The violence of the Niger Delta host communities against the international oil companies (IOCs) is rampant and dogged. The extent of violence that occurs is harmful to communities, individuals, and oil companies that provide a certain degree of economic stability to the region. The Nigerian government faces a major challenge of resolving community violence in Nigeria. This case study used social exchange theory to better understand the causes and consequences of the lack of community trust against the oil companies that is pervasive in the region. Purposeful sampling was used in the selection of 10 community members, 8 representatives of the oil industry, and 3 government officials. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and documents provided by participants. These were inductively coded and then analyzed using a constant comparative technique. Findings revealed that participants perceived a lack of adequate collaboration among stakeholders and the application of inadequate management strategies of the IOCs and government having an impact on the degree and frequency of community violence. The implications stemming from this study include recommendations to the Nigerian government and IOCs to precede policy formulation with thorough consultation, engagement, and negotiation with the stakeholders for their acceptance before implementation of policy. This collaborative action may encourage corporate engagement and management that is positively viewed by the communities in the Niger Delta.

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M.A., Faculty of Humanties, University of the Witwarersrand, 2011 / The preponderance of intrastate violent conflicts in natural resource rich states has been attributed to a number of causal mechanisms. Theorists of conflicts thus tend to explain these conflicts using different approaches, notably path dependency and rational choice. These approaches examine issues such as ethnicity and political marginalization, weak but repressive state capacity, strategic dilemmas, foreign instigators of conflict, and the very pervasive theory of the resource curse. Natural resources usually lie at the heart of many of these conflicts and the resource curse theory has helped explain the effects of states’ dependence on the primary resource sector. This resource curse is therefore corroborated by the rational choice approach which insists that economic incentives explain the upsurge in rebellious activities within natural resource rich but poor and dependent states, especially in Africa. This research interrogates the rational choice approach of Collier and Hoeffler against the backdrop of issues in the Niger Delta conflict. It argues that the greed versus grievance theory remains inadequate in the light of the historical and sociological circumstances underlying political struggles in the region. The research report concludes that an integrated but eclectic approach be applied in the study of this crisis.

This study investigates the corporate social responsibility (CSR) exercised by the multinational oil companies (MNOCs) operating in the Niger Delta, and its impact on sustainable development (SD) in this important region of Nigeria. Particular focus is given to sustainable improvement in well-being and enhancement of socio-economic development for the local communities. To investigate these, archival from newspapers, magazines documents on CSR in Niger Delta from NGOs, documents from oil company’s websites and interview data from forty participants from the local communities, stakeholders and senior managers from the MNOCs were obtained. The MNOCs’ CSR and SD policies and practices were also inspected from the company’s website and photographs of the local environment around the MNOCs extraction suites and plant were also collected. These data were then analysed using: photo voice, document analysis, constructivist grounded theory, website-based content analysis, and covert participant observation. The study identified discrepancies between the MNOCs declared online CSR and SD policies and practices and those in operation in the Niger Delta region. Our findings also show that local communities are marginalised. To address this, it is argued that Ruggie’s frameworks, Sen’s capability approach for a full life, and Bowen’s list of social goals should be used as guiding principles by the MNOCs in the Niger Delta region. The study offers theoretical, empirical and methodological contributions to the studies of business ethics, international management and international business by offering new insights into CSR and SD. / Nigerian Government; Education Trust Fund (ETF) / On title page: Vol I of II. Only this file was provided.

Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) have become a key component of the postconflict peacebuilding orthodoxy. Therefore, this study evaluates the efficacy of Amnesty, Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (ADDR) in conflict prevention and resolution using the 2009 Niger Delta ADDR programme as a case study. The study evaluated the effectiveness of the programme using the minimalist and maximalist framework advanced in the DDR literature. The key findings and conclusions of the Study were that a minimalist DDR would only achieve security stabilisation and return excombatants to the status quo- ante society with all the pre-conflict grievances unaddressed thereby bequeathing a high potential of relapse to violence. Furthermore, for DDR to be an effective conflict prevention and resolution mechanism and postconflict peacebuilding force, its conceptualisation, design and implementation must be maximalist in nature with a transformative agenda that aims to address the roots causes of violence.

