People that blame oil companies for the woes in the Niger Delta need to have their heads examined. A lot of people just talk without knowing how the revenue structure works. Do you know that in a typical joint venture, the sharing formula is NNPC (60%) and the oil company (40%). Out of this 40% the oil company pays taxes that are as much as 85% on their profits. Government then pulls their 40% revenue along with the huge taxes, royalties, bonuses and shares it amongst the 3 tiers of govt out of which the Niger Delta states get 13% before any sharing is done at all. Now people want the oil companies to start playing the role of govt after all that. Do you wait to ask yourself if it is Shell, Exxon etc that construct roads, supply electricity, build hospitals in places like Aberdeen and Houston? It's absurd to expect a private entity which pays its taxes to govt to still carry all these responsibilities. They have investors whose monies they are using for business and they need to have returns too. Any they do is just a matter of corporate social responsibility and people shouldn't hold them by the throat because IT IS NOT COMPULSORY THAT THEY DO IT!!

The militants should ask their state govts first and then the federal govt for their monies and not the oil companies.

@The One

Thanks for your brilliant post.That "oil company is responsible for development fallacy" is bewildering.Since when did the development of an area become the main responsibility of the local companies?

I do believe that there is a cynical element to it,particularly in regard to the Western oil majors.Activist claiming to be battling oil coys like ExxonMobil,Shell.e.t.c. will receive greater attention and financial backing from Western activist groups like Greenpeace.

Imagine if China National Petroleum was our leading oil producer,they were even said to send Chinese troops to the Sudan where they operate to intimidate locals. 

Blaming Western oil coys also appeals to our desire to wallow in self pity and blame the West for our problems.Nigeria has received ,at least $300 billion ,in oil revenues over the past and yet the Niger-Delta is nothing to write home about.

http://chxta..com/2007/03/in-defence-of-shell.html

The post below is inspired by a comment made by Adaure in her blog some nine days back. She visited the Niger Delta probably for the first time and like more than enough people was shocked by what she saw. Like most people, she lays the blame squarely at the feet of the multi-nationals operating in the region. Hear her:

", the reason I stopped buying gas from Shell stations and the intrigue about the whole Ogoni Saga. It all makes a 'ship-load' of sense. What I saw brought tears to my eyes, "


The above is the impression that a lot of people have of the Shell Petroleum Development Company, especially given their not so clean record in Nigeria. You see, Shell is far and away the biggest oil operation in Nigeria, so they are the most obvious. Reminds me of the way people like myself always pick on Micro$oft,

Shell began operations in Nigeria in 1938, but had to wait twenty years before they finally started shipping. The breakthrough had come two years earlier with the first successful well drilled in Oloibiri in what is now Bayelsa State. As time has passed, Nigeria has gone through various upheavals from independence to civil war to the three Rs, from 'oil boom' to 'oil gloom', from civilian rule to military rule back to civilian rule, the company has remained in Nigeria, doing their business and feeding fat.

Shell is blamed almost entirely for the degradation, and about two months back, a report appeared in National Geographic's website which while trying to be objective, ended up like everyone else in placing the blame mostly at the doorstep of the oil companies.

It is my opinion that most people who comment on this issue couldn't be further form the truth.

I believe that while the oil majors such as Shell do have a significant share in the blame for the apparent destruction of the environment in the Niger Delta, they do not have a majority of the blame. As is usual, I'd rather look at myself (and my people) for faults before looking outwards.

One thing I find interesting however is that despite that record, Shell is probably the first choice company to work with for the average Nigerian graduate given that they pay very well by Nigerian standards. Nigerians dominate the workforce of the company and right now the MD (Basil Omiyi) is a Nigerian from the Niger Delta. Again, I wouldn't mind working for Micro$oft despite the fact that I slate them often, but then again, that is unlikely, I am not a programmer,

It is my opinion that Shell and the other oil companies do what they do in Nigeria because of the complicity of the government and people of Nigeria at all levels, Federal, State and Local. Anyone who has ever tried to do some work in the Delta would know about the brigandage of the youths who always make silly demands and generally make life difficult for all workers. There is no law enforcement in this situation, people do what they like, and that includes the oil companies. To be honest, were I in their position, I'd do the same.

