Oil Operations in the Nigeria’s Niger Delta Region: A Legal-Philosophical Perspective

Abstract

In 1958, crude oil was found and produced in commercial quantity in Oloibiri, in present day Bayelsa State of Nigeria by Shell British Petroleum (Shell BP), now The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (Shell PDC). This economic activity in the Niger Delta area was what put Nigeria in the map of world producers of crude oil. Oil production has raked in trillions of petro-dollars and it is the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy. However, oil production causes serious environmental
consequences, which leave the once serene environment of the oil producing communities of the Niger Delta to be devastated and despoiled. Added to this, the International Oil Companies (IOCs) refused to develop or improve the welfare of the oil producing communities of the Niger Delta as part of their responsibility to their host communities. The excuse has always been that oil is on the exclusive list, so it is exclusively owned by the Federal Government and as such, they do not owe any obligation to the oil bearing communities of the Niger Delta. The IOCs also argue that they only own a small percentage of the profit from the oil project. In this work, we disagree with the position of the IOCs and quickly point to the spate of violent agitations for resource control which has resurfaced in the oil producing areas. We also show that Nigeria’s variant of Federalism is skewed to the advantage of the majority ethnic groups, which dominate the Federal Government, and that the IOCs have an ethical and
constitutional duty to develop and restore the economic dislocations in the Oil Bearing Communities of the Niger Delta caused by oil producing activities.