Onah, Fab. O.1
Vincent Nyewusira2
University of Nigeria Nsukka
Abstract
In this study, we attempted to examine the impact of oil exploitation activities and sustainable development of the Niger Delta -area. We discussed the historical development of oil exploitation and the pivotal role played by the location and geological formations of the Niger Delta in oil discovery. The environmental, economic and social issues of sustainable development were raised and examined. It is the finding of this study that the exiting legal and political frameworks have subjected the people of Niger Delta to economic hardship and powerlessness. The environment of the Niger Delta has been seriously degraded and oil exploitation activities are replete with health hazards. The relational dynamics between oil producing communities, state and oil companies is conflictual. The study observes that some of the approaches taken by the state and oil companies in the development of the Niger Delta are unsustainable in both form and substance.
Introduction
In Nigeria, the search for crude oil has been largely dominated by foreign oil companies, which are granted various operating licenses to prospect and drill for oil in specified parts or the country. The licensing authority is the Ministry or Petroleum Resources through the Department or Petroleum Resources (DI’R). These institutions which represent the Nigerian State play extensive regulatory roles (Gbosi; 1999), Oil Prospecting License (OPL) enables the holder drill for oil
within the concession areas of the Lease (Gbosi 1999: the- holder search for oil without drilling; while Oil Mining Lease (OMI,) empowers 32). Oil exploitation isall activities that involve exploring, drilling, extracting, refining and marketing of petroleum or crude oil products.
Oil exploration began in Nigeria in 1938 when Shell D1 Arcy obtained a license covering the entire country. Shell D’ Arcy which later became Shell – UP, a British – Dutch firm, held monopoly of the oil concession until 1957. Exploration began in Aroromi area of present day Ondo State, shifted to Owerri Province after World War II and commercial quantity was discovered in Oloibiri in 1956. Export of crude oil started in 1958. These areas lie within what is known today as Niger Delta where oil wells and fields are found. The Niger Delta includes the following States; Delta, Edo, Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa-lbom, Cross River, Ondo, Imo and Abia States. The areas of highly concentrated drilling activities and largest oil production are around Delta, Rivers and Bayelsa States (Odje: 200 I).
The Niger Delta area has undergone changes caused by How of oil. The region’s peculiarities include the fact that the terrain has been geographically described as one of the largest wetlands in the world. The area ranks among the richest – endowed estate in the world, making Nigeria the sixth largest producer o[ oil and gas resources. Nigeria’s 2,4 million barrels per day output valued at about 55 million dollars (at the time of writing this paper) conies from the Niger Delta region. Oil produced from the region accounts for over 75 percent of Nigeria’s revenue and about 95 percent of the export earnings. (Oduniyi: 2004). There are about sixteen (16) multinational oil companies representing the United States, Dutch, Japanese, British, Italian, German and French interest, producing from about one hundred and fifty (150) oil fields presently in the Niger Delta. Shell, along with Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), Elf and Agip, Produces 42.2 percent of Nigeria’s total output; Mobil 21.2 percent; Chevron 18.6 per cent; Agip 7.5 percent; Elf in partnership with NNPC 6. 1 percent; Texaco 2.6 percent. The other multinational and indigenous oil companies- account for the remaining 1.7 percent of oil produced (Kahn: 1994:28).
Oil is the pivot on which the Nigerian economy revolves. So dependent have the country become on the oil fields of the Niger Delta that Okonta and Oronto (2001 :73) predict that the entire country would grind to a halt, at \cast temporarily, were the oil to suddenly vanish. Azaiki (2003: 18) on his part, viewed critically the Niger Delta as the third, largest wetland in the world, whose flora and fauna have sustained life for generations. For decades running, ‘its oil wealth has provided the bulk of Nigeria’s wealth. In the 1970s; era of oil boom; oil weapon gave Nigeria a significant economic power and diplomatic leverage. (Feyide: 1986).
In assessing the strategic socio-economic location of the Niger Delta area, Ahiante (2004:37) in a paper entitled Oiling Life in the Niger Delta, admits that: Nigeria’s entire economy revolves around oil produced from the Niger Delta. It is estimated that the country earned about 380 billion dollars from it in the last thirty years. With large oil reserves of the Niger Delta, the country has in theory, potential to build a very prosperous economy. The oil wealth has trickled down to be the very fabric of Nigeria’s existence.
