Corporate Social Responsibility of Oil Multinationals in Nigeria. Human Rights, Sustainable Development and the Law

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction
1. 1. The study
1. 2. Aim and objectives
1. 3. Structure
1. 4. Contribution of the study

Chapter 2: Methodology

Chapter 3: Literature Review
3. 1. The debate on the legislative lacunas
3. 2. The literature on Nigeria as a uniquely divided and conflicting country
3. 3. The discourse about Human Rights
3. 4. CSR and sustainable development

Chapter 4: Legislative instruments currently in force in Nigeria
4. 1. National legislation
4.1.1. The Land Use Act (LUA) 1978
4.1.2. The Oil Pipelines Act (OPA) 1956 and the Petroleum (Drilling and Production) Regulations 1969
4.1.3. Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 1990
4.1.4. Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) 2007-2012
4. 2. Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) (Establishment, etc.) Act 2000
4. 3. International instruments
4. 4. Concluding remarks

Chapter 5: Discussion of the Issues. Oil, environment, and Human Rights
5. 1. Ethnicity, oil, displacement
5. 2. Environment. The unsustainability of oil development in Nigeria
5. 3. The Human Rights performance
5.3.1. International standards and domestic non-compliance
5.3.2. Oil Multinational Corporations complicity in human rights violations
5. 4. Concluding remarks

Chapter 6: CSR as a tool for sustainable development
6. 1. Self-Regulation and legal regulation
6. 2. Participation and Empowerment of local communities

Chapter 7: Conclusion. The Corporate Social (shared) Responsibility
7. 1. The government’s responsibility
7. 2. The oil MNCs’ responsibility
7. 3. The communities’ responsibility

Bibliography

Chapter 1: Introduction

1. 1. The study

The starting point of this work lies in the need of deepening the study on the Nigerian oil sector, as one of the world most astonishing examples of mismanagement of energy resources.

Therefore, the research will be carried with the aim of enlightening an aspect of energy which is often omitted in the mainstream academic panorama of developed countries.

Indeed, while the European Union and its member states, as well as the United States, are increasingly stressing the importance of environment protection and sustainability in energy development projects,^[1] many major Multinational Corporations (MNCs) based in the EU and in the US, are still heavily involved in the pollution of those developing countries which are not able nor willing to regulate their own energy sector in such a way to avoid harmful social and environmental consequences. Nigeria – a country where religious and ethnical separation and socio-political contradictions are embedded in the daily life since the independence from Britain – is a typical example of this kind of situation.

Hence, the study will seek to clarify the problem of irresponsible exploitation of oil resources in a country which does not have a proper legislative framework dealing with the topic while, at the same time, protecting their citizens’ rights.

Oil activities in Nigeria began in the mid 1950s; nowadays the country is the fifth exporter of crude oil, and the twelfth as regard crude oil production, despite the fact that its oil consumption level is far less consistent.^[2]

The research will take into particular consideration the role of oil Multinational Corporations (MNCs)^[3] in a three-fold relationship: MNCs and environment; MNCs and local communities; MNCs and central government. These three elements will represent the common thread across the entire study.

The vast national legal framework in the oil sector does not set a protection for the communities and territories affected by the petroleum exploration and industrial activities, leading to a situation in which the uneven allocation of land rights and distribution of wealth causes conflict, environmental degradation and human and peoples’ rights violations.

1. 2. Aim and objectives

The aim of the research is, firstly, to provide a deep account of the Nigerian legal framework related to oil, in order to highlight the contradictions and lacunas that led to the current situation; secondly, to link this analysis to the study of ethnicity, society and environment in the country; thirdly, to match these features with Corporate Social Responsibility, seeking to incorporate its concepts to the national body of rules, in the view of the achievement of sustainability in the development of such a controversial energy resource.

1. 3. Structure

Accordingly, Chapter 4 carries out the critical analysis of the Nigerian legal framework in the oil sector; Chapter 5 explores the peculiar social and environmental asset of the country, in order to demonstrate the need of a revision of the legislative framework; Chapter 6 proposes recommendations on the possible avenues which can eventually be followed by Nigeria; Chapter 7 concludes.

