culture and society in west africa

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Oil in Nigeria Nigeria , a country in West Africa is the most populous nation in Africa in terms of both the population and the number of states which natural resources and minerals with oil which is found in the Niger Delta being the main natural resource . This makes Nigeria to be the biggest oil producing country in Africa with a capacity of over two million barrels of oil per day . This resource accounts for over 80 of the government revenue in the budget and

in terms of export commodities it accounts for over 95 of the country 's export annually (Frynas140

In for the government to realize the above figures , it enters into a mutual agreement with foreign multi-national oil corporations like Mobil , Shell , and Agip among others . Both the state and the corporations depend on each other on certain issues like provision of security to the companies , regulation of the work and licensing the companies being the roles of the government which in turn obtains tax revenue to run it 's affairs by taxing the corporations (www .globalissues .org

In spite of the operations of the multi-national oil corporations in Nigeria and the richness in terms of oil reserves in the country , it is ranked among the poorest countries in Africa . This means that very rarely does the common citizen in Nigeria realize the benefits of the presence of the companies and the availability of oil reserves in the country

The very presence of these corporations on the ground has had both beneficial and adverse effects on the well being of the local communities . When contacted the corporations respond to having brought about positive impacts on the local communities in way of corporate social responsibility . Apart from being a source of employment for the local communities , the companies have led to infrastructural development in the country . Proper road networks have had to be maintained in the country to ensure efficient transport to the production sites by the employees and the expatriates in the oil industry . These are among the positive impacts that can be said of the oil industry in Nigeria . From a closer focus on these industries one is able to highlight few adverse effects on the local communities in the oil producing regions in Nigeria

These effects can be classified as either falling under environmental social or economic effects . Key among them is the problem of environmental pollution from the activities of the oil corporations . It is of necessity to note that the majority of the local communities benefit directly from the environment in terms of the daily activities that carry out to earn a living . These activities include agricultural use of land in growing food crops for the family as most of the lands are productive for agricultural use , forestry and fishing . All these activities have been highly affected by environmental pollution and consequently the local communities livelihood . Environmental damage caused by the activities of the companies like oil spills...