Apart from the substantial oil and gas deposits of the Niger Delta, there are extensive forests, abundant wild-life and fertile agricultural land where rice, sugar cane, plantains, beans, palm oil, yams, cassava and timber are cultivated. The area is also famous for her fish resources. It has more freshwater fish species than any other coastal system in West Africa. Mangrove trees, which grow tall and healthy on the creeks and near river banks, provide protective barriers [or the country’s coast, and are also a source of medicine, fruit and raw materials for such cottage industries as weaving, wood carving and rope making. The biodiversity of the area is rich with biological resources (Okonta and Oronto 2001:85).
Expectedly, the impact of oil exploitation in the Niger Delta and its effects on the people and environment has been the subject of heated debate. The people of Niger Delta communities have quite a high expectation of the wealth oil would bring. They often compare their lot with Kuwait and Qatar, where poverty is a distant idea. They expect to have well paying jobs, highways and bridges, electricity and pipe borne water, good schools, quality medical facilities, factories and the hum of modernity; that is, the hallmark of development. But these expectations are farfetched. Besides, there is doubt whether undue pressure is not mounted on the resources that would guarantee the full existence of citizens now and in the future. The objectives of this paper are therefore to: analyze the impacts of political and legal tools of oil exploitation in the Niger Delta, ascertain the effects of. oil exploitation on the ecosystem and human health of the Niger Delta and relate these to sustainable development efforts in the area.
2. The Concept of Sustainable Development
In 1987, a United Nations commission chaired by the then Norwegian Prime Minister, Gro Harlem Bruntland published a report called ‘The Brundtland Report’. It defined sustainable development as development that ‘meets the needs of the present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’. The presumption that sustainability has something to do with non-depreciation of the natural capital stock is explicit in the Brundtland Report.
The World Bank Report (2003) defined sustainability in terms -of opportunities for future generations, using a triangular framework to illustrate the idea of sustainable development. According to the Report, the new framework includes economic, social and ecological objectives, expanding each of these objectives from the traditional, and economists’ perspective. Under the framework, equity is a new economic objective, and social objectives are expanded to include things like empowerment participation, social mobility and cultural identity. The crux of the report is the goal of sustainable development to further each of these objectives; economic, social and ecological; simultaneously over a long term, so that they may be enjoyed by future generations.
Ahmed et al (1989:61) said the concept of sustainable development grew out of the recognition that resources are finite. That means that there are not limitless supplies of clean water and air, oil, natural gas, minerals, farm lands, top soils, space and other resources. They contend that:
As the earth’ S population grows, the share of resources available to any given individual use of the earth’s resources depletes. Building more roads, for instance, means paving over large amounts of land that can no longer be used for other purposes. One clay oil will run out, no matter how worthy the use for which it might be put in progress.
The objective of sustainable development according to Ahmad ct al is to ensure that resources are not used up by bringing into practice ‘conservation of resources, elimination of wasteful practices and environmentally friendly technologies’. This submission is made in the light that all development, uses resources; human, natural and capital.
Adeniyi (1999: 114) viewed sustainable development in the context of the management of resources in such a way that societies can fulfill their needs while maintaining the essential ‘ecological processes, biological diversity and naturally occurring life support systems’. This concern for ecological sustainability is of course important for our study in a country where we tend to base our development on a single asset of crude oil.
Anwana (2003:21) understands the concept of sustainable development as a way of shifting support for conservation and environment to make it also play a part in improving human welfare. Anwana suggests that in the spirit of sustainable development, in utilizing natural resources, there must of necessity be the allowance and consideration for the next user or generation. Bankole (2002:44) writing on the challenge of development said the concept of sustainable development is a vision of the world built on the principle of ‘peace, solidarity, equity and shared power, environmental integrity, social justice, human rights and biodiversity’.
The current United Nations Secretary — General, Mr. Kofi Annan said at a closing press conference of World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) held in Johannesburg, that sustainable development will put us in a path that reduces poverty while protecting the environment, a path that works for all people, rich and poor, today and tomorrow’.
Brookfield (1991:32) in his contribution on sustainable development begins from the recognition that, while there is indeed a set of natural limitations, there may also be a sustainable way out. He said the role of human activity in relation to nature is to modify ecosystems and to accelerate change in natural systems. Brookfield concludes that making sustainable development realizable involves: Maximizing and optimally distributing the net benefits of economic development, so far as these can be achieved, while establishing and reaffirming the condition of security under which the services and qualities of natural resources can be maintained, restored or improved into the foreseeable future.
For the overall success of sustainable development, Brookfield insists that a strong and civil society is needed.
