Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Concerns in Nigeria: A Critical Focus on Oil Producing Communities

Abstract

A well-known fact about the Nigerian Niger Delta region is incessant conflicts between the Oil 
Transnational Corporations and the oil producing communities. This could be attributed to the 
fact that the activities of Oil TNCs have continued to unleash untold devastation on the envi
ronment of the oil producing communities and its consequences on the local economy and by 
extension the total obliteration of the livelihood of the inhabitants of the area. Therefore, the 
Oil TNCs are increasingly becoming conscious of their devastating impact on the ecology of 
the area and their blatant disregard for the socio-economic development of the host communi
ties. Consequently, the Oil TNCs have come to embrace the idea of executing Corporate Social 
Responsibility (CSR) projects as a vehicle to intervene meaningfully in order to mitigate the 
adverse effects of their operations on the environments of the host communities. This paper 
attempts to review and analyze CSR practices of the two major Oil TNCs in Bayelsa State: 
Shell and Agip in six host communities: Olugboboro, Olugbobiri, Ikebiri 1, Oporoma, An
giama, and Peremabiri in Southern Ijaw local government area. The key question explored in 
this study is: has the practice of CSR in the Nigerian Niger Delta region by Oil TNCs brought 
about socio-economic development and drastic reduction in conflict between the host commu
nities and the Oil TNCs? The paper argues that CSR projects of transnational oil corporations 
in Nigeria are driven by short-term expediency rather than the long term environmental devel
opmental needs of host communities through the provision of poor quality social amenities to 
these communities in order to secure social license to operate. For transnational oil corpora
tions to make positive impact in the Nigerian Niger Delta Region, their CSR projects should be 
long tern in nature, taking into consideration the sustainable development needs of the local 
communities. The CSR projects should be in the form of high quality social amenities and en
vironmental rehabilitation and protection, which could serve the needs of the present and future 
generations.