Nigerian banks make a mint from a crisis

By Rachel Savage

Nigeria’s economy is hooked on the oil that oozes from beneath the soil and creeks of its southern Delta region.

The oil and gas sector accounts for more than 90% of exports and, until 2014, contributed around 80% of government revenues. So it was to be expected that west Africa’s most populous nation would struggle when the oil price fell from above $110 a barrel in 2014 to as low as $29 at the start of 2016.