Contending Issues in the Niger Delta Crisis of Nigeria - Journal of ...

Dr. Lere Amusan
conversant with the rule of the game. That is, they would follow the
directive of the oil MNCs. The choice of a preferred
candidate/consultant to research on what Noreena Hertz called
environmental and social audits (Hertz, 2001 : 165) was aimed at
coming up with a well-tailored research outcome in favour of the Shell
operation in the Niger Delta. This is not unique to the Shell and other
oil companies in Nigeria. The same is applicable to MNCs such as
Nestle and Exxon Mobil in order to promote their business interests
and further their image laundering (Hertz, 2001: 184-186).
Another step taken by the oil companies to entrench their activities in
the Niger Delta was the Shell conception of Clean Nigeria Associate
(CNA) in conjunction with other eight major oil companies with the
NNPC. The idea was to guide against oil spillage at the terminals. This
was as a result of about 500,000 barrels of oil lost to spillage by Shell
in 1982.
The implications of oil MNCs’ operation in the Niger delta have
subjected people of the area to casual labourers, who only have to
depend on daily jobs paid less than $1 a day. After the completion of
such project, the family would go back to the status quo ante. In order
to make both ends meet, some children that are supposed to be in
school would end up in housekeeping job while their mother and
adult female children would find themselves in the cities of Lagos,
Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kaduna as sex workers. This is mindless of
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