse gases, which harm the earth. The biggest reason I can think of to use this type of energy is that it is a renewable resource that will never quit producing because earth is a 365, day a year energy source.In the winter, geothermal energy can be a huge help because these heating pumps can actually pump heat from the earth through pipes to your homes air delivering system, this can also be reversed in the summer where the heat is actually pumped from inside your house toa heat exchanger. When this happens you can actually use this heat for hot water. When using geothermal energy you it doesn't produce harmful gases that the burning of fossil fuels causes. Instead it only produces a vapor that is harmless to the earth.These geothermal plants are also powered by streams, and nothing from the lant needs to be transported to another location because the source and everything needed is right under the feet of the plant. Right now pollution is thought of as a serious problem, and with how much money there is put into a cleaner earth, you would think they would use it for geothermal plants. This type of energy source is renewable, they have done studies that show that even with constant extraction process of heat from the earth, it still wouldn't effect the earth or run out of heat.The absolute only way we would run out is if the core of he earth turned cold. And if this happened we would have much more problems than producing energy on earth. A lot of people would expect this to be expensive but its actually cheaper than your standard fossil fuel systems in homes. It costs less to install. And energy bills are cut in half, accordin g to a woman that has owned one for about a year. With this system in your house they say it will have paid for itself in the first 10 years of owning one. Not only is the cost of this low, but it would eliminate our dependency on foreign oil which would be a huge plus.

Be a major contributo - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 31 Words: 9186 Downloads: 4 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Statistics Essay Did you like this example? Availability of natural resources is often taken to naturally contribute if not be a major contributor in a nations economy prowess. This enviable position often given to natural resources in the chess place of economic growth is not connected to the fact that natural resources especially fossil fuel plays a serious role in world economy. Unfortunately, the economic potentials of natural resources do not in every case translate into an actual economic growth neither does it guarantee a good sense of resource management. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Be a major contributo" essay for you Create order This reality is what gave birth to the term Dutch Disease. The term is commonly used to denote a situation where the presence of natural resources rather than being a source of greater industrialization actually weakens and render, most often, any existing industrialization capacity weaker. In such a situation, non extractive resources and service related industries either remain stagnant or de-industrialized. Nigeria which is the primary concern here is a typical non extractive developing economy prior to the discovery and actual extraction of fossil fuel at the dawn of independence. With arable land in the north and swampy coast of the south, agriculture offered Nigeria the opportunity to develop a strong agro industrial based economy until the discovery of the fossil fuel. Whereas over 90% of Nigerian income comes from extraction of natural resources today, the reverse was the case in the economic development history of Nigeria until early 1960s. The expected investment and consequent development in the agricultural sector did not happen. Why was this the case? It may be over simplifying the issue just by saying that it is a common feature of Dutch disease or merely recourse to mismanagement of resources. Obviously mismanagement of resources cannot be divorced from the economic dilemma of Nigeria as it relates to non development of non extractive industry with the discovery of fossil fuel. However, mismanagement resources cannot take place in a vacuum. Hence, in this work, it is my main interest to ask what made Nigerian economic development caught up in web of Dutch disease. Efforts will be made also to see the connection if any, that the mismanagement of resources has with the discovery of fossil fuel in Nigeria. It is my aim to proffer any possible solution to redress the trend of mismanagement of resources in the Nigerian economic development. In reaching the above stated objectives, this work is divided into four chapters. Chapter one addresses the general overview of Nigeria with associated agricultural endowment possessed by various components of the nation before the exploration of fossil fuel. Chapter two will focus on the discovery and extraction of fossil fuel in Nigeria and its potentials as well as real impact on the developing economy. In chapter three, I will try to locate the factors responsible for the mismanagement of resources in the wake of extraction activities in Nigeria. The fourth chapter, which is the last one, and deals with proffering ways of putting the Nigerian economic development squarely on a development part once again. Conclusion follows therafter. Theory of Dutch-disease: Numerous researchers, like Gylfason (2001), Sachs and Warner (1995), and Sala-i- Martin (1997), all found a negative connection between natural resource abundance and economic growth. Classical economic theory would predict that abundant natural resources should be good for the economy but the opposite seems the case here in most developing countries with natural resources. The tern Dutch disease, Paradox of the plenty and Resource curse are economic terms used in describing the negative connection between natural resources abundance or any large capital inflows into an economy and economic growth. The term `Dutch disease was first seen in print form in the Economist( 26 November 1977, pp. 82-3), when the discovery of natural gas in the early 1960s had severe effects on the Dutch manufacturing industries by causing the Dutch real exchange rate to appreciate. This appreciation of the real exchange rates makes the local manufactures less competitive in the international market which results to low export, which on the other hand leads to the gradual deterioration of the manufacturing sector. For most Nigerians, especially those living in the Niger-Delta, Nigerias oil wealth is actually oil of poverty or a curse, because it has produced only poverty, underdevelopment and conflicts since its commercial exploitation began in the late 1950s. Such a conclusion is not aberrant as it is now almost conventional wisdom that (natural) resources are a curse for developing countries with abundance of natural resources causing poor growth and raising the incidence intensity and duration of conflicts . The negative conclusions about the developmental role of resources is a far cry from earlier post World War hopes and the promise that resource endowment would lift many countries out of poverty; as not only would resource exploitation generate fiscal revenues and jobs, but also the necessary investment capital for an economic take-off. Windfall resource revenues, in other words, should prove a bonanza. In the case of Gulf States oil boom, labour immigration offsetted the effects of Dutch disease while shifting the symptoms to the labour exporting country. The labour exporting country had a lot of money being sent home by the labourers in the Gulf States which artificially boosted the exchange rate and as a result of the home countrys` manufacturing industry paying more to secure labour locally. The symptom of Dutch disease does not necessarily occur as a result of world price boom or major resource discovery but also from any