Now let us look at some facts: Shell runs a business in Nigeria where they own only 35% of same. The Nigerian government through the NNPC owns 55% of the business. All Shell budgets have to be approved by the NNPC. Shell's community development budgets and sustainable development initiatives also have to be approved by the NNPC. Over the last 8 years these budgets have consistently been cut by the NNPC in order to divert the funds saved to the NDDC.

Shell's Port Harcourt office alone pays a minimum monthly PAYE tax of N300million to the Rivers State Government. This does not include other taxes both legal and those taken by coercion usually by youths doing the bidding of community chiefs and/or local officials. Shell pays production related taxes to the Federal Government and contributes 5% of its profit to the NDDC.

Shell cannot take money straight to the communities for project without the approval of the government through the NNPC. Same applies to the other oil firms in the region, although I must admit, NLNG has done a better job of sharing money to the community. I guess that is the reason that of all the oil firms, NLNG probably has the best relationship with its host community.

Granted there is pollution in the Niger Delta, and while the gas flaring is the fault of the oil companies, let's be frank, there is some (though it is half-hearted at the moment) effort to reduce it, and hopefully stop it in the near future. Most of the pollution in the Niger Delta in recent times unarguably comes from vandalism by the people of the region, and in a terribly twist of irony, these same people make concerted efforts to prevent the companies from cleaning up the damage that they caused. Many times when Shell staff go to communities to clean oil spillages, the community elders and youths prevent them. The reasoning behind this is to allow the spillage(s) to cause more damage to the soil and wait for claims later on.

Funny thing is that most times when such claims are paid, the money goes into the pockets of a few individuals. There was an incident where the traditional ruler of Evwreni, Delta State was beheaded by his own people after refusing to share the money that Shell gave to him. This was about seven years back. Did you hear of Afiesere clash where an entire family was almost wiped out after their father 'ate' the money given to the community by Shell? On a personal note, in late 2004, Chxta was involved in an installation project in Saigbama, Bayelsa State where a community leader at the time (his name is Ebisu), refused to give his permission for the installation of communications infrastructure that would have benefited his community. We were told that we had to come up with five million Naira in cash or get out. We got out. Look at the recent spate of kidnappings, look at the most recent kidnap, the guys taken hostage are involved in a road construction project that would benefit the entire region. There are so many of such stories, and it is disgusting.

Our government pays a lot of lip service to the plight of the Delta, and the world blames Shell. Is it Shell's responsibility to build roads, provide water, build hospitals, schools, and provide electricity while Odili et al buy jets?

Another terrible occurrence in the Niger Delta is the phenomenon of the community nominated contractor. As a result of this, 'indigenes' of the Delta have the first call when it comes to receiving Shell contracts. Do you know how many of such 'community nominated contractors' have collected money and abandoned their projects? According to a friend of mine, as at December 2006 Shell Eastern Division alone had over a hundred of such projects abandoned by community nominated contractors. Yet the communities would not allow any other contractor to go and complete these 'community assistance projects' except once again the 'community nominated contractors'.

At the end of the day, it is my opinion that we need to get our heads out of our arses. Shell and the other oil majors came to Nigeria to make money, and are not a fucking charity. If we want them to behave the way they behave in the Western world, then we need to get our own act together.

Texaco, Chevron, Shell etc, owe no Nigerian, after they have paid their taxes and royalties. Government is responsible for development, not oil companies.

The aggression against the oil companies is as a result of the fact that they are the ones "physically" present. The governemt is in Abuja, even the state and local governemnts is controlled from Abuja. Most of the policticians end up living in Abuja and dont even know whatis happening at home.

