Theses & Dissertations
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Item INFLUENCE OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY PROGRAMMES OF MULTINATIONAL OIL CORPORATIONS ON HOST COMMUNITIES IN SOUTH-SOUTH, NIGERIA(2013) OKOJI, O. O.The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) embraces the notion that Multinational Oil Corporations (MNCs) have moral and ethical responsibilities to their host communities. Though past studies on Niger Delta are vast and have generally focused on the activities of MNCs, such as community development programmes, peace building, provision of infrastructural facilities, little attention has been paid to their CSR. The study, therefore, investigated the influence of CSR programmes (Poverty alleviation, vocational scheme, healthcare scheme, infrastructural provision, and peace building) of MNCs on the development of selected host communities in South-south, Nigeria. The study adopted descriptive survey research design of ex post facto study type. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select 1126 residents from 12 host communities in Akwa Ibom (AI) and Rivers states (RS), the states were selected because the MNCs operate mainly in the states. Purposive sampling technique was used to select 50 officials each from Exxon Mobil and Total Exploration. The CSR Inventory (r = 0.74) and Host Communities’ Development Assessment Scale (r = 0.71) were used. These were complemented with 24 sessions of Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) held with residents of the host communities. Four research questions and three hypotheses were answered and tested at 0.05 level of significance. Data were analysed using mean, t – test and Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation. Qualitative data were content analysed. Poverty alleviation, vocational scheme, healthcare scheme, infrastructural provision, educational development and peace building programmes of the MNCs had a significant low relationship with development in the host communities (r = 0.019; p< 0.05). The relationship between each of the CSR programmes and development in the host communities were as follows: Poverty alleviation (r = -0.011; p >0.05), vocational scheme (r = 0.005; p> 0.05), health care (r = -0.014; p>0.05) infrastructure provision(r = 0.001; p>0.05) educational development (r = 0.025; p>0.05) and peace building (r = 0.029; p>0.05). The Corporate Social Responsibility of MNCs conformed to the standards of CSR as follows: corporate integrity (x̅=3.67), commitment (x̅ =3.69) and morality (x̅ = 3.23). Significant difference was found between the impacts of the programmes in Rivers and Akwa Ibom States (Crit- t = 1.96; Cal.t = 3.134, df = 1126; p< 0.05). The CSR programmes impacted more on Rivers State in all the programmes than in Akwa Ibom State. The results of the CSR programmes of the MNC in the two states were as follows; Poverty alleviation, AI (x̅ = 12.4000); RS (x̅ = 13.5389). Vocational skills, AI (x̅=16.7625); RS (x̅ =19.4329); Healthcare, AI (x̅= 6.9089); RS (x̅= 7.3905); Infrastructure, AI (x̅= 5.6482); RS (𝑋 = 6.4346); Educational development, AI (x̅= 12.4161); RS (x̅=14.1307); Peace building, AI (x̅=3.8589), RS (x̅=3.8993). The level of participation of host communities in the programmes of MNCs in South-south was low despite efforts of the corporations to improve their living conditions. Thus, for the programmes to be successful, the host communities should be involved in the planning and identification of priorities of needs before programmes execution.Item A STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT OF THE JOINT MILITARY TASK FORCE IN THE NIGER DELTA, 2003-2010(2012) MEJABI, H. O.Existing studies on the Niger Delta crisis focus largely on causes of the problem, the insurgency tactics of the militants, and some non-violent response mechanisms of the Nigerian state. These studies have neglected the use of military force to terminate the conflict. This study tries to bridge this gap by examining an aspect of counter-insurgency in the region by the Federal Government. The study is particularly focused on the preparedness, deployment, capabilities and impact of the operations of the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) in the region since 2003. Data were collected from primary and secondary sources. The primary sources involved in-depth interviews with seven military Generals and thirteen Colonels all of which were directly involved in the Niger Delta operation. In-depth interviews were also held with ten security agencies (the police and SSS most especially) as well as eight security officials of oil companies; fifteen community and youth leaders, and four civil society organizations (CSOs). The secondary sources were magazine and newspaper reports, journals, books and internet reports and publications of oil companies. The analytical method used was content analysis. The mandate of JTF was found to be in tandem with