The oil boom between 1970 - 1980 caused the oil sector to become____________

Analyze the question: The question asks what the oil boom of 1970-1980 caused the oil sector to become. The sentence is incomplete, but the intended meaning is "the main source of government (revenue)."

Concept: In the early 1970s, global oil prices rose sharply, especially after the 1973 OPEC oil embargo. Nigeria was an oil exporter and a member of OPEC (since 1971), so its earnings from crude oil grew enormously. Before this, Nigeria depended mainly on agricultural exports such as cocoa, groundnuts, palm produce, and rubber. During the boom, oil took over as the dominant earner of foreign exchange and government revenue, and agriculture was neglected, which is why economists often describe this period as the start of "Dutch disease" in Nigeria.

Step-by-step evaluation of the options:

• A. The main source of government (revenue): Correct. Oil royalties, petroleum profit tax, and export earnings became the largest share of federal revenue.
• B. Management of spillage and pollution: Wrong. The boom actually increased pollution and spillage problems, such as in the Niger Delta, and it did not create a management system for them.
• C. Protection to the local operators in the petroleum industry: Wrong. The industry was dominated by foreign multinationals such as Shell-BP. Government did increase its participation through the NNPC (1977) and indigenization policies, but protection of local operators was not the main outcome of the boom.
• D. Decrease in the rate of inflation: Wrong. The oil windfall increased money supply and spending, which pushed inflation up rather than down.

Answer: Option A. The oil sector became the main source of government revenue, and it is still the backbone of Nigeria's public finances today.

Tip: For Nigerian economic history questions on oil, remember this chain: oil boom → more revenue and foreign exchange → neglect of agriculture → rising inflation. Any option showing oil as a major revenue earner is usually right, and options saying inflation fell or agriculture improved are usually wrong.