Northern Region and the Nigeria’s Economy

Abstract

Prior to the discovery of crude oil in Nigeria, agriculture was the mainstay of the economy. With the discovery of oil products in commercial quantity and its exploration, most scholars focused on the contribution of oil sector to the development of the nation’s economy at the same time relegating agriculture to the background. The implication of this negligence is that both scholars and policy makers now assumed the Northern region of the country, which is a none oil producing region of the country, to be dormant and contributing little or nothing in the quest for economic development in Nigeria. It is against this background that this paper examines the place of agriculture in contemporary Nigeria’s economy with specific focus on the contribution of Northern region in the area of agriculture to the economic growth and sustainability in Nigeria. From a critical perspective, the paper argued that though the oil sector has contributed to  economic development in Nigeria, the nation’s economy is still dependent on the agricultural sector as the produce majorly from the Northern region, serve as food, means of livelihood for a vast majority, job creator and a source of raw material to the industrial sector. The paper concluded that rather than placing one above the other, the roles of both oil and agricultural sectors in Nigeria’s economy should be seen as complementary in the quest for Nigeria’s economic development.