Natural Resources Management in Nigerian Public Sector and Its Impact on National Development

Natural resources are essential ingredients for the development of any nation. But in many parts of the developing world like Nigeria, huge finances arising from natural resources are stolen by individuals and corporate bodies due to bad public management to the detriment of national development. This brings about the situation where plenty people live in poverty in the midst of plenty natural resources. Soil and climatic conditions favour the development of agriculture in many parts of Nigeria and about 60 million of the population is engaged in agriculture for survival and export. With improvements in farming technology and good natural resources management, Nigeria can feed its population and continue to make progress in national development efforts. The exploratory research design was used for the study. The result showed positive relationship between the variables of interest. The study was limited by lack of current relevant literature; therefore, further study could examine the relationship between poor natural resources management and poverty in Nigeria in attempt to explain the reasons for high rate of poverty in Nigeria. It was recommended that government should give attention to the mining and management of mineral resources such as gold and steel as a major perspective on national development in Nigeria