large capital inflows into an economy. But for every Venezuela and Nigeria, there is a Norway or a Botswana (Robinson et al 2005:7) Research on paradox of plenty has prompted, in recent times, a renewed interest in political factors as key explanatory variables, or as key components of the resource curse mechanism in developing countries. For example, it has been argued that poor economic growth is itself a political product, the consequence of what politicians do with resource rents (Englebert 2000; Ron 2005:447) and of presence or absence of political institutions which promote the accountability of politicians (Robinson 2005:6). Thus, if resource booms create underdevelopment, it cannot be because they induce inefficiency in the rate at which they are extracted, but because politicians make policy mistakes which are in fact rational political strategies, in response to the incentives induced by resource rents (Robinson et al. 2005:6). As argued by Rosser, Put differently, scholars have been asking the wrong question: r ather than asking why natural resource wealth has fostered various political pathologies and in turn promoted poor development performance, they should have been asking what political and social factors enable some resource abundant countries to utilize their natural resources to promote development and prevent other resource abundant countries from doing the same (Rosser 2006:10). Theoretical implementations for the policy: Overview of Nigeria: Nigeria is a country with varying climatic conditions. It is tropical in the center, equatorial in the South and arid in the North. It lies between 3oE and 15oE, and between 4oN and 14oN in Western Africa. Nigeria has borders in the North with Niger and Chad, Republic of Benin in the West, Republic of Cameroun in the East and the Atlantic Ocean in the South. Nigeria has a total land mass of 923,768Km that is made up of 910,768Km of land and 13,000Kmwater. Figure (1) below is the geographical map of Nigeria. Nigeria is a country endowed with a lot of mineral resources like fossil fuel (crude oil, natural gas, coal and lignite), radioactive minerals (Uranium, monazite and zircon), metallic minerals ( tin, columbite, iron, lead, zinc, gold), non-metallic minerals (limestone, marble, gravel, clay, shale, feldspar) and arable land. Economic History of Nigeria with Focus on Agriculture: Starting from 1914 when Nigeria was created until the end of 1960 when Nigeria got her independence, and until the end of the first decade after independence. Nigerian economy has been agro-based. Agriculture has been the main source of income for the economy. During 1914-1959 when Nigeria was still being colonized by the British, it was stated that Nigeria was being exploited for its agricultural products. The country was known for the production of some main agricultural products like groundnut and cotton (produced in the North), cocoa (produced in the West), and Palm oil (produced in the East, which includes the Niger-Delta region). About 70 percent of the entire population was engaged in one form of Agriculture of the other. During the colonial era, railroads, roads and harbors were developed and market for consumer goods emerged as well with agricultural marketing board playing the role of NNPC today. Exploration of oil in commercial quantity started in 1956 but did not play any major role until the early 1970s. According to Robinson`s report, in the early 1960s, revenue from oil accounted for less than 10 per cent of Nigeria`s revenue base which can be seen in 1963 and 1964 where oil revenues were only 4.1 per cent and 5.9 per cent respectively of the total revenue of the country. This means that Nigerian economy was formally not oil based, the majority of the country`s revenue during this period was from Agriculture, and more than 70 per cent of the people were employed in this sector. However, after the Nigerian civil war in 1970, the yield of oil began to increase and the dominance of agriculture in the country`s economy began to decline. Agriculture sector brought more than 50 percent of Nigeria national income before the discovery of oil but has now fallen to a dismal 20 percent. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization 1987 estimate, there were 12.2 million cattle, 13.2 million sheep, 26.0 million goats, 1.3 million pigs, 700,000 donkeys, 250,000 horses, and 18,000 camels, mostly in northern Nigeria, and owned mostly by rural dwellers rather than by commercial companies. Fisheries output ranged from 600,000 to 700,000 tons annually in the 1970s. Estimates indicate that the output had fallen to 120,000 tons of fish per year by 1990. The presidency of president Obasanjo from 1999 gave life back to the agriculture sector which now grows at a steady 7.5 percent annually and contributed to 41 percent of gross domestic product. This push was as result of new mechanized farming techniques alongside the relocation of some ex-Zimbabwean white farmers in Nigeria. Discovery of Crude Oil in Nigeria: The discovery of oil in Nigeria to a large extent altered the nations economic landscape with its concomitant political consequences. As earlier as 1908, various oil explorations had started in Nigeria but it was not until 1958 that crude oil became officially a source of foreign exchange earner for Nigeria. Oloibiri in the present Bayelsa state of Niger Delta region was where oil was explored first in commercial quantity. Within this time, there was a daily output of 6000 barrel of crude oil. Let us note that all the oil exploration was at this stage being carried out by foreign companies such as Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), Mobil, and Agip etc. It is crucial also to emphasize that it was only crude oil extraction that was taking place within this period as the capacity of refining the crude oil was not in place. The impact of the oil exploration as a source of governments income, at this time was not much as agriculture retained the primary source of national income. As Robinson pointed out, in the early 1960s, revenue from oil accounted for less than 10% of Nigerias revenue base. This assertion becomes undoubtedly clear when it is considered that the period in question was the early stage of major exploration activities. We have noted earlier that prior to discovery of oil, agriculture was the main base of the nations economy as well as employing the most number of workers in the labour market. However the prospect of large deposit and role oil would occupy in the Nigerian economy became evident starting from the early 1970s. The Nigeria civil war coincided with the rise in the world oil price, and Nigeria was able to reap instant riches from its oil production. Nigeria joined the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in 1971 and established the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) in 1977; a state owned and controlled company which is a major player in both the upstream and downstream sectors. From an insignificant 4.1% of the early 1960s, revenue from oil climbed to 98% within the first half of 1980 before dropping to 83.5% within the year 2000 and 85% in 2007. Notwithstanding the endemic problems of civil unrest, political instability, border disputes, corruption and poor governance, international oil companies have always seen Nigeria as an attractive area for upstream investment. A number or reasons account for this among which are the quality of Nigerian Oil which is almost free of sulphur and the fact that Nigeria is well located in supplying oil markets in North America. The United State of America is currently the leading importing country of Nigerian oil. The Niger Delta, the Anambra Basin, the Benue Trough, the Chad Basin and the Benin Basin are where most of the oil exploration has taken place. The Niger Delta which includes the continental shelf and which makes up most of the proven and possible