Chinsman (1999:333) 011 his part recognizes a strong focus on meeting the basic needs of the people with emphasis on food security, health education and employment, all of which are essential for enhancing human capacities and enlarging opportunities to meet the challenges of sustainable development. Pearce et al (1992:3) summarized the key condition for achieving sustainable development as ‘constancy of the natural capital stock1. In stating the necessary conditions for sustainable development, Udoh (1996:32) insists that local communities “must be treated as true stake-holders in exploration, extractive and exploitation activities of natural resources. It is clear that the number one goal Udoh’s thesis will achieve is that of supporting the economic and social development of people living close to natural areas, thereby ensuring the ‘sustainable use and benefits of our heritage1. He states clearly that achieving sustainable development would mean that: On the policy level, “we do not trample on the knowledge of local people who we realize, have extensive environmental knowledge. This knowledge must be fully utilized and harnessed, and they must form an integral part of any management strategy as principal stakeholders.
Ndubuisi (2002) on proffering conditions for sustainable development focuses on institutions of government. He contends that the government of the day must of necessity, put in place policies and legislations that take into cognizance the ‘multifaceted role of the rural poor in their relationship to biodiversity’. He also maintained that the issues of land ownership and use must be addressed. The unsustainable practice of most predator investors on natural resource operating in Nigeria is inconsistent with and diametrically opposed to Udoh and Ndubuisi’s views as shown by Difie (2000:27) in this comment.
Agreements on extractive activities especially oil and gas production are negotiated and signed, contracts for the sale of oil and gas are sealed, yet the local people whose communities harbour these resources arc neither part of it nor are they consulted.
Bankole (2002:44) affirmed that it is of critical importance that the governments of nations take serious steps towards developing action plans and measurable targets in the five critical issues the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) 2002 addressed. They are: water and sanitation, energy, agricultural productivity, biodiversity and ecosystem management, and health.
3. Oil Exploitation and Sustainable Development
Whereas the Niger Delta area is the richest part of Nigeria in terms of petroleum resources, the existing legal and political order have subjected the people to economic powerlessness. The order undermines the belief that empowerment of local people is the key to sustainable development. A political analysis of federal legislation on oil and related matters shows that the laws are oppressive to the people of Niger Delta. Petroleum Decree NO.51 1969, the Land Use Act 1978 and section 44 (3) of the 1999 constitution are unambiguous about ownership of land and oil resources therein. The Federal Government under the cloak of these laws, can and undo without having to make any reference’ to communities, give away communal lands and forest to multinational oil companies for exploration and exploitation of crude oils, with oil companies only legally obliged to compensate communities for loss of crops at scandalous rates determined by the companies themselves.
Owugah (2000: 1 05) while reviewing the political cost of oil exploitation in the Niger Delta quoted a British Petroleum Engineer as saying, ‘I have explored for oil in Venezuela and Kuwait. 1 have never seen an oil rich town as impoverished as Oloibiri’. This is probably why Azaiki (2003:94) admits that:
Despite the enormous growth potentials of the Niger Delta, it is fair to say that from a global standard, the region has not yet attained a satisfactory level of economic development.
It is therefore obvious that the Niger Delta’s tremendous potential for economic growth and sustainable development remains unfulfilled and its future is threatened by deteriorating economic conditions that are not being addressed by present policies and actions.
Additionally, the existing political order have subjected the people of Niger Delta to abject poverty and deprivation due to the’: fact that in 1960, when Nigeria attained independence, the formula for sharing the revenue from mineral resources, recognized the basic principle that the people from whose land the minerals were extracted, were the owners of the natural resources. Accordingly, 50% of all the proceeds of mineral resources, went to the Region (state) from which they were extracted. When the military seized power, the recognition of the rights of producing states, and their communities was systematically eliminated. This oppressive cause of action deprived and marginalized the people of Niger Delta who own the petroleum resources of this country.
The implication of this economic and political onslaught against the Niger Delta is that over the years, the principle of derivation in Revenue allocation have been consciously and systematically obliterated by successive regimes at the centre. We note the drastic reduction of the derivation principle from 100% (1953), 50% (i960), 45% (1970), 20% (1975), 2 (1982). 1.5% (1984), 3% (1992) to 13% in the 1999 constitution which is haphazardly implemented. We also found that when groundnut, cocoa and palm oil produced by the North, South West and South-East respectively was the mainstay of the nation’s economy, derivation principle ranged from 100% – 45%. This is contrary to what obtains now. Social amenities and infrastructural facilities that could stimulate life and make people happy are not available in most areas of the Niger Delta. This fact probably prompted Abati (2000:51) to write thus:
If I were from Warn, I would be annoyed in hourly basis. I would protest against the beauty of Abuja, the splendour of Lagos and the serenity of Kano. I would be tempted to call every other Nigerian who is not from oil producing state, town or community, a thief, an enemy and a tyrant.