On the other hand, the oil companies like shell in the time past used Nigerian soldiers to maim, rape and kill the citizens of the host communities who rose up in protests. The whole thing is all mixed up and Nigeria as it is now, does not have a solution to the crises.

the Nigerian structure's 2 complex 4 1 yes or no answer to who's 2 blame




we need a revolution, alot is taken 4 granted


_{who will bell the cat}

The oil companies aren't responsible for the development of the Niger Delta, but they should be held accountable for any damgae that results from illegal dumping of toxic waste, or from flaring. The Niger Delta has not only suffered economically, but it has also suffered environmentally. The damage that has been done to the Niger Delta is present in other oil producing regions, but the N.Delta is arguably the area where Oil companies exploit the most, and the area where Oil companies are the most reckless. If a company operates recklessly, they should be charged with the full force of Nigerian Law. This has got nothing to do with the governement's wrongdoing in the Niger Delta, the governent are not to be held accountable for everything that is wrong in the country.

Someone has mentioned that oil companies are sometimes prevented from cleaning up oil spills by the "communities" (i.e. criminals) who want to increase the money they'll get. Pollution compensation is a simple civil matter.

Most (notice I didn't say ALL) of the pollution you guys shout about are self-inflicted by some miscreants in the communities. Prior to now the rule was that the companies pay for any spillages no matter the cause. Have you guys noticed that the incidents of oil spills and pollution has greatly reduced now? One could attribute it to increased awareness but I'll tell you the real reason. As someone said, the companies are the ones on site and the people feel it's them they can get whatever they want from. With this and the rule of paying for any spill, the convenient thing to do then was to cut up the flowlines, cause some spills and the company pays a lot of compensation. Lately though, that has changed. With any spill now, there is a JIV (joint investigation visit) where the representatives of the company, DPR, state govt (ministry of environment) and the communities visit the site and ascertain the cause of the spill. If it is ascertained to be sabotage, no compensation is paid. With this, the approach is no longer attractive so they have to diversify. Please note that I didn't refer to the whole communities, just some miscreants who are into these things. So if you're used to free money what would you do in this case: you diversify. The diversification is what has led to issues like bunkering and hostage taking. It is sad to say but most of the militancy in the Niger Delta is for these purposes, just to make money.

On the issue of flaring, this is a policy flaw of the federal govt. There should have been foresight in having an effective utilization plan for gas. In fairness to them, one can say commerciality drives these decisions. In the development years of the industry, there was no local market for gas and exporting it was unattractive because it wasn't commercial. We should have developed local capacity that utilize gas for energy and then nobody would have been flaring it. With the advent of technologies such as LNG, Gas-to-liquid etc that enables us to export the gas, the flares-out initiative is now being aggressively pursued and is due to be in force at the end of next year. Do people know that even in the North Sea (UK) some fields have licence to flare gas because it is uneconomic to gather it for sale? Nigeria might have started late in this respect but we are moving in the right direction.

As I said in my first post, the militants should look to their governments for scapegoats and not companies that are doing their business like any other corporate entity.

To every problem there's a solution. The solution, most times, involves a bit of rewinding the records, taking a look at where things went wrong and making amends.

In the case of the Delta, rewinding the records and taking a look at the starting point, you will agree with me that the fact that government and oil multinationals (together) fraudulently and violently gained entrance into the Delta, without carrying the people along, initiate draconian laws that pauperise the owners of the lands, and also initiated the process of causing disunity amongst the people of the area has led to the violence that we now see in the place.

Truth is that when Shell discovered oil in commercial quantities at Oloibiri in 1958, Shell cared little about what gets to the people in the area eventually. The thinking was that the government of the area will take care of that. But what did the government do? They set up the Land Use Act Decree in 1978 and claimed ownership of all that lies on/under all lands in the country, but with emphasis on the Delta lands for obvious reasons. I bet the government thinking then was that the area is sparsely populated, and that the people in the area will put up a feeble challenge to whatever law they come up with.

