Abstract

Ghana joined the list of oil-producing countries with the export of its first oil from the Jubilee oilfield in January 2011. President John Atta Mills's statement drawing attention to the potential paradigm shift as well as risks that the discovery of oil and gas imposes not only speaks to the complexity of extractive-industry-engendered development, but it also makes it imperative that the country learns from other countries? successes and failures. In this article, we use the ?resource curse? thesis to examine the emerging dynamics and complexities in Ghana's oil industry, with the attempt to draw both correlations with and lessons from the Nigerian case. The article highlights five key lessons in Nigeria's management of its oil?gas resources related to the legal-regulatory framework, development of the oil-producing areas, Corporate Social Responsibility, management of oil revenues, and oil?civil society nexus that Ghana should give serious thoughts to in order to leverage its new found oil wealth and avert the ?resource curse.?