Efficiency of oil multinational-driven development projects in the Niger Delta. Uwafiokun Idemudia York University Toronto, Canada

Transcription

1 Efficiency of oil multinational-driven development projects in the Niger Delta Uwafiokun Idemudia York University Toronto, Canada 1

2 Outline Introduction Study Area and Methodology Theoretical Background Forms of Partnership: Potentials and Limitations Partnerships and Affirmative Duties Partnerships and Negative Injunction Duties Emerging Issues Conclusion 2

3 Introduction CSR, the idea that business has responsibility to society that goes g beyond profit making to include helping to solve social and ecological problems. CSR thesis lies in the shift from government to business enterprise as a source of social improvement and a means to promote specific items of social welfare. CSR is now intertwined with issues of international development and poverty reduction. The business case logic suggests a win-win scenario. The consistency between the business case logic and the idea that t business, government and civil society acting alone cannot solve today's hard social and ecological problems lead to the touting of partnership and stakeholder engagement as the most efficient means by which business can contribute to sustainable development. The Niger Delta provides a useful environment to ascertain the substance s of such claims and to re-examine examine some of the tacit assumptions that underpin corporate partnerships. 3

4 Study Area: Niger Delta 27 million people comprising 40 ethnic groups 3000 communities Contributes 40% of national GDP, and 80% of government revenue Unemployment and poverty level higher than national average An example of the resource curse thesis 4

5 Methodology Combined Methodology - Quantitative method: questionnaire survey (160 households) - Qualitative method: interviews and focus group discussions (100 interviews: local chiefs, government officials, oil MNCs partners, youths and women) Deployed in a complementary manner with an element of triangulation 5

6 Theoretical Background (1) CSR consists of affirmative and negative injunction duties (Simon et al., 1972) CSR as good neighbourliness (Robert and Elbrit,, 1973) Poverty: material deprivation, low levels of health and education, vulnerability and exposure to risk, powerlessness and voicelessness (World Bank, 2001) 6

7 Theoretical Background(2) Categorization of poverty dimensions Affirmative duties can help reduce (a) material deprivation (b) low levels of education and health (c) voicelessness and powerlessness Negative injunction duties can help reduce vulnerability and exposure to risk due to oil production 7

8 Forms of Partnerships: Potentials and Limitations Shell: government-business partnership: SPDC-NDDC partnership (top-down) ExxonMobil: : business-ngo partnership: MPN/GBF/STEP (top-down) Total: corporate-community community partnership: EOCDF/PNI (bottom-up) 8

9 SPDC/NDDC Partnerships: Potentials and Limitations NDDC: poor funding, politicization, divergent stakeholder expectations SPDC/NDDC partnership focuses on social infrastructure provision and institutional capacity building 9

10 MPN-NGO NGO Partnerships: Potentials and Limitations MPN/GBF/STEP: micro-credit credit and capacity building MPN/AKWSG: agricultural partnership MPN/NNF: health partnership 10

11 Total-Community Partnerships: Potentials and Limitations Eastern Obolo Community Development Foundation (EOCDF), established in 2002 Infrastructural provision Micro-credit credit Agricultural 11

12 Partnerships and Affirmative Duties Oil MNCs efforts to reduce material deprivation and low levels of health and education are constrained by: (a) No link between infrastructure provision and economic growth h in the Niger Delta (b) Decades of government s s and oil MNCs neglect mean recent contributions have a limited impact as community needs outweigh current supply (c) Oil MNCs efforts are still largely driven by business case logic that often results in failed projects and uneven spread of developmental benefits Oil MNCs efforts to reduce voicelessness and powerlessness via capacity building initiatives like micro-credit credit scheme and agricultural partnerships are constrained by: (a) Poor corporate-community community communication (b) Uncritical adoption of the Grameen bank model (c) Lack of sustainability Research Findings 1 12

13 Perception of oil MNCs contribution to community development (ranked) Community Response Ikot Ebidang N =32 Inua Eyet Ikot N = 70 Village Emereoke 1 N = 43 Ikot Abasi Idem N = 15 Total N = 160 Yes 3 (9%) 56 (80%) 24 (56%) 10 (67%) 93 (58%) No 29 (91%) 14 (20%) 19 (44%) 5 (33%) 67 (42%) Total 32 (100%) 70 (100%) 43 (100%) 15 (100%) 160 (100%) Source: Questionnaire survey 13

14 Perception of the impacts of CSR initiatives on households (ranked) Community Response Ikot Ebidang N =32 Inua Eyet Ikot N = 70 Village Emereoke 1 N = 43 Ikot Abasi Idem N = 15 Total N = 160 No 32 (100%) 58 (83%) 41 (95%) 14 (67%) 145 (91%) Yes 0 (0%) 12 (17%) 2 (5%) 1 (33%) 15 (9%) Total 32 (100%) 70 (100%) 43 (100%) 15 (100%) 160 (100%) Source: Questionnaire survey 14

15 Partnerships and Negative Injunction Duties Despite widespread adoption of partnership, communities continue to suffer the negative effect of oil production About 5,400 incidents of oil spill were recorded from and gas flaring continues unabated despite claims by communities that it is causing serious social and economic damage Compensation is often not paid due to continuous appeal of court verdicts or claims that there is no scientific proof to substantiate community claims Corruption and lack of capacity of government institutions Research Findings 1 15

16 Perceived main sources of negative impacts of oil production on households (ranked) Village Oil pollution activities Ikot Ebidang N =32 Inua Eyet Ikot N = 70 Emereoke 1 N = 43 Ikot Abasi Idem Not applicable = NA Total N = 160 Gas flaring 29 (100%) 63 (90%) 40 (93%) NA 132 (91%) Oil Spills 0 (0%) 50 (17%) 23 (53%) NA 73 (50%) Source: Questionnaire survey 16

17 Community perceptions of the negative impacts of oil extraction (ranked) Negative impact of oil production Ikot Ebidang N =32 Village Inua Eyet Ikot N = 70 Emereoke 1 N = 43 Total N = 160 Damage to house roofs 30 (94%) 66 (94%) 41 (95%) 137 (94%) Loss of fish 27 (84%) 66 (94%) 40 (93%) 133 (92%) Health problems 25 (78%) 53 (76%) 37 (86%) 115 (79%) High cost of living 15 (47%) 62 (89%) 19 (44%) 96 (66%) Low crop yield 26 (81%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 26 (18%) House vibration 0 (0%) 15 (21%) 0 (0%) 15 (10%) Source: Questionnaire survey Research Findings 2 17

18 Emerging Issues: Lessons Learned The bottom-up partnerships like the EOCDF appear to be much more effective for oil MNCs to deliver on their affirmative duties and build social capital in host communities Addressing affirmative duties cannot be a substitute for negative e injunction duties Community world views are informed by experience, socio-cultural cultural values and perceptions; these need to be given more attention in oil MNCs development efforts Effectiveness of partnership is not simply a function of management ent as often assumed. Rather, it is informed by management and context 18

19 Conclusion There is the need for more transparency around oil MNCs community development spending Oil MNCs need to focus more on addressing their negative injunction duties Poverty reduction is more likely to benefit from a closer inter-linkage between top-down and bottom-up partnership The need to invest in alternative sources of livelihood Oil MNCs need to re-align their CSR initiatives with local cultures, reflect local priorities and address local concerns 19