And who are these people in government: The majority ethnic stock: Hausa/Fulani; Yoruba and Igbo. Of course, they must protect their interest and seek way to better the lot of their own people. So they craftily came up with draconian laws that will permanently put out any means designed by the Niger Delta indegenes to claim what rightfully belonged to them.

How do you explain a situation where the people of the Niger Delta - owners of the lands where the oil companies operate, do not even have a say in what goes on under their lands. People (composed mainly of the majority ethnic stock) sit way up there in Abuja - a hitherto dry and arid land, and carve up the lands in the Niger Delta as juicy oil blocks sold to the highest bidder without the participation of the owners of the lands. The land use act decree of 1978 is still very much in force and has not been abolished by its initiator.

Miscreants have cashed in on the opportunity afforded by the problems caused by govenment and government alone, to cause violence and untold hardship.

Until the government revert to the constitution that favours every constituents of the country, which ultimately will address the lopsided developmental projects spread in the country, there will always be agitation and problems in the Delta.

While I agree with the originator of this thread that oil companies are not responsible for Niger Development I must state that the sharing formular between the FG and the oil companies is faulty.

On gas flaring, I will still blame the FG because they chose to impose a penalty for every cubic feet of gas flared rather than make the companies cap them and sell them or forget about the exploration/expolitation as Venezuela did even though they have dirty crude.

I will also blame the oil communities in some cases because either the chiefs are shortchanging them or they are making ridiculous offers when the companies even want to embark on certain projects like tarring roads.

Having worked and lived in Bonny Island, Eket, Warri and PH I can comfortably say that the problem in the ND can be attributed to the leaders in the ND from the time they supported the FG in the Biafran war to subsequent policies that laid the framework for the current state of affairs there today.

Afam,

what do you mean by "the sharing formula is faulty?"

@The One

I definately agree with you that the bulk of the ND development and welfare lies with the govt (both fed, state & local). That is indisputable. But in business, there is what you call social responsibility.

Even though we have not had strong environmental laws as in the west, The oil majors in the ND know very well that they are polluting the environment in which they operate and should have had a way of addressing this problem without the govt asking them to do so.

All the gas flaring makes the ND air poisonous, plus, lots of traditional fishermen in the ND are jobless because of the pollution to the rivers, seas and waterways in their locality.

The One:

Afam,

what do you mean by "the sharing formula is faulty?"

Not all JV partners are in the 60%-40%, some are in 51%-49% while some have up to 3 different companies sharing the non FG stake.

85% of the profits being paid as taxes is not correct even though I cannot recall the exact profit margin that is returned as taxes.

The oil companies make more or better still short change Nigeria when they use oil servicing firms to take money away and is usually written off as servicing or operational costs.

That is why a job that should cost say $300M to accomplished could be quoted for $900M and there is nothing the government can do because they will always justify such nonsense by saying that Nigerians lack the necessary skills to carry out such maintenance, repairs or even major revamps.

Those who siphon the money are the likes of Schlumberger or Hallibuton depending on the oil company in question.

Afam,

if you read properly, I said a TYPICAL JV. The only JV in Nigeria where NNPC has a stake of 55% is the SPDC. They have 60% on the others. Mind you, there are other licences other than JV e.g. PSC (production sharing contracts). I will not go into the intricacies now, all I will say is that most onshore and shallow offshore (1970s and 80s) licences are JV's and the newer ones (deepwater) are PSC's. You have "some" idea how the whole thing works but you should learn to know when someone who's in the mix talk about it. On the taxes, the nominal value is 85%, though there are tax breaks for a lot of different things and the tax mechanism is a bit concoluted so it is not a straightforward thing. All I can say is that the taxes are HUGE.

You sure have been listening to a lot of propaganda based on your quote

The oil companies make more or better still short change Nigeria when they use oil servicing firms to take money away and is usually written off as servicing or operational costs

I'm sure you are referring to the PSC arrangement where the companies bear all the exploration and development cost and recoup all the cost from production before the profit is shared based on pre-agreed percentages. True, I don't know what those percentages are on the PSC's but if any company takes advantage of that then some people need to be sacked in NNPC. Do you know that NAPIMS monitors and approves all the expenses?

