The Hydrocarbons Industry and the Tragedy of the Niger Delta

The Hydrocarbons Industry and the Tragedy of the Niger Delta By T. J , Agiobenebo The Hydrocarbons Industry and the Tragedy of the Niger Delta By T. J , Agiobenebo

University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt Abstract

The objective of this paper to is provide an historical account of the origins of the oil and gas exploration and exploitation in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, the technology utilised and its impact on the environment and the fragile ecosystem of the region; the issues of ecological devastation, underdevelopment, poverty, the Niger Delta crisis, and governance and restoration challenges associated with the operations of the industry as well as the way forward. Assessment of environmental and ecological damage is mirrored through reported oil spills, oil and gas lines blowouts, gas flaring and their spells and captured through documentary photographs from secondary sources.  Oil exploration started in Nigeria about 1908 but it was not until Sunday 15 January 1956 that oil was discovered in (Otuabagi/Otuogadi) in Oloibiri district in Ogbia Local Government Area in present day Bayelsa State in the eastern Niger Delta region of Nigeria by Shell Darcy. However, after 55 years of this discovery, the reality is hope betrayed and the outcomes are polluted and devastated environment, ecology and livelihoods, crass poverty and violent conflict (“blood oil”) – the curse of the “black gold” characterised by social and distributive injustice that underlies the recurrent national question arising from the failures of governance, regulation and corporate social responsibility as well as the violation of the inseparability of human rights, freedom and resource control. From this latter perspective, it is an exemplar of the tragedy of commons arising from the secret of deprived ownership. Ending this tragedy and its far-reaching devastations lays in a Niger Delta natural resource, environmental and ecological damage assessment and restoration project utilising integrated approaches to sustainable development practice, which can be financed by internalising the environmental and ecological damages and other social costs of oil exploration and exploitation in Nigeria into the cost functions of the oil and gas firms operating in the region. The best model of integrated approaches to sustainable development practice requires intelligent application of interdisciplinary knowledge and skills from the natural, life, health, social and the management sciences, which is a major challenge for Nigeria as effective and efficient institutions, technology and informed policy directions are lacking, the current approach of Development Master Plan for the region, notwithstanding. The key is the development of the matrix of the knowledge base and skills to generate the corps of well informed and skilled sustainable development practitioners.