The Controversy Of Crude Oil Exploration In Nigeria

Ezigbo, O. & Bassey, O. (2010) ‘Oil spill—environment practitioners want compensation from Shell’, Environmental Health Watch, [Online]. Availab

The creation of new states that was connected to the Niger Delta Region in 1967 gave a resurrection of hope to the many minorities in the region, yet sadly, even though the new state governments did its utmost best to grow and develop however was insufficient, particularly the complex of many ethnics groups to count on and in view of natural resources in some communities. In any case, a second endeavor at developing the region, which at this point has ended up synonymous with oil exploration and depletion was, nevertheless, made by the military President Ibrahim Babangida in 1992 when the Panel of the Oil Mineral Producing Area Development Commission (OMPADEC) was initiated.

In 1994, Equatorial Guinea was one of the most impoverished countries in Africa. During that time, the country had an incredibly low life expectancy of just 46 years, and the inhabitants were forced to survive on only $1 a day. Then, in 1995, they discovered a natural resource that would have the potential to change their economic well-being and quality of life forever. In this year, Equatorial Guinea discovered an immense amount of oil right off the coast of the country. Just nine years after this finding, all major US oil companies, notably Exxon-Mobile, Marathon Oil, and Amerada Hess, were drilling for oil in this once poverty-stricken country. After this notable discovery, Equatorial Guinea was generating $4 billion in revenue per year solely from the oil drilling industry. However, the inexperienced leaders that governed the country entered into a contract where they agreed to give 80%

1. What are some of the factors explaining why corruption and bribery are so high in Nigeria?

The Nigerian oil production has been an issue that has become a cruse to the people for so many years. According to reports, the oil production has lubricated to Nigeria’s failure because it has damaged the economy as well as the environment and democracy. Anyone would think that a country that has an enormous resource of petroleum would be economically stable but this is not the case in Nigeria. For many years Nigeria has suffered effects directly as well indirectly from the oil industry. For my research I am drawing from two sets of sources. I will be referring to the books that I have researched as my A-sources. The newspaper articles will be referred as my B-sources in this paper. Through out my paper, I will show you how and explain why the media today only reports one side of the story while the books on my geopolitical topic will tell the background to the events occurring.

Niger Delta is one of the top ten largest deltas in the world, to the south of this delta is the Atlantic Ocean and to the north is the famous River Niger. The Niger Delta region in Nigeria is blessed with the natural resource of crude oil. Crude oil was discovered in this region since 1958, this made the Nigerian government to divert their attention from agriculture to oil production due to the excessive wealth they made from this new sector. At that time, many indigenes of the region called the discovery of crude oil in the Niger Delta ‘Black gold’, but with the passage of time, many of them have been proven wrong. This is because the discovery of crude oil has brought more damages to them than benefits. The country Nigeria, is currently ranked as one of the largest crude oil producers in the world. Which makes her inevitable prone to oil spillage and huge investment proposals/projects from large oil TNC’s (Shell, Exon Mobile, and Addax petroleum). Oil spillage due to the exploration and exploitation is the major cause of environmental degradation and pollution in the Niger Delta. However, this does not reduce the importance of other environmental issues like the indiscriminate waste disposal.

Oil production in Nigeria’s Niger Delta began in 1956. Ever since then, the Delta communities have recognized unrest as oil was being distributed in profitable quantities. Oil has been Nigeria’s leading export product for more than six decades. Even though, oil has given Nigeria a tremendous economic boost, nearly sixty percent of that oil production has been carried out under Shell’s regulation, and during these past six decades, there has been enormous environmental degradation because of frequent oil spills and gas flaring. This has led to a polluted fish ponds and declining growth of crops in Niger communities. Shell has personally financed Nigerian militants to insure the production of oil, and this has led to brutal murders and illegal executions of community members who tried to protest the damages that shell was creating to their environment. So why and how is Shell still operating and still committing human right crimes in Nigeria? This paper will explain why Shell has dominated Nigeria since the 1950s, how the company has damaged the lives of numerous communities, insured the production of oil to this day through militant use, and still managed to separate themselves from the many years of violence that they founded.

