Buoyant oil revenues in the 1970s provided Nigeria with the basis for large but unsustainable increases in incomes and public expenditure. Agriculture was neglected and the economy became heavily dependent on crude oil and more vulnerable to external shocks. These led to fundamental changes in the structure of the Nigerian economy. When the oil revenues collapsed following the glut in international oil market in the early 1980s, the country faced an acute economic crisis. Unable to shift gears in the face of changing economic fortunes the country resorted to external borrowing. Instead of adjusting, the government adopted a policy of deficit financing. The deficits were financed by borrowing from international capital markets (ICM), a drawn-down of external reserves, and by accumulation of arrears on external trade payments. The debt stock grew rapidly from $3.4 billion in 1980 to $17.3 billion in 1985 and $32.9 billion in 1990.

In 1986, the government adopted a structural ...