A major finding of this study is that, the constantly evolving relationship between oil producing communities and oil companies on one hand, and that between the Nigerian state and the oil producing communities on the other is conflictual and crisis-prone. The multinational oil companies and Nigerian state are in alliance to maximize economic profit of oil with little or no care for the environment, traditional economy, health and survival of oil producing communities. The findings of this study on relational dynamics is congruent with the writings of Tsaalor (2003:14) that: The conflictual relationship between state-oil companies and oil producing communities of Niger Delta smacks of a contest between the predator and the prey, the exploiter and the exploited, the strong and the weak, the poor and the rich, [the victor and the vanquished, where the state and oil companies is the former and host oil communities, the latter.
The State sees the of protection oil companies platforms, flow stations, operating rig terminals and pipelines, and power installations in the Niger Delta as a primary task, over and above the interest of ‘the endangered’ people of the Niger Delta. It is to this end that Environmental Right Action (ERA Report 2003:16) comments that ‘oil companies are plain parasites in the Niger Delta, pumping blood oil from the region’.
Oil exploitation creates conditions for social dislocation and communal violence as land expropriation by the state for oil industry creates scarcity of productive land in the Niger Delta. Therefore, frustration and discontent result among a people who feel that they have been disposed, thus, culminating in social crises as youth restiveness, and kidnapping and gruesome murder of expatriate oil workers, hostage – taking and vandalization of oil installations. The high incidence of violence and youth restiveness observable is an attempt to rightly or wrongly force the Nigerian State and oil companies address some of the critical problems besetting the Niger Delta region. In the words of Ahiante (2004:37) the result is that ‘oil operation is done under great stress amidst threat of violence’.
Another finding of this study that calls for discussion is the crude policy of divide and rule adopted by the Nigerian State and oil companies to perpetrate the intra and inter communal conflicts ravaging the Niger Delta. As a strategy to address communal unrest, selected community chiefs and youth leaders from host oil communities arc awarded contract to execute community development projects to the exclusion of others. It is also the norm of oil companies to pay ‘Public Relation’ to sections of communities when executing new development projects like oil wells, pipeline and during seismic operations (Nnimimo 2002:36). The amount of Public Relation’ are determined by the level of stubbornness’ of the communities or the manipulative strategy adopted by oil companies. Thus oil companies bribe their way through agitation, as a policy, instead of addressing real and serious environmental and livelihood concerns. Doifie (2001:9) quoted a senior European Shell Official as having said 7 would go so far to say that we spent more money on bribes and corruption than on community development project’. Daukoru (2004:16) also admits that oil companies are ‘applying the wrong approach in solving the prevalent oil-related crisis. At the centre of the crisis and instability in the Niger Delta is the oil producing communities and the oil companies who are engaged in a conflictual relationship, enveloped by palpable hatred (Okoko 1998:61).
There is also an alliance between multinational oil companies and the Nigerian State in perpetration of repression and human rights violation against local and indigenous communities of the Niger Delta in whose territories, oil is produced. Evidently there is use of military force and state repression against the people of Niger Delta. Various scenes of carnage linked: to oil exploitation activities have been recorded in Umuechem, Ika, Ogoni, Choba, Kaiama, Olugbobiri, Ilaje, Uzere, Opia, Ikenya, Odi, Brass, Rumuobiakani, Obagi, Nembe and a good number of communities in the Niger Delta. In spite of a democratic dispensation and constitutional government, grave violation of human rights persist in the Niger Delta, with increasing brutal repression of peaceful community protests, extra-judicial killings, detention without trial and violation of source of livelihood (Vol man 2003).
4. Oil Exploitation, the Ecosystem and Human Health
The activities of multinational oil companies have inflicted some damage on the human ecosystem of the Niger Delta. The environment, upon which the inhabitants depend for their livelihood and sustenance, has been destroyed and degraded. Oil exploitation activities do not ensure that the present and future generation will continue to enjoy the natural resources because of environmental degradation. Oil exploitation carried out in the Niger Delta with its related incidence of environmental pollution and ecological degradation flagrantly violates Article 24. African charter on Human and Peoples’ Right, which Nigeria is signatory. The Article states that; ‘All people shall have the right to generally satisfactory environment favourable to their development’.