reserves retains the most prospective basin. Virtually all oil production from the earliest exploration time to current mining time has been concentrated in this basin. Natural Gas: Natural gas is another confirmed fossil fuel Nigeria has in abundance. Unlike crude oil, its exploration has not peaked but it is estimated that Nigeria has around 3.5 trillion meters of gas reserves both oil and non oil related. Through the establishment of Nigeria Liquid Natural gas (NLNG), Nigeria has started an active exploration of natural gas as another major source of exchange earner. In fact it is being projected to be the major source of exchange earner for the nation above oil in few years. As in the case of crude oil, over 60% of the confirmed reserve is within the east of the Niger Delta. It is the of the world`s 7th largest confirmed gas reserve and largest in Africa. The biggest challenge in the gas sector is the damage to the environment through gas flaring. In Niger Delta flaring of gas is a constant phenomenon and occurs in all oil exploration locations in Nigeria. See some examples in figure 2 below. When crude oil is brought to the surface, the gas released in that process is called associated gas. Oil companies claim that this associated gas is flared for safety reasons because there are not infrastructures on the ground to bring it to the market. In developed countries, this practice has been curbed partly due to the recent rise in Natural gas prices. Other Natural Resources: Nigeria is equally endowed with other natural resources such as tin, iron, ore, coal, limestone, bitumen, lead and zinc. They have been confirmed to be in commercial quantities and have the potential of making significant impact on the nations exchange earning. Exploration of these aforementioned resources has not been maximally effective. A number of reasons account for either absolute neglect or under performance in commercially maximizing the potential of these resources. The resultant low share of these solid minerals in the nations GDP which is within 1% can be attributed to over dependence on oil and the underdeveloped nature of the sector, resulting from inadequate and inefficient policies for mineral exploration development. However there is a renewed effort by the Nigerian government to reposition the mining industry. In that direction, Ministry of Solid Mineral Development was recently created to oversee and review the activities and proffer a more profitable way of harnessing the enormous wealth in the mining industry. For a long time, mining has been on an informal level and illegally carried out. This denies the government the relevant rents and endangers the environment as mining activities were not regulated. Effects of Oil, Gas and other Exploration Activities on Nigerias Economy: The immediate effect of oil on the nations economy was an increase in the national income. The rise in world demand of oil in early 1970s increased the nations oil revenue. With this increase in the national income, the government embarked on a number of projects and took some steps to direct and plan economic growth and development. There was a progressive expansion of education with a view to reducing illiteracy and provide the necessary skills and labour for development. Nine additional universities were created in the 1970s and another sixteen in the 1980s in addition to five already in place in a bid to prepare the nation manpower for the envisaged economic development. There was equally massive investment in the construction industry. Construction of road networks to link up the cities and rural areas were possible through the revenue accruable from the oil. In the major cities, there were big investments in construction of both residential housing and government offices as well as communication networks. Hydroelectric dams were built for electricity generation and secondary industries such as automobile assembly plants were established to create more employment opportunities for the growing population. In a bid to position the industrial future of the country, there was a huge investment in steel industry such as Ajaokuta Steel Industry. This was established with a view to providing the local industries with the necessary tools needed for industrialization. The articulation was that for any economy to grow, steel industry is a condition that must be met. Hence, even against the advice of the World Bank, the Nigerian government proceeded with the help of the Russians in establishing the steel industry. However, the effects of oil discovery are not all pleasant. One of the major tragedies of oil discovery in Nigeria is the collapse of the agricultural sector. There was, with the discovery of oil and a gradual dismantling of agricultural industry. Pre-oil Nigerias economy was powered by agriculture. According to Ugochukwu and Ertel, despite the rapid growth of oil industry during 1970s, agriculture still accounts for 40% of GDP and provides employment, both formal and informal, for a large majority of the population. Exploration activities have been a major contributor in the environmental pollution and degradation since discovery of oil in Nigeria. Most of the areas hosting oil extraction activities are generally polluted hence making life difficult for both human and aquatic species. Gas flaring has been a source of concern to the environmentalists. For a long time until recently over 60% of gas production is flared. This obviously contributes in no small measure in the global warming. There is the problem of social injustice in the sense that the Niger Delta region which hosts all the oil exploration activities is backward in terms of social and infrastructural developments. What is has led to is the continuing civil conflict in a quest to address what is perceived as an injustice. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) began a wave of attacks and kidnappings of foreign oil workers in early 2006, knocking out close to a quarter of Nigerias oil output in a matter of weeks. Continued bombings of oil pipelines and abductions of oil workers by armed gangs in the creeks have cut Nigerias crude oil output sharply over the past three years. Many foreigners have been kidnapped since MEND began its attacks. Most hostages are later released unharmed, but oil production has dropped below 2 million barrels per day, compared to 2.4 million bpd before the attacks and a potential 3 million bpd. The unrest has forced oil giants such as Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil and Chevron to move all but their most essential foreign staff out of the region, while the drop in oil output has eaten into Nigerias foreign earnings, compounding the effects of the global economic slowdown. The Igbo effort to secede from Nigeria, which led to the 1967-70 civil wars, was deeply rooted in ethnic tensions and Nigerias colonial past; but the rebellion was encouraged by the presence of oil, and hence the belief that independence would be economically beneficial for the Igbo people. Dutch Disease and its Effects on the Management in Nigeria: Having a well performing economy before the discovery of crude oil, Nigeria was expected to lift her economy to a faster economic prosperity and development however the reverse has been the case since 1980s. Xavier-Sala-i-Martin and Arvind Subramanian posit that Nigeria has been a disastrous development experience. On just every conceivable metric, Nigerias performance since independence has been dismal. In PPP terms, Nigerias per capita GDP was US$1,113 in 1970 and is estimated to have remained at the US$1,084 in 2000. The later figure places Nigeria amongst the 15 poorest nations in the world for which such data is available. The problem obviously is not lack of resources for we have seen the abundance resources namely; agriculture, crude oil, solid minerals and human capital the country posses. This fact