Nigeria is at a crossroad - how to balance developmental needs with environmental protection. The challenge is exacerbated because Nigeria operates a mono-economy which overwhelmingly depends on the crude oil resources from the Niger Delta for its economic survival. As a result, the protection of the Niger Delta environment has not been accorded the priority it deserves. The thesis aims to investigate the potentials of Constitutional Environmental Rights (CERs) to assist in resolving the environmental sustainability crisis in the Niger Delta. The thesis will utilize insights developed by environmental justice scholarship as the theoretical framework to investigate the main causes of the sustainability crisis in the Niger Delta and to propose ways to tackle these environmental challenges. The thesis draws inspiration from the research carried out by David Boyd on the efficacy of CERs for environmental sustainability for its analytical framework. Although Trans-National Corporations (TNCs) and international trade contribute to the sustainability crisis in the Niger Delta, the thesis will not focus on these. Instead, it will focus on the internal legal causes of the sustainability crisis in the Niger Delta, because the external causes of the sustainability crisis have been addressed at length by other researchers. Moreover, addressing the internal causes of the sustainability crisis could also address some of the impacts of the external causes of the sustainability crisis in the Niger Delta. As such, the thesis uses 3 of Boyd's CERs performance indices in analyzing the suitability of CERs to tackle the 3 identified major internal causes of the sustainability crisis in the Niger Delta. Specifically, Boyd's index 1 (impetus for the enactment of stronger environmental laws) could address gaps in Nigeria's environmental regulatory framework. Index 4 (improvement in the implementation and enforcement of environmental laws) could address the non-implementation and non-enforcement problems with the existing environmental regulatory framework in Nigeria. Lastly, index 6 (increased public participation in environmental governance) could address the marginalization of the Niger Delta in resource governance in Nigeria. These indices will not only help to uncover the weaknesses in Nigerian laws and their enforcement but will also identify potential barriers to CERs within the current legal and policy architecture and suggest solutions on how CERs would be implemented if recognized in Nigeria to avoid these barriers. The main contribution of the thesis is a detailed case study of how CERs may work in Nigeria to tackle the environmental crisis in the Niger Delta, and a detailed and specific analysis of what would be required in terms of domestic political, structural and legal change to ensure that CERs could contribute to the sustainability of the Niger Delta as much as they have in other countries. The research makes specific recommendations for changes to Nigerian law, policy and institutions, such as adoption of CERs in the enforceable part of the Constitution, ownership and control by federating units of natural resources found in their territories, and elimination of barriers to access to justice. This would come about through strategically crafted constitutional provisions and laws to address the underlying factors that would limit the effectiveness of CERs in Nigeria. The thesis argues that addressing these fundamentals and constitutionalizing environmental rights will lead to improved environmental outcomes for the Niger Delta.

The rapid and continuous deterioration of the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria in the last four decades has been a major source of concern for the government and practitioners. Hence, the region has been the subject of continuous conflicts and violence between the host communities and the oil producing companies. Despite the effort of the government and practitioners, none have looked at the relationship elements and/or the quality of relationship between these two key stakeholders within the context of the Nigeria oil and gas industry. This research study makes a new contribution to the field of relationship marketing in the area of relationship quality by providing a detailed understanding of relationship elements, and determinants and dimensions of relationship quality. The research study focuses on the oil producing company to host community relationship in the Niger delta region of Nigeria, which was investigated in detail. A qualitative approach was adopted as it is considered appropriate for the research focus, which was to investigate and assess the understanding of different community actors in respect to the quality of relationship between the oil producing companies and host communities in the Niger delta region of Nigeria. In addition, explore how these actors described both the relationship elements and relationship quality constructs, and related this to their understanding of the relationship between the oil producing company and host community. Semi-structured interviews, as the primary method of data collection were conducted with different community actors. The literature review, as the secondary method of data collection were primarily used as a tool to double check and validate the interview findings. Sixteen community actors provided their views and opinions of the relationship between the oil producing companies with the host communities in the region. This research study extended the application of relationship quality frameworks that were conducted in a developed economic environment such as the United Kingdom and United States of America to a developing economic environment such as Nigeria through the replication of these frameworks and re-testing their constructs and propositions in order to develop a detailed and comprehensive framework of relationship quality in the context of a business-to-community (B2Com) relationship in a unique commercial context. In addition, this research study uncovered the importance of mutual goal and culture of the community people in addition to pre-identified constructs (i.e. mutual benefit, communication, control mutuality) as the key determinants of relationship quality for the oil producing company when engaging the host community in the relationship building process. This research study also explored the research on dimensions of relationship quality subjecting its main constructs (i.e. trust, satisfaction and commitment) to a rigorous qualitative test. Doing this, the finding further emphasised some consensus between these dimensions of relationship quality. In addition, the developed framework highlighted the importance of including the relationship elements (i.e. actor bonds, resource ties and activity links) when assessing the quality of the relationship between business and its community. In conclusion, this research document recommendations (such as, the local community forming a complete and harmonious whole when relating with external bodies, the need for international oil and gas companies in Nigeria to gain adequate and appropriate insight and understanding into the role(s) played by each of the actors within the Niger Delta community, and the importance of oil and gas practitioners developing and maintaining a mutually beneficial relationship in the region) for various stakeholders within the NOGI.

This study employs ethnographic research to investigate the extent to which local governance affects both poverty and natural resources management in the Delta region. The research develops a framework for governance of natural resources to understand the daily practices of different actors within the local context using informal observation and interviews. In applying the framework, the study places emphasis on resources for governance, actors' agency, arrangements of access to resources and governance outcomes in the Delta region. Evidence from the study shows that while the state and corporate actors only contextualise resources in terms of economic value, local actors interprete resources beyond economic value to incorporate symbolic and socio-culturally constructed values linked with historic values. The study also identified relational, routine practices and structural factors which differently shape actors' agency for resources management. The context which shapes different arrangements of access to local resources by actors varies. These arrangements are subject to negotiation, power differences and socio-cultural factors. The findings related to governance outcomes reveal both positive (favourable) and negative (unfavourable) outcomes for the livelihood of different actors. The study concludes by exploring implications for local governance in order to address poverty and enhance optimal resource management in the Delta region.

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The thesis "Nigeria in Historic Perspective, Its Foreign Policy and Current Problems"describes a historic development of Nigeria including current political and economic situation after parliamentary and presidental elections in spring 2007. Historical outline forms the introductory part of the thesis, which is followed by general analysis of Nigerian foreign policy and its activity in chosen African and other international organizations. The other part of the chapter contains an analysis of mutual relations between Nigeria and its surrounding states -- Benin, Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea. Next chapter characterizes the oil conflict in the Niger Delta and possible suggestions for its solutions. The closing part presents summary of discovered information.