2.2. Oil Industry in Niger Delta According to Tunde and Odigha (Morakinyo, et al.

, 2009), the Niger Delta which i s 20, 000 square kilometres is the world s largest delta with a population of 6 mill ion who mainly are fishermen and nomads. Oil was first produced in the Niger De lta by Shell in 1958 and production levels have since continued to grow over the decades, especially from the 1960s to the 1990s. Oil was first discovered in Niger delta in 1956 at Oloibiri which was followed b y other discoveries in 1958 (Ntido, 2010). These were small discoveries but all that changed in 1965 when significant oil production in the Niger Delta really t ook off. Although there was a blip in levels of production due to the civil war between 1967 and 1970, production levels have since 1970 consistently increased in quantity and accrued money. In fact, according to (Ntido, 2010) accrued reven ue from oil in 1980 amounted to $24.9 billion in 180 which amounted to 27 percen t of Nigeria s Gross Domestic product (GDP), 80% of Government revenues. Most of Nig eria s estimated 22 billion oil reserves are mainly found in the Niger Delta with 15 9 oilfields in the region with 1, 481 oil wells. There are many oil companies in the Niger delta. These include many big oil companies such as Chevron, Elf, She ll and Agip. In the Niger delta, companies normally produce the oil and pay dividends to the Government which ultimately own the oil with very little benefit to the local Ni ger Delta community. According to Tunde and Odigha (Morakinyo, et al., 2009), t here exist a corrupt dependence between oil companies and government, to the det riment of Niger Delta, which has resulted in Government s inability to regulate the industry on which it mainly depends for funds. This has resulted in a harsh busi ness environment and stiff competition. But although the Niger Delta is the main source of oil and therefore the goose that lays the golden eggs for Nigeria s econo my, locals in the region accuse the oil companies of destroying their heritage w ithout any tangible benefits to the communities. This according to Tunde and Odi gha (Morakinyo, et al., 2009) has led to the emergence of local and sometimes ri val gangs, some of which are funded by politicians, kidnappings, oil bunkering a nd general violence which has made it a hostile business environment.

According to Ntido (Ntido, 2010) the relationship between oil companies and the communities in the Niger Delta has been anything but cordial ever since oil was discovered in Oloibiri of the Niger delta. This has deteriorated to open hostili ties with recent tendencies of people in the Niger delta wanting to take full ow nership of their oil resources . Thus for companies to survive this hostile business e vironment and the increased competition, they need maximise and streamline their performance levels. This can mainly be achieved in part by maximising both empl oyee and company performance levels. Hence the need to study the impact of TQM o n performance levels in the Niger Delta oil industry. The global financial crises have affected the oil industry in Nigeria which has resulted in the price and demand for price. This has seriously impacted the Nige rian oil industry with a knock on effect on the Nigerian economy (Balouga, 2009) and it is expected that some oil companies with be hardest hit compared to othe rs. In this climate of financial and harsh business environment, the derivation of maximised employee performance is critical for survival especially in the Nig er Delta. Management techniques as enablers of maximising employee performance assume prom inence and importance in the Nigeria oil industry given the stiff competition, h arsh business environment and the impact and sustained effect of the global fina ncial recession.