calls to mind what Sachs and Warner view as a problem of natural resource rich nations. One of the surprising features of economic life is that resource-poor economies often vastly outperform resource-rich economies in economic growth. For Sachs and Warner, Nigerias experience is not accidental because, the oddity of resource-poor economies outperforming resource-rich economies has been a recurring motif of economic history. In the seventeenth century, resource-poor Netherlands eclipsed Spain, despite the overflow of gold and silver from the Spanish colonies in the new world. In deed for many such as Sachs and Warner it is not strange that Nigerian economy has not performed in such a way to lift millions of Nigerians out of abject poverty and deprivation. The over reliance of resource rich nations and an increase in demand of oil shift capital away from other sectors such as the manufacturing sector thus depriving these sectors the needed facilities in maintaining production. The implication of this is that the export intensity of natural-rich nations is reduced while their import intensity is increased. This weakens capacity building as well as skills development which are very essential for economic growth. However, there are others who have raised doubt about the plausibility of the adverse effect of abundant natural resources to economic growth. To this group, abundant resources in themselves do not necessary imply lower rate of economic growth but links the lower economic growth to consequential effect of institutional deficiencies such as corruption. The fact is that there are nations whose economic growth recorded positive results after discovery of natural resources such as Norway and Botswana. Moreover, a good case can be made that Australia, Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States owe much of their economic growth to rich natural resources base. The problem of lower economic rate in other countries such as Nigeria, with abundant natural resources must be located somewhere else not in the resources themselves. It is in this reasoning Jean-Philippe C. Stijns argues that abundance natural resources have nothing to do with the negative growth rate of natural resource rich nations. For him, The story behind the effect of natural resources on economic growth is a complex one that typical growth regressions do not capture well. In effect the attempt to explain away regression in economic growth rate of any natural resource rich nation is missing the mark as there are other factors involved other than the resources themselves. Using measures of resource abundance as against export intensity of Sachs and Warner, Stijns posits. Actual data on fuel and mineral reserves show that natural resource abundance has not been a significant structural determinant of economic growth between 1970 and 1989. He goes on to say, In terms of economic development, what matters most is what countries do with their natural resources. I conjecture that this conclusion can be traced back to the type of learning process involved in exploiting and developing natural resources. Not only that Stijns rejects the basic theory of Sachs and Warner, he argues further that what actually matters is in what way is the resources employed and in harnessing these resources what knowledge is taken into consideration. Hence the fact that a country possesses natural abundant resources is not a prelude to lower economic growth when compared to less natural resource endowed nations. In other words, when a natural resource rich nation, fails to use judiciously and make use of appropriate knowledge and skills in harnessing the natural resources, there would not be any growth to be expected from the natural resources. Still there is another school of thought who believes that the idea of resource cause is neither here nor there but merely a game of chasing shadow. To that group belong Daniel Lederman and William Maloney who have argued that a negative central tendency does not characterize natural resource abundance. And that: Various channels through which the curse is thought to operate in many cases, the channel is either not convincingly present, or in fact, applies to many other factors of production. In fact the position of Lederman and Maloney is captured in this way, There are important issues of measurement of relative endowments, of potential heterogeneity in the effects of such endowments on development and growth, and some of the international econometric evidence that appears to support the curse hypothesis has been based on the use of weak proxies, and even on nonstandard manipulations of influential data points. The import of the immediate above is that the claim of resource curse remains at best elusive as no satisfying answer can be deduced from the above positions that Dutch disease is really the cause of Nigerias poor management of her national resources in such a manner that the growth of the nations economy is hampered. Nevertheless, there is an acceptance of the fact that some nations richly endowed with natural resources have recorded an enormous growth economically than others so endowed. The question therefore is still, why? It becomes pertinent therefore to consider how the resources are being used, in other words, how are the revenue accruing from the resources being employed and used by the government. In this way, the failure of Dutch disease in offering a satisfying explanation for the poor economic performance of some resource rich nations (as we have noted that there are resource rich nations who perform very well economically) and the failure of other explanations will be circumvented and the reason(s) why the wealth generated by the resources are not making the needed economic impact. It is therefore the position of Kolstad and Wiig that rather than considering Dutch disease as the direct cause of poor economic performance of natural rich nations, it is better to look at the application of the wealth of these resources by the political authorities in the economic life of their nations. Hence they proffer that, Centralized political economy models of the resource curse centre on the decisions of politicians governing resource rich economies. The decision analyzed is the allocation of resources between activities of self-enrichment, and activities that increase the productive potential of the economy. It seems plausible therefore that the problem of poor performing natural resource rich economies can be traceable to decisions as how the revenues are allocated rather than seeing the natural resources are primarily the curse in the progressive economic developments. It is only in this sense that it can be seen that the fundamental factor or factors responsible for the associated resource curse is the revenue of which rich natural resources is a poor substitution. In the case of Nigeria, a country still in the process of institutional building it seems that the discovery of oil and other natural resources increases the possibility of mismanagement. This is because the institutional framework is still weak which in turn encourages dysfunctional behaviors among the political class. Implicit in this reasoning is that under performing economies of natural resource rich nations is an indirect consequence of misapplication of the wealth accruing from the resources. In other words, judiciou s and diligent application of the same wealth can and does bring about a robust economic growth as can be seen in countries such as Norway which has a supportive institutional framework. Kolstad and Soreide have identified corruption, rent seeking, and patronage as factors the current analytical models of the resource curse emphasized upon. Addressing some known institutional failures and the way they militate against a healthy economic growth in Nigeria becomes our interest now. The Effects of Natural Resources on Management of