Domestic petroleum-related expertise utilization and Nigeria's oil industry survival: A multicriteria decision analysis

Despite Nigeria's current economic crisis and the need to remove control structures which were originally designed to protect national interest so as to attract foreign investment in upstream activities of its oil sector, the notion of an indigenously controlled oil sector is still alive in the country. The current paper utilizes a multiperiod goal programming model to examine the effect the enforcement of Nigeria's Petroleum Decree on the utilization of domestic petroleum-related expertise would have on the survival of the multinational oil companies and, therefore, of the oil industry. The results indicate that there are some benefits to the nation in enforcing the Decree, but that to do so now will trigger a chain of events that will culminate in the demise of the oil industry. The results also highlight the danger in using legislation to regulate strategic industries and the role operational researchers can play in public policy design and decisions in the future.