Blessing and a Curse...or maybe just curse

Well there is not doubt that the possibility of a business in an area is a happy time for just about everyone, this does not seem to be the case for the most of Africa. The oil industry is a very lucrative business that can generate a lot of money for both a local and national economy. That is why there is no doubt that when people in Africa hear about the discovery of oil and the jobs it will create and the money it will bring in that initially became very happy. But after a few failed attempts at the process the people of Africa had realized that it was a hoax and they were receiving the short end of the stick. I found a very brief but compelling argument online about the Price of Oil in Africa and is has a short video slide depicting a village near the oil extraction sites and it explains the picture on the left.

Not only was money not brought into the area to develop much needed public services and infrastructure, it corrupted people and wound up destroying their environments and livelihoods. Business practices that had been tradition for so long now seemed obsolete and not worth time or efforts. Methods families used to feed their families such as fishing were now disrupted and ruined by environmental disasters and land takeovers.

I was shocked myself to read about this, I guess I knew it went on but I never really thought it was that bad. It has become quite obvious that the oil companies are in it for the best profit they can make and do little to help out the local communities or even reduce their footprint in the area. It really should come to no surprise to me, I am sure the fact that it is Africa has these oil companies excited because they know what they can get away with on this continent. Money has developed such a stranglehold on the small elite in power and the corruption is very far reaching. In the meantime the people of Africa suffer greatly.

I found a rather interesting article on some of the problems countries run into with highly valued natural resource called the resource curse or Paradox of Plenty. It highlights some of the problems many nations run into with natural resource exploitation, in particular in developing nations and nations with histories of instability.