7 billion dollars, however, the GDP per Capita has been one of the world's lowest. There economy has traditionally been based on agriculture, and even today half of the work force live/work on farms. Petroleum has been the leading mineral produced there, and it can be found all around Nigeria: in the bights of Benin and Biafra (oil was the leading reason for the Biafran war), near the Niger delta, and along the Cameroon border (which has caused many disputes in the past, and probably will in the future). Nigeria has earned a lot exporting than what it spends on imports, since it needs so little, and only in recent years, when crop production has fallen has Nigeria needed to import food, since its farms raise cattle, poultry, goats, and even sheep. Some of the essential crops are sorghum, millet, soybeans, nuts, corn, yams, rice, palm products, and rubber. The country also extracts many oil/petroleum products, gold, iron ore, limestone, coal, and tin. The main exports are oil, cocoa, rubber, footwear, ceramics, and a lot of the other crops and extracts that were mentioned. Nigeria has a good foreign policy and good world relations, including many of its chief trade partners such as Great Britian, the United States, France, the Netherlands, Australia, Canada and Japan. Despite all the profits and growth, three out of the past five years (not including 2002), the economy's inflation has been in double digits, including 29.3% in 1996, and despite all of the benefits, Nigeria has been involved in many disputes over territory and ownership of natural products, that contain rich, economy boosting profits - usually oil. (Metz, 1991) (the Market Information and Analysis Unit, 2001) (DFAT, September 2001)Though Nigeria seems like a profitable country, its GDP per capita is less than $1000 (less than 3% of that of the US), all because most of the profit power has come from the Ibo people of the South and East, who only make up about 18% of...
