Transnational Corporations

(TNCs)
• Corporations that
operate in multiple
countries

• Often seek out nations

with lax environmental
regulations to keep
costs minimized and
profits maximized
The Niger River Delta
 Background
• Niger Delta is one of world’s largest deltas and mangrove
forests

• 1956 – Oil discovered in Nigeria

• 1960 – Independence from Britain → Federal Republic of

Nigeria

• Discovery harms rural economy—poor farming and fishing

• Petroleum → World = 13th, OPEC = 6th

 Actors Involved

• Nigerian Government • Grassroots Organizations

- federal - MOSOP
- 36 states - MEND
- 600 local governments - NDVF
• Transnational Oil Companies • Non-Governmental
- Shell Organizations
- Total - ERA
- ExxonMobil - Oil Watch
- Chevron - ND – HERO
- Agip • International Community
• Minority Ethnic Groups - American Oil consumers
- Ogon - EU
- Ijaw - OPEC
- UN
Overview of Policy Brief

Impact on Environment

Role of Government

Ethnic Groups

Shell

Policy Prescriptions
Environmental Degradation of
Delta

Loss of livelihood for farmers/fishermen

Polluted water source
Public Health Impacts
Destruction of wildlife habitat
 Impacts of Oil
Destruction of Fisheries

Oil Spills "We never had fish brought in from outside.

We had no idea what frozen fish meant.
There were rumors that this fish was kept in
a mortuary…Today, there is not a single
person in my community you could describe
as a fisherman. We depend almost totally on
frozen fish."
- Isaac Osuoka

Up to 1.5 million tons of oil have

been spilled in this area over the
past 50 years, making it one of the
most polluted places on the planet
 Government and Oil Industry

“We are not a poor country. We have oil, we have

resources. But it is the management of those resources that
has been lacking. They have been hijacked. And then when
we come to vote them out of office for their misdeeds, they
hijack that as well.”
– Adhama

• 1971 - Nigerian government ‘nationalizes’ oil industry

• $380 billion lost – “the institutionalized looting of national
wealth”
 Government and Unrest

Three main
responses
to anti-oil protests

1 - grant concessions

2 - depend on public
relations

3 - use security measures

 Corruption in Government

• 1999 - Transition from military dictatorship to

‘democracy’

• Political violence and rigged elections

• Government officials + Corporation CEOs =

Revolving Door Syndrome

• Corruption on all government levels: federal → state

→ local
 Ethnic Groups & Internal Organizations

• More than 250 ethnic groups

• Hausa and Fulani: 29%, Yoruba:

21%, Igbo: 18%, Ijaw: 10%

• Basic human rights for minority

ethnic groups ignored by
federal government

• Ethnic strife (lack of local-local

connections)

• Racism; marginalization of
minority ethnic groups
“Those who make
peaceful revolution
impossible will make
violent revolution
inevitable.”
- John F. Kennedy
 Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni
People (MOSOP)

"The Ogoni struggle is an

archetypal 'David and Goliath'
story with a seemingly powerless
minority ethnic group taking on
one of the world's largest and
most powerful transnational
companies.”
(Wheeler et al. 2007)
Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force
(NDPVF)

- 2004: Armed force begins

"bunkering" oil lines

- Predominately Ijaw, rival with

neighboring Itsekiri

Movement for the Emancipation

of the Niger Delta (MEND)

- 2006: Violent force employed against

oil barons, government officials

- Remain unidentified - guerilla tactics

- Goals: undermine authority of

Nigerian State and stop Nigeria's oil
exports
Shell: Masking Corporate Responsibility
• Promised to increase social and
environmental responsibility
after execution of Ken Saro-
Wiwa

• Focused attention on the

interconnectedness of business,
the natural environment and
human rights

• Reinvented corporate strategy

in line with principles of
sustainable development

• Shell created image of corporate

social responsibility
“…where [Adam] Smith's colonists earned
their record profits by seizing what he
described as 'waste lands' for 'but a trifle,'
today's multinationals see government
programs, public assets and everything
that is not for sale as terrain to be
conquered and seized.”
- Naomi Klein, The Shock Doctrine.
Environmental Degradation

Economic Impoverishment

Civil Unrest

Military Repression

Insurgency
Environmental Degradation

Corporate
Economic Impoverishment Social Responsibility

Civil Unrest Ethnic Strife / Tribalism

Military Repression

Insurgency
Environmental Degradation

Corporate
Economic Impoverishment Social Responsibility

Civil Unrest Ethnic Strife / Tribalism

Military Repression Weak Ecological Modernization

- Technological solutions
Insurgency - Corporatist style of policy-making
-distancing of socio-political failures
from economic circumstances
 Lax Environmental
Lack of Corporate Regulations
Responsibility
Paralysis of Federal Govt.
Environmental
Degradation

Reliance on
Foreign Help
Reduced
Quality of Life
for Locals Increasing Debt

Economic Corruption of Local Govt.

