1.6 Conclusion
The Case of Nigeria and Botswana have demonstrated that resource wealth is not necessarily a curse. A country can choose to employ the necessary economic and governance policies in the exploitation of its resource wealth for sustainable growth and development and to improve the livelihood of the people like in the case of Botswana. Even though Botswana is not fully established, it is in the right trajectory to ensure sustainable economic diversification and to improve stakeholder engagement, transparency and accountability through effective governance. Nigerian case, on the other hand, has demonstrated how poor politics and bad leadership can stagnate economic growth even with the existence of resource wealth within a country. The lack of proper policies of governance and economics has increased the gap between the poor, leading to poor living standard for many Nigerians. The country lacks proper economic diversification and is mainly dependent on oil as its source of income. However, with good policies, the country can be able to reverse the effects of the resource curse.
This research is centrally focusing on Ethiopia and the strategies which can be adopted to enhance sustainable exploitation of resources and political stability. The geographical location of Ethiopia is illustrated in figure 1.1(Appendix 2).
2.0.2 Gaps in Literature
Even though there are comparative case studies research works addressing the resource curse in African countries. This study provides a different model of comparison by establishing the relationship between two states. A success story and a story of failure in resource wealth management. The study then uses the comparison to provide a viable suggestion to a third case study. This perspective is not yet exploited in the current literature.