Proceedings of the 2025 International Conference on Hybrid Commerce, Human Capital, and Economic Dynamics (ICHCH 2025)

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The Intertwined Burden: Income Inequality, Resource Curse, and the Failure of Oil-Led Development in Nigeria

Authors
Bochen Li1, *
1Faculty of Business and Management, Beijing Normal-Hong Kong Baptist University, Guangdong, China
*Corresponding author. Email: t330006078@mail.uic.edu.cn
Corresponding Author
Bochen Li
Available Online 18 June 2026.
DOI
10.2991/978-2-38476-585-0_104How to use a DOI?
Keywords
Income Inequality; Capital Flight; Resource Curse
Abstract

Nigeria, despite being one of Africa’s largest economies, continues to grapple with extreme poverty and profound income inequality. This paper examines the intertwined challenges of poverty, inequality, and the failure of oil-led development in Nigeria, emphasizing the role of the resource curse. Through empirical analysis of poverty headcount ratios, Gini coefficients, and regional economic data, the study demonstrates a strong positive correlation between income inequality and poverty. It argues that Nigeria’s heavy reliance on oil exports has led to Dutch disease, widespread corruption, and significant capital flight, which collectively undermine inclusive growth and effective redistribution. The breakdown of the dual circulation model—where oil exports drive both domestic employment and foreign exchange earnings—has further exacerbated economic vulnerabilities, particularly following the 2016 oil price crash. The paper concludes that reducing inequality is essential to poverty alleviation and recommends anti-corruption measures and technological reforms, drawing lessons from successful international cases such as Uzbekistan, to improve governance and resource management.

Copyright
© 2026 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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Volume Title
Proceedings of the 2025 International Conference on Hybrid Commerce, Human Capital, and Economic Dynamics (ICHCH 2025)
Series
Advances in Economics, Business and Management Research
Publication Date
18 June 2026
ISBN
978-2-38476-585-0
ISSN
2352-5428
DOI
10.2991/978-2-38476-585-0_104How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2026 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Cite this article

risenwbib
TY  - CONF
AU  - Bochen Li
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/06/18
TI  - The Intertwined Burden: Income Inequality, Resource Curse, and the Failure of Oil-Led Development in Nigeria
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 International Conference on Hybrid Commerce, Human Capital, and Economic Dynamics (ICHCH 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 924
EP  - 935
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-585-0_104
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-585-0_104
ID  - Li2026
ER  -