Resources in Nigeria: As noted above, corruption, rent seeking and patronage are already known possible effects of natural resources within a political framework that is inefficient such as Nigerias. To say that corruption is at the base of Nigerias poor economic performance despite her rich natural resources is an understatement. Corruption: The central political economy definition has been the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Distortions and inefficiency are direct products of corruption and the perpetrators do everything possible to close their tracks. What this leaves behind is all sort of distortions in investment plans and executions. Corruption within the economic system of Nigeria especially as it relates to wealth being generated from the oil sector is the major reason for Nigerias lack of economic progress since oil was being extracted starting from late 1950s in commercial quantity. For Xavier and Arvind. Over a 35-year period Nigerias cumulative revenues from oil (after deducting the payments to the foreign oil companies) have amounted to about US$350 billion at 1995 prices. In 1965, when oil revenues per capita were about US$33, per capita GDP was US$245. In 2000, when oil revenues were US$325 per capita, per capita GDP remained at the 1965 level. In other words, all the oil revenues US$350 billion in total did not seem to add to the standard of living at all. Worse, however, it could actually have contributed to a decline in the standard of living? Almost within the same period, the United Nations office on Drugs and Crime reports that. By some estimates close to US $400 billion was stolen between 1960 and 1999. Sani Abacha, the former military Junta alone is estimated to have stolen the equivalent of 2 3 per cent of the countrys GDP for every year that he was President. These are periods when the social and infrastructural developments were abysmally low yet as represented by the colossal corrupt activities of the Sani Abacha alone, 2 3 of annual GDP of the nation was being diverted to a private pocket. In the same UNDC report, it was stated that Nigeria is Africas biggest oil exporter, but its natural resources make it particularly vulnerable to corruption. The oil-rich Niger Delta is a case in point. Corruption deters much-needed foreign investment, which keeps countries mired in poverty and its people deprived. Huge revenues from oil or gas reserves mean low taxes, but also low accountability and a lack of transparency, as well as limited public services. This explains in concrete terms how corruption can not only distort investments but also scare investments and encourages lack of accountability within dysfunctional political institutions which Nigeria at present still represents. Rent Seeking: Ross Shepherd has defined economic rent as, an excess distribution to any factor in a production process above the amount required to draw the factor into the process or to sustain the current use of the factor. What the above definition implies is that in rent seeking a lot skill, energy and time is needed in order to secure a considerable share of the rents. This discourages investment in productive industries as what is sought after in rent is not a means of creating new production opportunities but rather a share of existing revenue. In other words, it is an indirect competition between a productive sector of an economy and non productive sector. The skills, energy and time are all productive factors rendered dormant in the struggle for rent which is merely redistributive activity. When this struggle is within a dysfunctional political institution, such that the activities of rent seekers cannot be controlled by the establishment, it becomes very destructive. For Mehlum et el., Rent-seeking outside the productive economy pays off when institutions are bad: dysfunctional democracies invite political rent appropriation; low transparency invites bureaucratic corruption; weak protection of property rights invites shady dealings, unfair takeovers and expropriation; weak protection of citizens rights invites fraud and venal practices; weak rule of law invites crime, extortions and mafia activities; a weak state invites warlordism. All these forms of direct wealth grabbing are made possible by bad institutions or grabber-friendly institutions as we call them. When institutions are grabber friendly, there is a disadvantage from being a producer in the competition for natural resource rents. In the case of Nigeria, the oil sector has become a scene where all manners of rent seeking activities with the concomitant economic retrogressions take place. From allocation of oil blocks to downstream of oil activities, rent seekers have not only taken hold of the process but are equally deadly. There has been a serious shift from real production activities to rent seeking activities by the Nigerian entrepreneurs as the lure of easy revenue becomes irresistible even so as with the price of oil appreciating which means more income. The economic consequences of this are obvious in the dwindling number of production activities annually which invariably reduces the competitiveness of other sectors of the economy. Rent seeking therefore is one of the ways in which natural resources play a role in mismanagement of resources in Nigeria. PATRONAGE: The use of political position to and access to public wealth is one of the ways politicians maintain the loyalty of the party faithfuls or ethnic groups where electoral support is along ethnic lines. It is important that patronage is not bad in itself as it is legally acceptable in some countries but when it is fraudulently used in rewarding political associates and friends in appointments or contracts without recourse to lay down rules and procedures, it becomes a source of corruption. Natural resources offer politicians more leverage with increased revenue to hold on to power through patronage. Prospective public office holders are also invest heavily during campaigns and elections with the anticipation of holding power which will give them access to controlling the windfall of natural resources. Kolstad and Sireide capture the implication of patronage in this following submission, Public funds used on patronage could alternatively have been spent in more socially productive ways, which means that patronage implies an inefficient allocation of public resources. This diversion of resources from rather productive lines to unproductive targets does not in a positive way contribute in a sustainable economic growth. It weakens the potential investment strategies and makes the populace reliant on handouts from those in the corridor of power for day to day living. In essence, it discourages the space and encouragement for creativity in fashioning out plans to engineer a vibrant civil society that can hold the politicians accountable on how the revenue generated from natural resources are spent. This point is pertinent because in patronage since it is mainly those in positions of authority that usually initiate patronage activities, there is need for a vibrant civil society supported by a robust institutional framework to prevent potential mismanagement of resources by ensuring that access to political power is limited for such politicians. Institution reform is therefore a necessary condition for a country such as Nigeria where the public institution is not fully developed to ensure that patronage activities are curtailed to minimum. The case of political office seekers buying exotic cars and other expensive gifts during electioneering campaigns is well known. As soon as they get into office, their target is to attack the states treasury with all sorts of frivolous projects through which resources are either siphoned or diverted thereby perpetuating the underdevelopment of the economy. Mehlum et el. captures the situation the need of a functioning institutions for economic