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Vol 55 No 17

Published 29th August 2014


Nigeria

Oil, the political lubricant

A spate of oilfield sales ahead of next year’s elections is conveniently timed for some expensive campaigning

The news that Western oil companies have finally offloaded over US$6.5 billion of assets to a fast-growing coterie of Nigerian oil and gas companies only six months before the elections raises commercial and political questions. Above all else, opposition politicians insist that President Goodluck Jonathan and the governing People's Democratic Party (PDP) have been misusing state oil revenue for political campaigning. Such accusations come as the main opposition All Progressives Congress, which engineered the defection of six PDP state governors last year, faces a highly successful fightback.

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