From you tone I can see that attitude of someone who thinks he knows something whereas his knowledge is limited at best

@The One,

My disagreement started with the 85% tax on profit which is wrong and which you have rightly amended to huge even though huge is relative.

Secondly, you have also confirmed that the 60% - 40% JV scenario is not firm.

On the 2 issues above I based my initial comments on and you have not disagreed with any of the two so why go about attacking my person?

I would not go into who knows what since my 2 objections have been confirmed by you.

But having played a major role in the construction of the OSO/NGL Gas recovery project in Bonny and the revamp of about 38 offshore wellhead platforms as a process engineer and a project engineer respectively not to talk about the administrative areas that included having meetings with NAPIMS and NNPC I will say that I have not been listening to propaganda but stating what actually happens.

When people disagree with any position you take, try to see if the objections are valid and in this case they are so I wonder why you would resort to attacking my person if you had agreed with my objections. Leave your pride when engaging people on a discussion forum as you may make a mistake that your pride may not allow you to correct forever, in some cases.

Afam:

Having worked and lived in Bonny Island, Eket, Warri and PH I can comfortably say that the problem in the ND can be attributed to the leaders in the ND from the time they supported the FG in the Biafran war to subsequent policies that laid the framework for the current state of affairs there today.

Afam Umuosi, please tell me how on earth our leaders supported the FG in the Biafran war - Is it because we felt we should Go On With One Nigeria against the wishes of the seceeding Igbos? Besides, even if they supported the FG during the war, how does that translate to total ownership of our resources by a clique sitting somewhere in the Sahara? I don't think there's a written agreement somewhere that states categorically that we've forfeited the ownership of our resources to some folks in other parts of the country.

OK, we, the new generation of elders in the Niger Delta wish to state categorically that whatever pact our past elders made with some roguish thieves in the Sahara and other areas is cancelled forthwith.  We agree to a round table to discuss this matter all over again!

Afam and The One please forget your egos and stick to the the topic .

egoldman:

Afam and The One please forget your egos and stick to the the topic .

You should be directing this to him because I never made any reference to him as a person in my response until he started making some silly remarks about my person even when I am certain he has limited knowledge about what he was saying.

I discuss issues, don't have time for personalizing issues but when people resort to attacking my person I do not waste time to reciprocate.

ono:

Afam Umuosi, please tell me how on earth our leaders supported the FG in the Biafran war - Is it because we felt we should Go On With One Nigeria against the wishes of the seceeding Igbos? Besides, even if they supported the FG during the war, how does that translate to total ownership of our resources by a clique sitting somewhere in the Sahara? I don't think there's a written agreement somewhere that states categorically that we've forfeited the ownership of our resources to some folks in other parts of the country.

OK, we, the new generation of elders in the Niger Delta wish to state categorically that whatever pact our past elders made with some roguish thieves in the Sahara and other areas is cancelled forthwith. We agree to a round table to discuss this matter all over again!

Please, what is umuosi?

Afam

I have not confirmed anything you have said. On the JV issue let me quote myself:

Do you know that in a typical joint venture, the sharing formula is NNPC (60%) and the oil company (40%).

Afam, do you expect me to start quoting what the percentages are for the JV's with EPNL, SPDC, CNL, MPNU etc. I used the word "typical" to represent all these and used 60 - 40% because ONLY ONE deviates from this. How does this align with your 49 - 51% that you stated? The only thing that true is that there are sometimes more than one non-NNPC partners but the thrust of my post was the relative % of the NNPC stake to the others so I don't have to be going into such details. Please correct the quote above inculcating the fact that the non-NNPC partners are sometimes more than one and let's see what you come up with? Give it a try huh?

