Contending Issues in the Niger Delta Crisis of Nigeria - Journal of ...

Olawale Olaopa, Ibikunle Ogundari, Mike Awoleye, and Willie Siyanbola
(iv)
The inefficiencies which political considerations can breed and
also the lapses associated with the framework of the public
sector (Ayodele, 1999).
A balance of these arguments and counter arguments has
tended to limit Nigeria’s reliance on government and the tendency to
raise its incentives towards the policy. These notwithstanding, one
can still present some arguments about its implementation in Nigeria
To start with, deregulation and privatization strive well in a
country with developed and strong money and capital market
(Elumilade, Op cit). Despite the fact that the Nigerian stock exchange is
seem to be matured now as a result of the increased participation of
banks in the foreign exchange market, the activities on the exchange
are still on a low level while Nigeria remains grossly under banked.
Besides, large proportion of Nigerian citizens especially the rural
dwellers do not have access to banking facilities while services offered
in urban areas also need to be improved (Ibid). There is progressive
decline in citizens’ real income since the oil market collapsed and
recession struck in 1981, this is also coupled with the high uneven
distribution of income. The extent of income inequality in Nigeria has
been properly documented in the literature ( Oladunni, 1999;
Awoseyila, 1999; Balogun, 1999; Osinubi, 2005). The implication of all
these is mass poverty. The spill-over effect of mass poverty is low
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