the expectations of a Military Operations Other Than War (MOOTW). It was expected to use force to make the Niger Delta region safe for oil exploitation. The operation was a strategy through which the government tried to evade responding proactively to the demands of the Niger Delta people. The mission has two flanks: Operation RESTORE HOPE which started in 2003 and Operation FLUSHOUT III which commenced in 2004 in Warri and Port Harcourt respectively. The two operations were merged into one in 2009. JTF was not specially trained for the riverine operations it carried out and was not adequately equipped and maintained to engage in asymmetrical warfare, curb militancy and Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) proliferation. The study further reveals lack of interagency collaboration amongst the security agencies, CSOs and community leaders. Hence, it was difficult for JTF to achieve its goals. Instead, it caused collateral damages to communities and is perceived to have created 'new' Niger Delta problem. Collusion of the community members and the militant youths led to the death of several JTF operatives. The JTF has failed to arrest the insecurity problems in the region. The study recommends that the government should review the rules of engagement of the JTF with a view to making it to truly support a genuine disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) of militants. Community members and civil society organizations should be involved in these reconstruction efforts of the Nigerian state as they are closer to the militant youths than the government.Item ALIENATION AND ECOACTIVISM IN SELECTED WORKS ON THE NIGER DELTA CRISIS(2014) FEGHABO, C. C.The discourse of alienation, provoked by environmental despoliation due to the activities of multinational oil companies in the Niger Delta region, is aptly captured in literary works. Previous studies on literary texts about the Niger Delta crisis have identified the negative socio-economic and political impacts of oil exploitation as responsible for the ecoactivism in the Niger Delta, neglecting the role of alienation or erosion of self in the fueling of the crisis. This study, therefore, examines the indicators of erosion of self as projected in selected prose texts on the Niger Delta crisis. This is with a view to establishing how the literary writers connect ecoactivism to the erosion of self. Karl Marx's and Marilyn Nissim-Sabat's postulations on alienation as well as Lawrence Buell's theory on practical commitment to the environment were adopted based on their concern with alienation and ecoactivism, and as implicated in the Niger Delta crisis. Six prose works: Saro-Wiwa's A Month and a Day (AMAD), a memoir; Okpewho's Tide (T); Ojaide's The Activist (TA); Egbuson's Love My Planet (LMP); Agary's Yellow-Yellow (YY) and Habila's Oil on Water (OOW) were chosen. Their selection was based on the shared experiential knowledge of all but one of the writers, and the themes of alienation and ecoactivism, which are common to them. These texts were subjected to literary analysis. Three indicators of alienation or erosion of self-consciousness and two indicators of ecoactivism are differently portrayed in the six texts. Alienation is unveiled through the following: pictures of degraded ecosystem; internal division; presentation of the people as victims as well as protagonists. Ecoactivism is illustrated through ecoterrorism; and non-violent eco-campaign. All the six texts, employing pathos, capture the feeling of alienation of the people of Niger Delta through appalling pictures of the degraded environment as a result of the activities of multinational oil companies. Saro-Wiwa's (AMAD), Okpewho's T, Ojaide's TA, Egbuson's LMP and Habila's OOW illustrate the people's erosion of self as a result of divisions among them, due to financial inducements from the Nigerian state and the multinational oil companies. Okpewho's T, Saro-Wiwa's AMAD, Ojaide's TA and Egbuson's LMP, through antithetical pictures, capture the people's loss of self by presenting them as victims of internal/external exploitation as well as protagonists against internal/external foes. Three of the texts, namely: Ojaide's TA, Egbuson's LMP and Habila's OOW present violence/ecoterrorism against the perceived internal/ external foes of the people as a means of preserving the environment. Saro-Wiwa's AMAD, Okpewho's T and Agary's YY reveal urgent non-violent eco-campaign in the area. Ecological degradation and internal divisions are linked by the six texts to the oil and gas exploration activities of the multinational oil companies and these generate a sense of alienation that leads to intense ecoactivism in the area. Three indicators of erosion of self, which connect with ecoterrorism and non-violent eco-campaign, are manifest in the selected texts through the use of pathos and antithesis. These reveal the writers' construction of self as a contingence on ecoactivism in the Niger Delta crisis.