Impoverishment

Ethnic Strife
 Prescriptions
• Root out corruption - international regulation of the
"revolving door”
• Tax foreign multinationals
• Increase environmental regulation
• Increase social spending
• Nationalize resources
• Use aid to fund creation of localized clean-up jobs
• Promote development of environmental cleanup industry
 Works Cited
K.K. Aaron, “Perspective: Big Oil, Rural Poverty, and Environmental Degradation in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria”,
Journal of Agricultural Safety and Health, 2005, 11, 2, 127-134.

Osuji, Leo and Augustine Uwakwe. “Petroleum Industry Effluents and Other Oxygen-Demanding Wastes in Niger Delta,
Nigeria”, Chemistry & Biodiversity, 2006, Vol. 3, 705-717.

Jike, V.T., “Environmental Degradation, Social Disequilibrium, and the Dilemma of Sustainable Development in the Niger-
Delta of Nigeria”, Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 34, No. 5 (May, 2004), pp. 686-701.

Ikelegbe, Augustine, “Civil society, oil and conflict in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria: Ramifications of civil society for a
regional resource struggle”, The Journal of Modern African Studies, 2001, 39, 3, 437.

Adams, W. M., “Indigenous use of wetlands and sustainable development in West Africa”, The Geographical Journal, Vol. 159,
No. 2, July 1993, pp. 209-218.

Osuji, Leo; Benjamin Ndukwu, Gordan Obute, and Ikechukwu Agbagwa, “Impact of four-dimensional seismic and production
activities on the mangrove systems of the Niger Delta, Nigeria”, Chemistry and Ecology, Vol. 22, No. 5, October 2006, 415-
424.

Frynas, George J. “Corporate and State Responses to Anti-Oil Protests in the Niger Delta.” African Affairs. 2001.
<http://afraf.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/100/398/27>.

O’Neill, Tom. “Curse of the Black Gold: Hope and Betrayal in the Niger Delta.” National Geographic. February 2007.
<http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0702/feature3/index.html?fs=www3.nationalgeographic.com&fs=plasma.nation
algeographic.com>.

Polgreen, Lydia. “Corrupt Nigerian election a setback for democracy.” International Herald Tribune. 23 April 2007.
<http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/23/news/africa.php?page=1>.

“Criminal Politics: Violence, ‘Godfathers’ and Corruption in Nigeria.” Human Rights Watch. Vol. 19, No. 16(A). October 2007.
<http://hrw.org/reports/2007/nigeria1007/nigeria1007webwcover.pdf>.Gore, C., Pratten, D. (2003). "The Politics of Plunder:
the Rhetorics of Order and Disorder in Southern Nigeria." African Affairs: 102, 407. p. 211-240.
Manby, B. "The Price of Oil: Corporate Responsibility and Human Rights Violations in Nigeria's Oil Producing Communities."
New York: Human Rights Watch, 1999. 202 pp.

O'Rourke, D. (2005). "Market Movements: Nongovernmental Organization Strategies to Influence Global Production and
Consumption." Journal of Industrial Ecology: 9(1-2).

Pretty, J., Ward, H. (2001). "Social Capital and the Environment." World Development: 29(2). 209-229.
 Image Credits

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/58/Oil_platform.jpg

http://www.pr-ac.ca/images/prac/userimages/Shell_Logo.jpg

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0702/feature3/images/mp_download.3.pdf

http://www.artheos.org/images/3132.jpg

http://archive.greenpeace.org/comms/ken/ken.gif

http://en.epochtimes.com/news_images/2006-6-7-mend56930155.jpg

http://www.dismalworld.com/im/violence/armed-ijaw-militants-in-nigeria.jpg

http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/images/shell_nigeria_2006/slides/EG_Shell%20barrel%20in%20Port%20Har55.ht
ml

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