development in this submission. Our second result is that countries with unproductive institutions tend to score lower on various development indicators. This implies that the resource curse is a phenomenon that occurs at a broader scale than just economic growth-countries that rely on point resources tend to perform worse across a spectrum of criteria. This reinforces a conclusion that others have reached: institutional reform may well be a necessary condition for countries to develop. It goes beyond suggesting that it may well be a necessary condition that institutional reform should be at the core of any economic development of any countrys economic growth especially those of natural resource rich nature with particular emphasis on Nigeria. It is a definitive requirement without which the economic development will only be a dream. As experience and studies have proved, any country where there is lack of a strong institutional framework to check the menace of all forms of corrupt practice can only degenerate to chaos and anarchy. Life can only be thought of in the Hobbesian state of nature where life is brutish, nasty and short` as survival of the fittest becomes the order of the day. This in itself scares away meaningful investment both local and foreign without which will be no economic improvement. In Nigeria, corruption thrives due to lack of institutional due to lack of political will by the successive authorities and where there is an effort to fight against the menace of corruption, it is mainly used as a political tool against perceived political enemies which was the case under the Obasanjos democratic experiment between 1999 and 2007. Hence, management of resources which requires strict obedience to laid down rules and regulations are often characterized by; Discretionary behaviour: In absence of an impartial judicial and due to meddling in the judicial process by the executive arm of the government, what is obtained most often among the workers of public offices charged with management of the national resources is basically discretionary behaviours. Those in the decision making cadre of public service do not give much attention to the laid down procedure in awarding and executing contracts in the oil sector just as in any other sector of the nations economy. As godfatherism reigns within the Nigerian public service, little or no attention is often paid as to what may be the consequences of their action since most often there is an assurance of protection against any fallout which include court actions. In a situation where even court action neither deters nor scares public office holders from corrupt transactions, Leites and Wiedmanns position when they alluded to Becker position that, Viewing corruption as an illegal activity, we can follow Becker (1986)s suggestion that the probability of committing a crime depends primarily on the penalty imposed and on the probability of being caught. In addition, deterrent value of the penalties depends crucially on the ability and willingness of the authorities to enforce the relevant regulations, as well as on the level of acceptance, by the citizenry, of the judgments rendered by the countrys institutions. Equity and equality are forgone principles as the staffs assume the position of the law. Nigeria political authorities have records of disobeying court judgments not minding the implications and the message that transmit to the citizenry. The citizenry only take a clue from the political establishment in, frequently trying to obstruct the course of justice in the form of bribing and sometimes outright disobedience of court judgment being assured of protection by those in the authority. Having this sort of attitude in carrying out governments economic plans does not in any way encourage independent investors either local or foreign. Inefficient Policies: Inefficient governmental policies contribute in no small measure in breeding corruption in hindering economic growth in Nigeria. Most of the time inefficient policies are self serving in intent and purposes. The ethnic composition of Nigeria and the role ethnicity plays in Nigerian politics makes such policies inevitable given that the nation lacks the needed political maturity to deal with the situation. Take for instance, policies such as federal character and the quota system in the federal civil service. The Nigerian Constitution states, The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few State or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies. The composition of the Government of a State, a local government council, or any of the agencies of such Government or council, and the conduct of the affairs of the Government or council or such agencies shall be carried out in such manner as to recognize the diversity of the people within its area of authority and the need to promote a sense of belonging and loyalty among all the people of the Federation. From the surface, this intends providing Nigerians equal representation to every ethnic component of the federation. Let us take note of the concluding part of the quotation, the equal representation is to ensure a sense of belonging and loyalty of every Nigerian. It is not to ensure competence and efficiency. Hence in an effort to maintain the spirit of the constitution, ethnicity, nepotism and religion have become the criteria in federal civil service employment; the very people to whom the management of the natural resources have been entrusted to. Mustapha on the constitutional provision has this to say. Since 1999, both the World Bank and the UKs Department for International Development have also investigated the FCC with an eye to closing it down on the grounds that it promotes inefficiency. The reason of the case of inefficiency has been attributed to the federal character policy is that it, kills staff morale, promotes bureaucracy, discourages personal development and is antithetical to innovation and creativity. We believe that qualified people should first be considered in all spheres of governance and business. Policies such as Federal Character can be described as a square peg in a round hole because it promotes mediocrity over qualification in the name of regional or ethnic representation. The objective analysis of the constitutional provision suggests that the real reason of the Federal Character policy is that it ensures the dominance of the less educated/qualified section of the country over more educated/qualified section. Unfortunately, the monolithic identity of this less qualified section which gives them advantages over the diversified identities of the more educated section thus enabling them to influence policy formulation in rather negative manners (Oil in Nigeria is mostly found in the Niger Delta region of southern Nigeria but there is a sense of social injustice among inhabitants of Niger Delta in the resource sharing formula which results in arms struggle. This negatively effects resource management as projected oil output is often unachieved). In this way, the grain of ine fficiency and mismanagement of the natural resources in Nigeria can seen to be ingrained at the heart of the nations working document- the Constitution. Quota system has the same characteristics with the federal character as they both aim at equal representation in the rank of hiring criteria in within the Nigerian civil service system which ranges from the local government level up to the federal level. In such a situation where competence and qualification are not the major consideration in selecting the managers of the nations resources, corruption has remain the bane of Nigeria economic woes. It is has however taken a frightening level with the discovery natural resources especially oil as it increased the spending capacity of the federal government. The unfortunate success of corruption in keeping Nigeria from any serious economic breakthrough