Transnational Corporations TNCs

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Transnational Corporations (TNCs)

• Corporations that operate in multiple countries
• Often seek out nations with lax environmental
  regulations to keep costs minimized and profits
  maximized

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The Niger River Delta
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Background

• Niger Delta is one of worlds largest deltas and
  mangrove forests
• 1956 Oil discovered in Nigeria
• 1960 Independence from Britain ? Federal
  Republic of Nigeria
• Discovery harms rural economypoor farming and
  fishing
• Petroleum ? World 13th, OPEC 6th

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Actors Involved

• Nigerian Government
• - federal
• - 36 states
• - 600 local governments
• Transnational Oil Companies
• - Shell
• - Total
• - ExxonMobil
• - Chevron
• - Agip
• Minority Ethnic Groups
• - Ogon
• - Ijaw

• Grassroots Organizations
• - MOSOP
• - MEND
• - NDVF
• Non-Governmental Organizations
• - ERA
• - Oil Watch
• - ND HERO
• International Community
• - American Oil consumers
• - EU
• - OPEC
• - UN

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Overview of Policy Brief

• Impact on Environment
• Role of Government
• Ethnic Groups
• Shell
• Policy Prescriptions

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Environmental Degradation of Delta
Loss of livelihood for farmers/fishermen Polluted
water source Public Health Impacts Destruction of
wildlife habitat
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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
mortuaryToday, 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
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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

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Government and Unrest

• Three main responses
• to anti-oil protests
• 1 - grant concessions
• 2 - depend on public relations
• 3 - use security measures

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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

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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

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Those who make peaceful revolution impossible
will make violent revolution inevitable. -
John F. Kennedy
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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)
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• 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

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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

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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.
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Environmental Degradation
Economic Impoverishment
Civil Unrest
Military Repression
Insurgency
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Environmental Degradation
Corporate Social Responsibility
Economic Impoverishment
Civil Unrest
Ethnic Strife / Tribalism
Military Repression
Insurgency
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Environmental Degradation
Corporate Social Responsibility
Economic Impoverishment
Civil Unrest
Ethnic Strife / Tribalism
Military Repression

• Weak Ecological Modernization
• - Technological solutions
• - Corporatist style of policy-making
• distancing of socio-political failures
  
• from economic circumstances

Insurgency
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Lax Environmental Regulations
Lack of Corporate Responsibility
Paralysis of Federal Govt.
Environmental Degradation
Reliance on Foreign Help
Reduced Quality of Life for Locals
Increasing Debt
Corruption of Local Govt.
Economic Impoverishment
Ethnic Strife
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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

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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. lthttp//afraf.oxfordjournals.org/cg
  i/reprint/100/398/27gt.
• ONeill, Tom. Curse of the Black Gold Hope and
  Betrayal in the Niger Delta. National
  Geographic. February 2007. lthttp//ngm.nationalge
  ographic.com/ngm/0702/feature3/index.html?fswww3.
  nationalgeographic.comfsplasma.nationalgeographi
  c.comgt.
• Polgreen, Lydia. Corrupt Nigerian election a
  setback for democracy. International Herald
  Tribune. 23 April 2007. lthttp//www.iht.com/articl
  es/2007/04/23/news/africa.php?page1gt.
• Criminal Politics Violence, Godfathers and
  Corruption in Nigeria. Human Rights Watch. Vol.
  19, No. 16(A). October 2007. lthttp//hrw.org/repor
  ts/2007/nigeria1007/nigeria1007webwcover.pdfgt.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.

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• 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.

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Image Credits

• http//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/58/Oil_
  platform.jpg
• http//www.pr-ac.ca/images/prac/userimages/Shell_L
  ogo.jpg
• http//ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0702/feature
  3/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-mend
  56930155.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_Shell20barrel20in20Port20Har55
  .html
• http//seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2007/08/19/
  2003844297.jpg