Nigeria's Resource Curse.

Nigerian Vice President Jonathan Goodluck shocked his colleagues and countrymen this week when he referred to his country's oil wealth as an economic curse to his country over the last 50 years.

Speaking from the capital, Abuja, Goodluck told local media that the discovery of, and dependence on, oil in the volatile West African country has cause Nigeria's economy and development to remain stagnant over the last several decades.

A culture of discontentment with the Nigerian government and the foreign oil companies doing business there pervades the delta, as the region's oil and gas wealth rarely trickles down to the region's inhabitants, said Frank Verrastro, senior fellow and director of the Center for Strategic & International Studies' Energy and National Security Program.

"Delta residents see this wealth being exported and it infuriates them," Verrastro told United Press International.

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