Photo A, “George Osodi, Oil Rich Niger Delta_11″ by we-make-money-not-art. Some rights reserved.
Where did all the money go?
Heidi Vogt writes, “The average Nigerian still survives on less than $2 a day, despite the country’s $20 billion rise in oil exports to the United States over the past five years.”
As if the lack of contribution from the oil money towards increasing living standards of Nigerians wasn’t enough, there is the environmental damage -
Flaring & Oil Spills
Flaring, the burning of natural gas (or “associated gas”) so as to increase crude oil production, is highly harmful to the Nigerian people and the world. Flaring releases numberous harmful gases. Flaring also happens close to where the Nigerian people live and work. Photo A above shows a Nigerian woman shifting away her tapioca produce.
Vogt writes, “When the Nigerian government told oil companies to stop flaring gas from drilling in local communities, many simply paid fines instead.”
Photo B, “Oil spill, Niger Delta” by MarcusB*. All rights reserved.
Oil spills (see Photo B) have also seriously damaged the Nigerian coastline, containminated swamps, destroyed arable land and poisoned drinking water (Nwilo & Badejo, 2001).
The Nigerian Fault?
To avoid a coloured (and popular) one-sided story, it is important to know some context and history. The previous Nigerian governments, it seems, has as much to be blamed.
Nigerian scholar Femi Taiwo argues that the discovery oil has ensured “that the post-colonial Nigerian state did not cultivate its own citizenry”.
A weak citizenry leads to a weak state. According to Adabanwi (2001), “the Nigerian state is legally required to inject part of the revenue from oil royalties into the oil-yielding communities” following a Revenue Allocation Formula. Yet, revenue received are few and only includes revenue from on-shore deposits.
Even if the money reaches the states, “local governments are often the most corrupt” (The Economist, 18 October) and very little finally trickles down to fund critical infrastructure.
The situation seems as bad today. A report had revealed the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation “had somehow failed to remit 647 billion naira (almost $5.2 billion) expected by the treasury last month”.
Take a Balanced View
The popular stance will be to push all blame back to the oil companies. Led by the Royal Dutch Shell since 1958, Chevron (Parent of Texaco & Caltex), Exxon-Mobil, Agip and Total have substantial interest in Nigerian oil through joint ventures with Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation according to a Human Rights Group Report (1999).
I am not educated in Nigerian history nor politics. What I do know is that the Nigerian people are suffering. Oil has not brought prosperity to the nation.
My purpose for writing this is to, firstly, raise awareness on this issue. Secondly, I would like people to take a more constructive perspective. It is too easy to blame the oil companies for Nigeria’s predicament today. It is not helpful to blame the oil companies either - we have been doing so for decades.
Shell, for one, has already admitted to its practices. In a BBC report, Chairman of Shell Companies in Nigeria, Chris Finlayson said: “We recognise that our development activities in the past have been less than perfect.”
But the same report also writes that Shell has found it “difficult to operate with integrity in areas of conflict like Nigeria”.
Import Oil, Export Knowledge
I do not have a solution, but one thing seems clear - The developed world, while importing commodities from the developing world, has to export more than money and technology. The developed world has to also export management know-how, best practises, public institutions and education. And, the developed world has to do so - if not for Nigeria’s sake, then for its own sake.
For as the price of oil rise steadily, Nigerian social unrest escalates and the world’s opinion about irresponsible business practices sours, energy companies will only do worse to continue on its current course.
References
1. Nigeria: Shell of a State (2001)
2. Nigeria’s oil fires stoke claims of villagers to spoils - Seattle Times, 20 Aug 2007
3. An eerie lull in the violent Delta - The Economist, 8 Nov 2007
4. Nautral Gas Flaring - Wikipedia
5. Impacts of Oil Spills Along the Nigerian Coast - The Association for Environmental Health and Sciences
6. Reforming the oil industry - The Economist, 27 Sep 2007
7. The Price of Oil: Corporate Responsibility and Human Rights Violations in Nigeria’s Oil Producing Communities - Human Rights Watch (1999)
8. A nation in waiting - The Economist, 18 Oct 2007
9. Shell admits fuelling corruption - BBC News, 11 Jun 2004