1. 4. Contribution of the study

The innovative contribution of the study lies in the adopted approach, and, in particular, in the attempt of drawing a three apices scheme by which every element involved in the oil management would work together and help each other for the improvement of the environmental and social situation and the achievement of a sustainable oil development pattern.

Federal government, local governments and communities, and MNCs shall assume their own share of responsibility in this process.

Chapter 2: Methodology

The research will be conducted on the basis of two different methodologies, which are considered equally important for the goals of this study. Indeed, the comprehension of the problematic issues related to the Nigerian oil sector is not achievable without a multifaceted viewpoint. The legal approach will be accompanied by a socio-legal approach, being the former the most suitable for the description of the national and international body of rules applicable to the oil sector in Nigeria, and the latter preferable in order to back up the legal analysis with information and details about the peculiar characteristics of the analysed country. Thus, the critical scrutiny of the Nigerian legislative framework will be conducted mainly from a doctrinal perspective: this means that the author will assume a critical stance even in the black letter approach, by highlighting the main contradictions in the Nigerian Acts, their principal weak points and the opinion of reputable scholars on the issues.

Although the analysis of the violation of the rights of people living in the most affected areas will be based on a different research approach, the underlying idea of the dissertation is to link these two different approaches in a fluent way: as the legal approach will be used in a critical way, the socio-legal approach will aim to look at the reality of the country both from a social and a legal point of view.

This study will not use primary data. The main sources are represented by Nigerian national Acts and international law instruments. Besides, numerous journal articles and books are available to have a broad but at the same time deep idea on the mismanagement in the Nigerian oil sector and its environmental and socio-political consequences.

Chapter 3: Literature Review

The study will seek to answer to the research questions enlightened in the introduction by means of a deep scrutiny of the ample literature available in the field.

3. 1. The debate on the legislative lacunas

Various scholars have paid attention to the loopholes in the Nigerian legislative framework, highlighting how such lacunas and contradictions represent the first obstacle for the sustainable oil development in the country. Ako^[4] – a leading author in this area – demonstrates how the historical evolution of the Nigerian nation has led to a subtraction of the land’s right from those communities, who were traditionally entitled of the ownership and use of the lands and resources, by the federal government. According to the author, vesting all rights to lands and natural resources in the government is equivalent to a subtraction of the communities’ environmental rights. As also argued by Atsegbua, indeed: “the denial of the existence of environmental rights is primarily responsible for the under-development of the Niger Delta area.”^[5]

Beside the misappropriation of rights to land and resources, the domestic Nigerian law is set in order to avoid the payment of fair and adequate compensation for the losses deriving from oil activities, both related to land acquisition and to environmental pollution. Ebeku notes that the provisions in the matter contained in the Nigerian law^[6] place on those who suffer from these damages an unbearable burden of proof. Ebeku, Frynas and Adewale agree on the point that the legal framework on compensation represents an easy viable avenue for oil companies who want to escape liability for harmful consequences arising from oil activities.^[7]

The establishment of liability of the parent companies for damages arising from their local subsidiaries is a challenging aspect which will be considered. Various observers and commentators highlighted the fact that oil MNCs in Nigeria take advantage of the combination of bad practices and loose legal and regulatory framework. In its commentary to the Akpan v Royal Dutch Schell Plc, McConnell gives an exhaustive overview of the international doctrine regarding the attribution of such liability. To be more precise, the author underlines that, although the UN Secretary General’s 2009 Special Representative for Business and Human Rights’ Framework confers to the states the primary ‘responsibility to protect’ their citizens from corporate actors’^[8] possibly dangerous activities, often states “lack the resources to do so, or may even be complicit in violations.”^[9]

The Nigerian Companies and Allied Act (CAMA), beside the issue of incorporation, also deals with the question of disclosure. Amao (backed up by Ejims and Villiers) observes that the disclosure requirements only encompass duties to the companies’ shareholders, evidencing an approach which, more in general, emerges from the typical structure and wording of the investment contracts between MNCs and Nigeria.^[10]

Furthermore, it has been observed that the fact that the Nigerian government is a partner of the MNCs in their oil development projects (another measure – beside the domestic incorporation of subsidiaries contained in the already mentioned CAMA – which is supposed to work for the indigenisation of the oil industry in the country^[11] ), is deleterious for the genuine work of the regulatory agencies, and, as a result, for the genuine enforcement of regulations in the field.^[12] This is the reason why the Revenue Watch Institute posited that, if the proposed Petroleum Industry Bill will fail to amend the disclosure provisions for the state-owned companies, its efforts for a higher transparency in the Nigerian oil sector will be vain.^[13]