Again on the tax issue, I haven't contradicted anything I said earlier. I only said there are concessions on the 85% that I quoted based on some things. That does not negate the fact that the nominal value is 85%. If my income tax rate is 25% and I get concessions for being married with kids, having life insurance etc does that mean when I'm asked what my tax rate is I should start calculating what it comes to after the concessions? Of course I'll quote the nominal tax rate!!

I did not attack your person, I only made an observation based on what I've noticed about you on different thread and even different blogs. You want an example? I know you've been touting the assertion that discovery fund yields more than all the risky high yield investments around and that is wrong but you come on board and announce it with all confidence. You could say it could prove to be more durable but it definitely doesn't yield more!! That baffles me and makes me wonder! 

OK, we, the new generation of elders in the Niger Delta wish to state categorically that whatever pact our past elders made with some roguish thieves in the Sahara and other areas is cancelled forthwith. We agree to a round table to discuss this matter all over again!

why didnt you refer to them as you "roguish elders"? stop deceiving yourself bros

so many statistics in here. all na abracadabra. no references what so ever

why don't they start by using alameisegha's state stolen money?
They ought to be kidnapping their own leaders not innocent citizens and oil workers.
Their own leaders are their worst enemies!!

@ ONO

And who are these people in government: The majority ethnic stock: Hausa/Fulani; Yoruba and Igbo. Of course, they must protect their interest and seek way to better the lot of their own people.

It is well known by everyone that the Igbos have never been in charge of oil and its development in Nigeria, so direct your blame to the appropriate quarters. It is high time everyone stopped making Igbos the scapegoats. Someone draws cartoons in Denmark and Igbos have to pay the price.

@The One

From you tone I can see that attitude of someone who thinks he knows something whereas his knowledge is limited at best.

That was unnecessary; Afam’s response was devoid of personal attacks.

Back to the topic at hand:

While I do agree that oil companies have no obligation towards the development of their operation areas, I would also state that they have every obligation to prevent the pollution or the degradation of the environment in their operational areas. This obligation is in accordance with Nigerian laws, international laws and their home country laws.

If as a result of their operations, they have destroyed the means of livelihood of their host, then they are under obligations to provide alternative developments and compensations as necessary.

I beg to differ with those that believe that oil companies should not take responsibility in cases of “sabotage”. How can you establish those responsible for sabotage? Sabotage is not an exclusive preserve of any particular community and it would be wrong to fail to make right the harm to anyone’s land/property as a result of such spills which may have been caused by Adam for all I care.

Even in their home countries, they have Health and Safety Laws that require them to take reasonable steps to secure their facilities to prevent loss and damage to property and lives and that is why they have Professional and Operational Liability insurance in place to help them pay compensations in such cases.

The ultimate responsibility of developing Niger Delta and Indeed the whole of Nigeria rests with the various arms of government while companies have the duty to prevent the degradation of the environment (and remediation) as a result of their operations.

The One:

Afam
I did not attack your person, I only made an observation based on what I've noticed about you on different thread and even different blogs. You want an example? I know you've been touting the assertion that discovery fund yields more than all the risky high yield investments around and that is wrong but you come on board and announce it with all confidence. You could say it could prove to be more durable but it definitely doesn't yield more!! That baffles me and makes me wonder!

One more wrong clonclusion based on a premise that does not exist.

For your information I never get into discussions on things I don't understand so only God knows where you got the Discovery funds story from.

Can you clarify or will you dance around the wrong accusation too?

Of course they are responsible.Are we forgetting that they have totally destroyed the area?

People seem to forget that Government hasn't imposed tougher environmental restrictions most probably because the oil companies are paying the necessary bribes. Now some people are telling me they have no responsiblities, it's a pity.

Exactly.They have destroyed all communities in that region and are not willing to rebuild or provide basic amenities.They are 100.1% responsible.

i have a question for the niger delta state where is the trace of 13 percent allocation they are have been collecting on the populace of niger delta

Donzman

You have said nothing. What if I stay here and say the only reason why you've not been thrown out of whatever school you are is because you bribe your lecturers to pass you? When you can't substantiate your claims, you don't just make pronouncements. I thought I tried to outline the historical issues and how it has culminated in the stoppage of gas flaring as from next year.

