Participation In Petroleum Development … Towards Sustainable Development in the Niger Delta

The book “Participation in Petroleum Development, Towards Sustainable Development in the Niger Delta” by Alabor Dr. Edward Bristol-Alagbariya is essential for key oil industry experts, administrators, scholars and students who wants to gain further insight on how the Niger Delta can benefit from oil exploration and exploitation. The Tide, beginning from this edition, run excerpts of the book. Enjoy it.

As provided in its ADVANCE INFORMATION sheet, the book discusses environmental democracy (ie, public or citizens’ participation in [PP] in environmental decision making) with regard to petroleum development in the Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN). Community involvement (CI) is discussed as an aspect of PP so as to examine the role of corporate responsibility and impact assessment regarding petroleum development in the Niger Delta. It is on this note that sustainable community development (SCD) featured as a key issue, considering that sustainable development 9SD) cannot be achieved in Nigeria other nations without the existence of sustainable communities. The destiny of mankind is thus dependent on the wellbeing of man’s immediate environment and/or place of habitation such as communities, cities, and provinces comprising global nations.

Contents

The book has ten chapters which are compartmentalised into six parts stated hereunder. 

Part A,  Introduction

Part B,  Assessment of the Interface between Specific Initiatives and Trends in International Environment and Development Policy and Stakeholder Decision Making

Part C, Citizens’ Participation in the Delta Communities: A Social and Historical Framework.

Part D, Evolution of Formal Environmental Impact Assessment and Community Involvement in Petroleum Development in the Delta Region

Part E, Community Involvement in Impact Assessment of Oil and Gas Development Projects in Bonny Kingdom

Part F,  Conclusions, Bibliography, Back Cover Comments

Chapters

Chapter 1, the introductory part of the book, is, as described above, a conceptual and historical account of the crises in the Delta region in the context of the FRN. The chapter identifies the Nigerian minority question as the basis of the marginalisation of the citizens of the Delta region and other Nigerian ethnic minorities, as decision-making in Nigeria is mainly dictated by the interests of the three major ethnic groups whose elites mastermind the affairs of

the country. This chapter identifies the petroleum resources-producing communities, the Federal Government (FG) and the multinational oil companies (MNOCs) as the three major stakeholders of the resources-producing business in Nigeria. It discusses the stakeholder perspective, its growing recognition in the context of major natural resources development in developing countries, in the interest of the poor and marginalised resources-producing communities of these countries. It establishes two hypotheses. These are the core/main hypotheses anchored on lack of CI in petroleum development in the Delta region, and then the enlarged/ancillary hypothesis anchored on the lack of involvement of majority of Nigerian citizens in the decision-making processes of the country. Thus, the key proposition of the book is that neither CI in petroleum development (as exemplified by the state of affairs in the Delta ethnic minority region) nor overall public involvment, PI, as evidenced by the plight of a vast majority of Nigerian citizens) in the governance of the country, has, so far, been able to properly integrate the concerns and other inputs of the affected public into decision-making processes, so as to arrive at transparent and accountable decisions. Improvement in CI (ie, interactive CI) is thus demonstrated as a means of addressing the crises in the Delta region, while improvement in PI (ie, interactive PI) is demonstrated as a means of addressing the Nigerian national question centred on bad governance.

Part B, made up of Chapters 2 and 3 is entitled ‘Assessment of the inter­face between specific initiatives and trends in international environment and development policy, and stakeholder decision making’. Chapter 2 consolidates the background analysis of Chapter 1 and discusses stakeholder concerns and actions in the Delta region in the context of the ongoing effort of the United Nations (UN) on the environment and development. The chapter discusses the twin ­relationship of the environment and development in relation to the environmental and developmental problems, socio-economic concerns and political aspirations of citizens of the Delta region, as well as Government Social Responsibility (GSR) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). It investigates the plight of the people of the Delta ethnic minority region worsened by the adverse effects of petroleum development in the region. This demonstrates the failure of successive FG’s intervention measures in the region due to lack of sustained political will and commitment of the government controlled by ethnic majority elite and their associates. Aggravated by the absence of true federalism and transparent democratic governance, these FG measures have not sufficiently addressed the plight and concerns of Delta minorities as, for instance, expressed in the Willink Commission report of 1958. This Commission found that the Niger Delta was ‘poor, backward and marginalised’ in the course of nation-building in Nigeria. Chapter 3 discusses the ‘Approaches to promoting the participation of stakeholders in business: A critical review of three dominant international initiatives’. The chapter discusses the Aarhus Convention of 1998 on PP in environmental decision making as an intergovernmental approach, and two mainly civil society-based as well as other two main industry-driven international initiatives. These are the initiatives of the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) and the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA), and those of the Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development (MMSD) project and the World Bank Group (WBG) Extractive Industries Review (EIR).

Part C, Chapter 4, discusses ‘Citizens’ participation in the Delta communities in a social and historical framework’. In order to prove that PP in decision making is an integral feature of the social systems of citizens of the Delta region, this chapter discusses the traditional social systems of the communities of the region exemplified by the house system of governance of Bonny kingdom. The Bonny kingdom’s representative decision-making process is an integral feature of the social systems of other ancient trading states of the Delta region (which were and are still mainly core politically-centralised societies). The chapter distinguishes the core centralised social system of the ancient Delta trading states from the two other traditional social systems identified in the Delta region. These are the egalitarian or republican village democratic systems of such ethnic groups as the Ikwerre ethnic nationality, and the relatively non-core (ie, partly centralised) social systems of such communities and communal groups as Kolokuma, Andoni, Abua and Eppie-Atissa. While noting that participation is an integral feature of the traditional social systems of the communities, kingdoms, tribes and ethnic groups of the Delta region, this chapter re-establishes lack of PI as a significant cause of the ongoing crises in the region. It thus recommends the need for Nigeria to grant a proper sense of belonging to the Delta and other ethnic minorities by properly integrating them into the mainstream of governance through interactive PI, especially regarding aspects of governance which directly affect them as Nigerian citizens.

Part D of the book, comprising Chapters 5-7, discusses the evolution of formal Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in Nigeria and CI in petroleum development in the Delta region. While discussing the commencement of formal EIA in 1992, Chapter 6 associates EIA with Environmental Assessment (EA) and generic Impact Assessment (IA) and thus lays the foundation for considering the adverse effects of petroleum development projects in the oil-producing Delta region. Chapters 6 and 7 consequently proceed to identify other forms and/or measures of CI in petroleum development in the Delta region. As reinforced in Chapters 8 and 9, Chapter 5 demonstrates the importance of PI and IA in the effort towards SD of petroleum resources and SCD in the Delta region and other oil-producing areas of Nigeria, considering that PI is a significant pillar/promoter of IA and IA is a significant pillar of  SD.

To be contd.