Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the role of conglomerates in engineering Nigeria’s industrial policy beyond the extractives (oil) sector.

Paper long abstract:

The Nigerian economy has been extensively scrutinised to analyse the causes and implications of the oil sector as a ‘resource curse’. A relatively under-researched area is the role of the private sector, specifically Nigerian conglomerates, in adapting their evolution around the oil sector. As a distinct unit, conglomerates have the organisational capacity to operate in diverse sectors, often rooting their competitive prowess in core sectors, whilst simultaneously maintaining an efficient equilibrium in other economic activities and sectors. In this context, the study of Nigerian conglomerates offer an insightful conceptualisation of the trajectory of the Nigerian economy in different eras; the historical institutionalisation of incentives for the private sector by the state allowed some conglomerates to transcend their operations beyond the extractive sector whilst others chose to invest in the oil economy. However, extractive and non-extractive centred growth has not been a binary for the evolution of these conglomerates. Overall, competitiveness in key sectors has been highly contingent on the limitations of the state to offer an investment environment beyond the oil economy.

Using a political settlements framework, this article focuses on the historical evolution of five conglomerates to identify the private sectors’ approach to the opportunities and challenges associated with the uncertain terrain which has marked Nigeria’s oil dependent economic growth. In doing so, we also inquire the possibilities of broadening the private sector space to include small and medium businesses which still remain in stages of infancy in contrast to major conglomerates.