Let me tell you the truth, and it might be the bitter truth, but any hasty penalty that shuts down production will hurt Nigeria more than it hurts the companies. Have you forgotten that we are the ones that get 90% of our GDP from oil? I guess the company that will be hurt the most (Shell) will not even lose up to 40% of its global production. This is why rationality comes into the decision, you don't rush decisions like that. All parties have sat down and come to the decision that they'll all stop the flaring next year, it might just be the best they can do. Maybe you don't know how capital intensive this is and are forgetting that Nigeria has to provide about 60% of whatever funds are needed when we are even struggling to provide counterpart funding for things that had been on the table since.

9ja4eva

If I write what's on my mind it might come across as an insult which is the last thing I want to do. Who told you "they have destroyed all the communities in the region"?. Have you ever been to the Niger Delta? Do you know how big it is? Do you know what percentage of the entire Niger Delta land mass has oil company presence? I know this issue elicits emotional responses but please don't make blind comments. The reason why the whole thing looks immoral is the fact that the place is undeveloped in contrast to the production facilities around. Which comes back to my assertion that if the government had utilized the revenue for he development of the area then the discrepancy will not be there. To tell you the truth which obviously you won't hear anywhere, the only places that have 24 hrs constant electricity in Nigeria are communities around oil company installations. You will not know that because you sit in the US or UK or wherever and echo whatever comment is posted on the forum whether for or against. Abi na McDonalds dey give you light for where you dey? At least there's no way you won't have McDonalds in whatever city you are in.

Please let's separate emotion and propaganda from this issue and face the facts.

So can you elaborate on the issue of them having polluted water and cannot even fish?

@Donzman
I've had several run-ins with you in the past because i've been unwilling to tolerate your factless drivel. Where did you hear that Oil companies are currently paying bribes to the Government? It's an offence warranting outright dismissal for any Shell staff to pay bribes out, and there's an efficient reporting system so anonymous reports can easily be sent to the Shell headquarters in The Hague. Chevron, Elf and Mobil have similar systems in place. It's a pity most of us buy into the propaganda war so easily.

@9ja4eva
There's been a lot of environmental degradation in the area as a result of oil and gas exploration and production. But let's seperate fact from fiction here; before any operation carried out there's an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) carried out, witnessed and approved by agents of the DPR, all potential damages to the environment are considered and compensation duly paid out before action. at least this system has been in place since the mid-90s, and it works.
what no one will ever tell you is how youths tie red cloth to trees in Edo State and claim that the area in contention is a shrine (hence the bidding price goes up), how people build shanty huts on areas designated for oil exploitation, and claim huge compensation, how villagers claim that oil is sucked from underground their community, causing their village to subside (doesn't even make sense scientifically, but they demand cash settlements all the same). Most attempts by oil companies to ameliorate the situation is met with chaos and corruption.
Ask yourself why, after 13 years of Shell oil wells in Ogoni land being shut in with no activity, 2 well fires were recorded last year. Ask yourself why the youths refused to give Shell access to the fire spot for weeks, ask yourself why after the fires went out the villagers chased away the Shell remedial team that went to secure the well heads from future acts of sabotage.

The Oil companies have some responsibility, but by far the greatest burden falls on the State and Local Government. 13% derivation comes to billions monthly for the oil producing states.

The next time any Niger Delta indigene complains to me that there are better roads in the north, i'll ask him which of the northern governors has an airline, a private refinery, a private engineering company (like Rockson Engineering) and has wasted his state's money on a failed Gas Turbine project.
Oh. . . I'll also ask 'em which northern Governor has been proven to have stolen over N50billion (alams and Odili, both of which are 'untouchables' in the eyes of even the most vicious millitant groups)