Niger Delta is Located in Southeast of Nigeria and has a history of being one of the most fertile land in Northern Nigeria. There is subsistence farming and fishing in this region that is mainly done by the natives of this place, and is inhibited by 3000 communities that have settled there for a long time doing farming as their major economic activities (Ikelegbe, 2013). The estimated population at the Niger Delta is 27 million people, of this population, 75% of the population relies upon agricultural activities for living. However, the water, air, forest and soil resources have been devastated because of the exploration of gas and oil resources. The key issue and problem associated with the oil recourse exploration is oil spills and gas flares.

What has occurred in the Niger Delta is linked to its past struggles with military rule transitioning to democratic rule, which often ends in a military regime taking control nonetheless. From the start of its independence, Nigeria has slowly grown in its dependence on oil as it’s main economic revenue stream. Before the discovery of oil, the state had yam and cassava crops, palm oil, rubber, and lumbers that provided economic revenue, though modest (Jike, V.T. 2004). However once oil was found in 1956 and Independence in 1960, Nigeria has not only relinquished vast tracts of land to International Oil Companies (IOC) such as Royal Dutch Shell (later named Shell Petroleum Development Company), ExxonMobil, Chevron-Texaco, and ENI, but it has left the companies to conduct their extraction methods as they see fit (Imobighe, T. A. (n.d.); Kadafa, A.A. 2012). In 2006, the Oil Spill Intelligence Report stated, “Shell Nigeria is accused of using double standards”, referring to the outdated equipment and unethical methods Shell practices. The Niger Delta has experienced 50 years of oil spills since the beginning of oil production due to oil pipelines that are no longer in use leaking up to $10 million worth of oil a day as reported by Shell. Shell has thus been accused of using outdated and old equipment in the Delta they know they wouldn’t dare use in the other countries they operate in.

Necessity is the mother of invention. Unfortunately, for oil rich countries like Nigeria, there is no

The Republic of Nigeria population is more than 160 million, which is the largest in Africa and also a fast growing

During the 1950’s vast reserves of petroleum were discovered in Nigeria, making oil a crucial aspect of the Nigerian economy. Foreign oil companies have then since dominated the oil exploration, drilling, and shipping and 87% of the government’s revenue comes from oil production. Shell Oil decided to enter Nigeria in 1937 through a joint venture with the government owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (55%), Total E&P Nigeria Ltd (10%), and Agip Oil Company Limited (5%). Shell Oil controls approximately 60% of the domestic oil market and operates majority of its facilities in the Delta region of Nigeria. The Ogoni region is a highly oil rich area in the Delta region that has been greatly affected by the environmental

The production and export data for this work was retrieved from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) database, the regulating body for the Oil and Gas industry, beginning from Q1, 2005, to Q4, 2013. I also collected crude oil prices from the British Petroleum website. Although the Amnesty Program led to a significant increase in oil production, it does not necessarily suggest it is the best policy that could have been adopted due to its challenges. Introduction The Niger Delta region, the Nigeria crude oil base, had witnessed numerous protests at various times by its citizens over resource wealth and control.

Nigeria is part of the 16 countries in West Africa. Nigeria has different groups of ethnicity and has a population of about 186 million. Nigeria has over 250 ethnic groups. The ethnic groups have different belief and practices (VANGUARD,2017). The country is well known for its oil natural resources which provides most of their gross domestic product. The largest groups are the Hausa in the north, the Yoruba in the southwest and the Igbo (or Ibo) in the southeast, who account for around a fifth of the population each. The languages of these three groups can therefore be used in government. Other large groups include the Ijaw in the east and the Fulani in the north. Nigeria is divided into 36 states. In this essay I will discuss the cultural in the northern states, southern states and other cultural practices strongly encourage.

The Nigerian economy has several activities sectors which include agriculture (crops), livestock, forestry, fishing, manufacturing, crude petroleum mining and quarrying, utilities, building and construction, transport, communication, wholesale and retail trades, hotels and restaurants, finance and insurance, real estate and business services, housing, producers of government services and community, social and personal services. However, with the advent of the crude petroleum sector and its attendant boom in the international market, all other sectors of the Nigerian economy have experienced serious neglect by the government, thus resulting to an unbalanced economy.