rests ultimately on the weak institutional development ultimately. In the succeeding pages, I will be proffering some steps necessary for arresting the inherent mismanagement of resources in Nigeria. Restoring Nigerian Economic Growth: The question at this stage having gone through the notion of Dutch Disease and the mismanagement of resources in Nigeria is not whether resources are mismanaged or not rather a question how to curtail mismanagement of resources in a way that economic growth can be achieved. Following the identified factors responsible for the resource mismanagement, it is imperative that the following steps are taken in addressing revamping economic growth in Nigeria: Institutional Development: This entails strengthening the governmental institutions in such a way that laws are enforceable in monitoring, discouraging as well as punishing those engaging in anti-economic activities. Robinson et al., confirms that, Low quality institutions invite bad policy choices since they allow politicians to engage in inefficient redistribution in order to influence the outcomes of elections. High quality institutions make such political strategies infeasible or relatively unattractive. Hence high quality is indispensable in achieving good resource management for it ensures that politicians do not circumvent rules and regulations right staffing to policy executions. Nigeria judicial system should be a priority in this instance as strict observance of the necessary laws will not only encourage local investment but spur a renew confidence among foreign investors who are willing to be part of Nigerias resources development. Anti Corruption Initiatives: From the foregoing analysis it has been clearly demonstrated that corruption is indeed a frightening problem in Nigeria. It permeates the very fiber of the national atmosphere and has overwhelmed all levels and all branches of government. It clearly retards the goals of every successive governmental attempt to development. Hence there is urgent need to strengthen the existing corruption initiatives such as Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) and makes them truly independent of public officers. This is to avoid the pitfalls of such organizations in the past when they were turned into a witch hunting tool against perceived political enemies. If and only if the anti-corruption agencies were to remain independent and impartial in monitoring corrupt practices involved in rent seeking and patronage would the revenue accruable from natural resources be judiciously utilized for public good thereby raising the economic development of the country. Developmental Oriented Policies: Unlike what is obtain currently within the political system of Nigeria where resource allocation is based on developmental needs but on political considerations, there is urgent need to raise the bar of resource allocation in targeting those areas germane to national economic development irrespective the area of location. On many occasions laudable economic investments had to be shelved not because of inherent shortcomings in contributing to economic development but due to opposition to the region of establishment of such project based on political calculation. Also the Nigerian constitution needs a thorough review with a view to expunging those provisions that promote inefficiency and under performance. It is vital that hiring of employees for the civil service is based purely on competence and merit rather than hiring for regional or ethnic equality to the detriment of effective management of the national resources. No one gives what he does not have hence continued hiring that is not based on merit is an assured way to perpetuating mismanagement of resources. Investments on the Civil Servants: There should be systematic, work-oriented training programmes for all those in the civil service establishment. This to equip them with the knowledge, techniques and skills, necessary to meeting the challenges of democratic governance which incorporates accountability as an essential tool for management of resources. In this way civil servants will be sensitized about the policy direction of the government involving its ethical orientation of anti-corruption, transparency and such militating factors against optimal performance. In the same vein, new performance management system of target setting and performance measurement should be in place as a basis for evaluating individual and corporate performance. Every effort should be made towards motivating civil servants for maximizing productivity by way of improved remuneration packages, recognition of hard work and exceptional qualities, access to working tools and facilities. Nigerian system currently lagging behind in information system capacity hence there should be emphasis on consistently updating rules and regulations to make them relevant to the needs of the service and society and offering civil servants with training that meet the challenges posed by globalization. The above proffered solutions are not exhaustive of ways to bringing on track once more, a promising economy for Nigeria and her citizens but implementing the aforementioned steps will surely go a long way in making the abundant rich natural resources reflects on the lives of the people. Only proper resource management will eradicate waste and lift millions out abject poverty which they have been consigned through corrupt management system. CONCLUSION: This essay has reviewed the agro-economic Nigerian situation prior to the discovery of natural resources especially oil in commercial quantity before and after the countrys independence from the British in 1960. It is obvious that the Nigerias agro-economy was more progressive and forward looking along other growing industrial sector. With the discovery of oil, corruption crept in and what supposes to be a blessing has so far been a curse to millions of Nigerians who continue to live under $2 per day. The status quo is not acceptable to millions of Nigerians who groan under the burden of poverty amid plenty of resources beneath their soil and in the hands of the few political players who have through the instrumentality of corruption diverted most of the accruable revenues to their private pockets. Obviously, the discovery of oil in Nigeria amplified corruption in such a way that it never been in the past. In this sense, Nigerias mismanagement of her natural resources cannot be said to a logical consequence of Dutch disease since given certain conditions, negative economic growth can be avoided as have been the case with Botswana and Norway. Weak institutions within Nigerias political economy have however made the attendant low rate of economic growth inevitable. Hence, the necessary steps that can be beneficial in retracing the lost path of economic growth have been suggested and relying on the positive economic growth of other nations so richly endowed with natural resources like Nigeria, implementing these recommended steps will bring the desired effect of economic growth. It is pertinent to note that the need to seriously review some aspects of the Nigerian constitution with a view to enthroning merit and competence should be at the highest ranking cadre of any meaningful resource management within the Nigerian system. Just as it is in every human undertaken, a wrong foundation is an assured step to disaster; the magnitude of corruption within the system owes much to the political arrangement which rates other factors except qualification and merit more important in employment of civil servants. Tropical oil producing countries have become critical sources of cheap energy resources and places where other raw materials are taken from without proper measures being adhered to. These methods ensure huge profits for TNCs and leave an equal deficit to the local communities. The question is what will it take to return the environment