Exploring, drilling and extracting oil in the Niger Delta are not activities without physical, environment, and ecological consequence. According to, United States Energy Information Agency (EIA) in its 2000 Nigeria country brief, ‘the Niger Delta’s environmental challenges result from oil spills, gas flaring and deforestation1. EIA specifically notes that ‘more than 4,000 oil spillage have been recorded in Nigeria’s Niger Delta over the past four decades’. Nigeria has one of the worst records for on and offshore oil spills in the world (Ashton et al 1998:161). The known cause of oil spillages are equipment failure, corrosion, human error, theft of crude oil, community intervention in the production process and sabotage. Over 80 percent of oil spillages in the Niger Delta occur due to equipment failure and corrosion (Ashton et al 1998:32).
Some cases of oil spillage is a two-feet rupture in a pipeline recorded in 1998 at Idoho Offshore platform in Akwa-Ibom State in an oil location of Exxon Mobil. Uyi Ojo et al (2004: 15) described it as “Nigeria’s biggest oil spill in 18 years’. There was also the oil spill in Egbema in December 2000 which destroyed property worth millions of naira and farmlands spanning over several acres of land and countless fishponds permanently put out of use. The oil spill at Afam Well -1 G of SPDC May 12 and May 15.2004 caused a serious inferno that independent reports put the casualty figures at twenty-nine people (This day, May 22, 2004, p.7). On a general note, Daukoru (2004:16) admits that ‘oil spillage is not environmentally friendly1. It is disheartening that the Hon. Justice Muhammed Hello’s Report (2001:3) on the Hearing of the Petition by the Ijaw Aborigines of Bayelsa State against Shell noted inter alia that:
Most multinational oil companies, particularly Shell is not able to find accurate data about the spillages that have occurred in their facilities since their operations commenced in the Niger Delta in 1966. Also, Shell is not able to give the volume of crude oil effluents that has been discharged into the environment, creeks, rive vegetation of the Niger Delta throughout the per their operations.
On the other hand, indiscriminate gas flaring causes { exploitation has been the lot of the people of the Niger Delta 1995 World Bank Report showed that oil companies in Nigeria obtains in any other country in the world. In 1989 reported 617 billion cubic feet of associated gas, releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in the process. More that flared in Nigeria, whereas only 0.6 percent is flared in t America and United Kingdom (Rowell: 1996:291).
Ojah (1999:6) in a paper delivered at National 1 Orientation. Department of Petroleum Resources, Lagos, indicated
Some 48.8 billion kilowatts of heat is generated into atmosphere daily in the Niger Delta by flaring abut billion standard cubic feet of gas produced country. A roughly defined aerial size of 70,000 kill of the ecosystem of the oil earning comlllun the region is said to be exposed to about 84 I kilowatts of heat per clay.
Though the figures presented by Rowell and Ojah differ, ground in both findings, that billions of cubic feet of gas is flared. The primary recipients are the oil producing communities of the Niger that effect of gas flaring has been traumatic; continual nois crop yield, corroded roofs and lung diseases (Rowell 199(; clear that biodiversity which plays a critical role in development is being lost at unprecedented rate due to oil exploitation activities in the Niger Delta.
Uyi Ojo et al (2004: 102) revealed that a scientific Nwankwoala, a Professor of Cardiology, entitled analysisof the occurrence of cancer and other tumors in Rivers and Bayelsa State from Dec, 1997 to Dec, 2000 showed that inhabitants of Bayelsa and Rivers States suffer from cancer of different types and other forms of neo-plastic diseases. The causes of these diseases were traced to prolonged and undiminished expos! by reason of multiple oil spillages and/or environmental Holoprosancephal is another strange ailment in the Niger D jargon describing a child born with a single brain carefully instead of the normal two brains, as Professor Difini Datubc There are also reported cases of hypertalorism; a victim Datubo – Brown explains that ‘to a very large extent, these exposure to crude effluents’ (Africa Today, September 2001.
These findings remind us of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development which states that; “Human beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development, entitled to a healthy and productive life, in harmony with nature. It is therefore crystal clear that the goals of sustainable development can only be achieved in the absence of high prevalence of debilitating diseases which unfortunately oil exploitation activities and related incidence cannot engender in the Niger Delta.
