More on the oil curse

African oil exporting countries, including Angola, Nigeria and Sudan, have squandered a decade’s worth of economic opportunity by failing to diversify or reinvest windfall profits into sustainable growth, according to research by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. Africa’s 14 oil exporters have gone backwards in diversification.

Of a possible score of 100, oil exporters manage just 2.9 for economic diversification, showing how little progress they have made in weaning their fortunes off oil.

“They are really ill prepared and they haven’t made use of these high revenues,” said Sif Heide-Ottosen, an analyst at the foundation.

The research lends weight to those who talk about Africa’s “resource curse”, in which countries most endowed with natural wealth are more prone to corruption and mismanagement.

Dimeji Bankole, a former speaker of the house in Nigeria, said: “We are on a type of drugs in Nigeria called oil.”