to its natural state? The environmental costs are evidently discounted from the accounting books. These unbalanced balance sheets need to be revisited with rigorous environmental legislation. In this paper I examined some of these traits like slow economic growth, the dependence on natural resources, armed conflict, weak governance, Corruption, rent seeking, patronage, discretionary behavior and the neglect of basic education which are some the criteria noted by renowned writers to be seen in economies that portray Dutch disease syndromes, all of them can be seen in Nigeria. In order to overcome this syndrome and move to a sustainable path of development, the resource abundant transition countries should fight corruption, and ensure that their resources revenues are invested in human capital or the preservation of natural capital. Armed conflict should be discouraged by building infrastructures, and basic amenities that will make these communities where oil is explored from have a sense of belonging. Policies should be put in place and enforced so that government officials should be held accountable for wrongs they did while in office, this can best be realized when the j udiciary is no longer a toll to be used by the ruling party. The data used in this thesis are mainly from secondary data sources taken from published material, journals and online. References: Website Sources: Adeniyi Gbadegesin 1997 The Impact of Oil Exploration and Production Activities on the Environment: Implications for Peasant Agriculture CIA, (2005): The World Fact book Nigeria.htm. The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2005 pg. 31 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_curse. https://www.krepublishers.com/02-Journals/JHE/JHE-28-0-000-09-Web/JHE-28-3-000-09-Abst-PDF/JHE-28-03-153-09-2007-Aghalino-S-O/JHE-28-03-153-09-2007-Aghalino-S-O-Tt.pdf. https://www.ogbus.ru/eng/authors/Odularo/Odularo_1.pdf. https://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Africa/Nigeria-AGRICULTURE.htm. https://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Nigerian-National-Petroleum-Corporation-Company-History.html. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_corruption. https://www.businessdayonline.com/index.php?,5th Feb. 2010. https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/nigerias-corruption-busters.html. See Fraser Forum 10/09, www.fraserinstitute.org. Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Abuja: Federal Ministry of Information, 1999), Section 14, Subsections 3 and 4. Bibliography: Abdul Rufus Mustapha, CRISE WORKING PAPER No. 43(2007), Institutionalizing ethnic representation: How effective is the Federal Character Commission in Nigeria? pg.18. A. Robinson, R. Torvik and T. Verdier,(2006) Political foundations of the resource curse, Journal of Development Economics 79 pg.465. Ross Shepherd (1970) Economic Rent and the Industry Supply Curve, pp. 209-211. Carlos Leite and Jens Wiedmann (1999), Working Paper of the International Monetary Fund; Does Mother Nature Corrupt? pg. 7. Day-Yang Liu and Wene -Jui Yang, , The Journal of International Trade Economic Development 9:1 83100. Dublin Green et al, 1999. Daniel and Maloney (2008), In search of the missing resource curse,(2008) pg,2. Graff 1998 and Robinson 1996. Halvor Mehlum, Karl Moene and Ragnar Torvik,(200), Cursed by Resources or Institutions?, pg. 5. Halvor Mehlum, Karl Moene and Ragnar Torvik,(2006),INSTITUTIONS AND THE RESOURCE CURSE, pgs. 1-20. Iwaloye and Ibeanu, 1997. J.A. Robinson, R. Torvik and T. Verdier,(2006) Political foundations of the resource curse, Journal of Development Economics 79 pg.465. Jeffery D Sachs and Andrew M. Warner (1997), pg 3. Jean-Philippe C. Stijns (2005), pg. 1. Jean-Philippe C. Stijns (2005 Pg. 38. Kolstad and Wiig,(2008) Political economy models of the resource curse: implications for policy and research, pg, 3. Kolstad and Sreide, (2009), Corruption in natural resource management: Implications for policy makers, pg, Vol. 34, Issue 4,Pgs 214-226. Rabah Arezki and Frederick van der Ploeg: Can the Natural Resource Curse Be Turned Into a Blessing? The Role of Trade Policies and Institutions, March 2007. Robinson et al. 2005:2. Robinson, D.,(1996). Ogoni: The Struggle Continues (Geneva: World Council of Churches), pg. 5. Rosser 2006. Rowell, A. Green Backlash (Global Subversion on the Environment Movement), Rout ledge, London, 1996. p. 291. Xavier-Sala-i-Martin and Arvind Subramanian (2003), addressing the natural resource curse: an illustration from Nigeria. pg, 4. Affirmation: I hereby affirm that I prepared this thesis independently and without the aid of any unauthorized resources. Citations of sources are given where content was taken directly or indirectly from other sources and that this work has never been presented for any certificates in this University or elsewhere..

English Reading Comprehension Story My Friend Peter

This reading comprehension  story, My Friend Peter, is for beginning-level English language learners (ELL). It reviews names of places and languages. Read the short story two or three times, and then take the quizzes to check your understanding.  Ã‚   Tips for Reading Comprehension To aid your understanding, read selections more than once. Follow these steps: Try to understand the gist (general meaning) the first time you read.Try to understand words from the context the second time you read.Look up words you dont understand the third time you read. Story: My Friend Peter My friends name is Peter. Peter is from Amsterdam, in Holland. He is Dutch. He is married and has two children. His wife, Jane, is American. She is from Boston, in the United States. Her family is still in Boston, but she now works and lives with Peter in Milan. They speak English, Dutch, German, and Italian! Their children are pupils at a local primary school. The children go to school with other children from all over the world. Flora, their daughter, has friends from France, Switzerland, Austria,  and Sweden. Hans, their son, goes to school with students from South Africa, Portugal, Spain, and Canada. Of course, there are many children from Italy. Imagine, French, Swiss, Austrian, Swedish, South African, American, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Canadian children all learning together in Italy! Multiple-Choice Comprehension Questions The answer key is provided below. 1. Where is Peter from? a. Germany b. Holland c. Spain d. Canada 2. Where is his wife from? a. New York b. Switzerland c. Boston d. Italy 3. Where are they now? a. Madrid b. Boston c. Milan d. Sweden 4. Where is her family? a. United States b. England c. Holland d. Italy 5. How many languages does the family speak? a. 3 b. 4 c. 5 d. 6 6. What are the childrens names? a. Greta and Peter b. Anna and Frank c. Susan and John d. Flora and Hans 7. The school is: a. international b. big c. small d. difficult True or False  Comprehension Questions The answer key is provided below. 1. Jane is Canadian. [True / False] 2. Peter is Dutch.  [True / False] 3. There are many children from different countries at the school.  [True / False] 4. There are children from Australia at the school.  [True / False] 5. Their daughter has friends from Portugal. [True / False] Multiple-Choice Comprehension Answer Key 1. B, 2. C, 3. C, 4. A, 5. B, 6. D, 7. A True or False Answer Key 1. False, 2. True, 3. True, 4. False, 5. False Additional Understanding This reading helps you practice adjective forms of proper nouns. People from Italy are Italian, and those from Switzerland are Swiss. People from Portugal speak Portuguese, and those from Germany speak German. Notice the capital letters on the names of people, places,  and languages. Proper nouns, and words made from proper nouns, are capitalized. Lets say the family in the story has a pet Persian cat.  Persian is capitalized because the word, an adjective, comes from a name of a place, Persia.