5. The Way Forward
Based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations are made: a.The federal government should address the question of bias in the Nigerian legal system which is in favour of oil companies on oil legislation and related matters. This should be done by abrogating obnoxious and unjust laws in the country’s statute book that give legal shield to ‘the forceful acquisition of the land and resources of the people of Niger Delta. Such laws include the Petroleum Act of 1969, the Land Use Act of 1978, and the Land Title Vesting Decree 1993 among others.
b.All oil companies involved in exploration and exploitation activities in the
Niger Delta should as a matter of priority, carry out Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of international standard before and after oil exploitation activities in active collaboration with host communities. That is, oil producing communities should be involved at all levels of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) conducted by oil companies. Oil companies should also develop blue print for Environmental Safety Measure, and establish reliable contingency plans for their operations. These data should be made available to host communities and the regulatory body (Department of Petroleum Resources) for strict monitoring. This will ensure that oil companies observe strictly, the rules and regulations guiding the mode of operations.
c. In order to ameliorate the health hazards, hardships, loss of lives and human sufferings to which the people of Niger Delta have been exposed since oil companies commenced operations, compensations, in form of increased job opportunities award of contracts, scholarships and credit facilities should be made to the people of the region. Multinational oil companies should evolve a policy of preferential employment to qualified indigenes of the Niger Delta at all levels. That will look more sustainable that monetary compensation.
d. The multinational oil companies should look at the development of the Niger Delta not merely as a public relation issue, but a legitimate cost of doing business in Nigeria. Therefore, social responsibilities of oil companies should no longer be a nicety but a necessity. Conscious efforts should be made towards evolving youth development and women empowerment programme in host communities. This constructive engagement of youths will take their minds off damaging oil installations, kidnapping and killing of expatriate oil workers.
All military task forces, including those set up ostensibly to combat crime, but which have become ready tools of terror in the hands of multinational oil companies in the Niger Delta should be withdrawn and scrapped. The youths of the Niger Delta should also desist from acts of hostilities towards the oil companies. Violence on both sides of the divide can neither reduce poverty nor promote sustainable development. The Nigerian state and oil companies need to urgently rethink their belligerent, provocative and intransigent relationship with the Niger Delta. This is because the strategy of sustaining oil exploitation by coercion, oppression, repression and military conquest will only end up as another failure of strategy. Confidence building mechanism for the ventilation of grievance and complaints by both oil companies and the people of the Niger Delta should be established. The host oil communities must be treated as true stakeholders in the oil industry. This is because, the less a people benefit from a system, the less interest it has in the survival of that system. The multinational oil companies should therefore initiate and sustain constant consultation with the host communities through their duly accredited representatives to give the people a genuine sense of belonging. The age long divide – and rule practice adopted by oil companies and the state in their dealings with oil producing communities must be jettisoned. There should be a stronger consideration for proactive developments, corporate responsibility and horizontal equity to achieve sustainable development in the Niger Delta. By these, we mean that it is important for all the stakeholders in the region, including local and. international agencies, to work together and take a long term perspective in planning interventions and developmental approaches. This is the only basis for sustainable strategy that will stem the worsening social, economic and environment realities of the Niger Delta region.
Conclusion
Oil exploitation represents a veritable metaphor for the manifold curses, decimation and despoliation of the human and natural resources of the Niger Delta. Oil also constitutes the dark prism through which the litany of woes and ordeals of the people of Niger Delta can be refracted. The people of oil producing communities see multinational oil companies as number one culprit in the economic and ecological war currently being waged against them while successive Nigerian government are active collaborators and accomplice in the saga. Oil is produced in Nigeria with total disrespect for the lives, environment, personal and social rights of the people of oil producing communities of Niger Delta. The activities of multinational oil companies systematically damage the environment, habitats and livelihood without regard to environmental sustainability and survival strategy of the people of the Niger Delia. It is also obvious that social amenities and infrastructural facilities that could stimulate and sustain development are grossly lacking. Until there is a shift by the multinational oil companies and the Nigerian State towards an acceptance of some of the moral responsibilities for the injustice that the Niger Delta suffer, oil exploitation will continue to be an activity that is at best unwelcome, and in most cases reared by the local people. This study views oil exploitation in the Niger Delta as inherently exploitative and therefore explained the continuing predicament of underdevelopment of the region in terms of the fraudulent, and unjust practice in Nigeria.This situation can change if the Federal Government and her agents frankly address the problem. If this generation and the one yet to come will meet their needs, the practices associated with oil exploitation should be sensitive to sustainable development principles.
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