So Kenya has joined the ranks of oil- exporting countries. Its maiden shipment of the so-called black gold was dispatched late last month, headed for China.

The development was indeed good news for Kenyans, raising hopes the nascent oil industry will deliver substantial socioeconomic and other benefits. To ensure equitable distribution of the spoils, President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government moved fast to enact the Petroleum Act of 2019, in terms of which 75% of all revenue will flow into the national fiscus, with local government entitled to 20% and communities living in the oil-producing areas the balance of 5%.

But the optimism that all and sundry will benefit from this national patrimony should be tinged with caution, if experiences elsewhere on the continent are anything to go by.

Let’s take the example of Nigeria, Africa’s largest crude producer, which raked in $43.6-billion in petroleum export earnings in 2018. The country was among the first on the continent to strike oil discoveries – in the early 1960s – and has earned top dollar from this endowment. According to the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, in the past five years alone, it exported $236.15-billion worth of crude oil, gas and refined petroleum.

The West African country has failed to translate its vast oil wealth into improved living standards for its 200-million-strong population, the largest on the continent. Statistics from the US-based Brookings Institution show that 87-million Nigerians live on less than $1.90 a day, categorising them as ‘extremely poor’. The figure could climb to nearly 100-million by 2022.

But Nigeria is not a sub-Saharan African outlier – it is in the same boat as several other oil-producing countries from the region, including Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and São Tomé and Príncipe. Determined to find an explanation for this paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty, British journalist Nicholas Shaxson delved into the depths of the oil business in these countries in the mid-2000s and emerged with a tale of greed and massive corruption.

Shaxson, whose research was published in 2007 in a book titled Poisoned Wells: The Dirty Politics of African Oil, found that it was not only African political leaders who were to blame for this state of affairs. He added as key villains the global financial architecture, which makes it possible for petrodollars to flow from national treasuries into the bank accounts of those controlling the levers of power, and the multinational oil companies that corrupt them. Shaxson cited the Elf scandal of the early 2000s, where executives at the French State-owned oil company misappropriated $197-million to use as bribes to secure business in Africa and elsewhere. He argued that there could be many Elf-type relationships out there, suggesting that focusing on venal politicians only would not ensure that sub-Saharan Africa’s oil wealth truly benefited the region’s inhabitants.

But preventing corruption involving politicians, bureaucrats and multinational oil companies should not be the sole focus of those intent on ensuring that Kenya’s new-found oil wealth improves the lot of all its people. No efforts must be spared in preventing a resource curse – a situation where countries with an abundance of nonrenewable resources experience stagnant economic growth or even contraction.

In Africa, Nigeria is Exhibit A of this phenomenon. At the time of its independence from Britain in 1960, the country exported food to its West African neighbours, but now it is a net importer. It also had a significant manufacturing sector, especially in textiles, furniture and other commodities. With oil production, which began in earnest in the 1970s, fiscal and economic policy were distorted and oil sucked up domestic and foreign investment at the expense of other sectors of the economy. And government borrowing when oil prices were low led to massive debt, which has endured to this day.

Kenya’s oil reserves are estimated at 750-million barrels. At the current oil price of about $60/bl, a daily production rate of about 80 000 bbl – in a few years from now – will translate into about $4.8-million a day. This is not money that has always been there – it is a bonus, and must be used to the benefit of all Kenyans.