The literature identifies, on the one hand, a slow – if not absent – amendment process to the national provisions in the field of oil and – more broadly, in the regulation of MNCs – and, on the other hand, the lack of a prompt transposition of international Human Rights and environment protection instruments into national law. These two aspects, combined with the corrupt and conflicting Nigerian situation, produce a stalemate in the process towards a sustainable oil development in the country.

3. 2. The literature on Nigeria as a uniquely divided and conflicting country

Numerous observers have highlighted the correlation between the socio-political and ethnical structure of Nigeria and the landscape of conflict and instability which characterises the oil sector in the country.^[14]

Such conflict for the ownership and control of natural resources is both cause and effect of the displacement of people, arising from the appropriation of land for oil development: this feature is analysed, amongst others, by Opukri, Ibaba, and Ahonsi.^[15]

Nwapi finds that the origin of the internal instability surrounding the oil sector lies, again, in the legal provisions: the root of local discontent is to be found in the lack of local people engagement in any of the phases of the oil development decision-making and actual realisation in Niger Delta Development Commission Act (which was supposed to remedy to this vacuum in the law).^[16]

The study will explore the current debate about the internal displacement. Indeed, there is some uncertainty about the exact number of IDPs people in the country and some institutions do not even report this category in their statistics. However, Human Rights Watch clarifies that the oil activities are the main cause of violence and instability in the country, which, in turn, cause the displacement of people.^[17] On the contrary, the World Bank is convinced that the impact of oil activity in the Niger Delta is considerable as subordinate to the effects of other economic activities in the region.^[18]

Nonetheless, the UNEP acknowledges the inadequateness of oil infrastructures’ control, maintenance and decommissioning; Amnesty International agrees on this point, clarifying that oil pollution permeates every element of the environment and, as a result, constitutes a serious and underrated danger for the health of local people.^[19]

Beside the aspect of the environmental disaster, another important cause of instability is the uneven allocation of oil revenues.^[20]

Ekhator and Oshionebo highlight the regulatory agencies’ deficit of impact in solving these issues. Indeed, the agencies cannot enforce the regulations on which they are based and the wording itself of such regulations is too vague or even counterproductive.^[21]

3. 3. The discourse about Human Rights

As summed up by the University of Minnesota, although Nigeria has signed many of the international law instruments in the field of Human Rights, its various governments have not ratified nor implemented them.^[22] Egede underlines that, in the African case law, the Nigerian government has been considered in breach of the human right to a healthy environment, since it allows oil MNCs to cause environmental degradation.^[23] Hence, Atsegbua suggests, nowadays environmental rights can be claimed on the basis of regional treaties – namely the African Charter of Human and Peoples’ Rights – in order to bypass the obstacle of the missing transposition and enforcement of other dedicated international instrument into Nigerian domestic law.^[24]

Attention will be paid to the feature of the MNCs complicity in the human rights violation situation in Nigeria,^[25] and to the correlation between this and the lack of sustainable oil development in the country. Human Rights Watch argues that oil MNCs share part of the responsibility for such violations.^[26] This element will be linked to the discourse about the responsibility of home states for the harmful acts of MNCs abroad. At this point, the study will benefit of the contributions of various authors, such as Raidt and Smith^[27], Soremekun^[28] and Sende.^[29] The first underlines the importance of Nigerian oil for the global markets; the second notes the strategic political and economic function of oil MNCs for their home states; finally, Sende argues that, although the mainstream international law doctrine has not yet accepted the duty of home states to prevent human rights abuses by MNCs, there is no provision which impedes such a behaviour by home states.^[30]

3. 4. CSR and sustainable development

The dissertation will apply the concept of CSR to oil sustainable development in Nigeria. Various authors (e.g. Ntongho, Ogutuga, Oshionebo, and Graham and Woods) have criticised the voluntariness of CSR schemes. What emerges is that self-regulation in the social responsibility of MNCs is not sufficient: companies do not have enough incentives to abide to their own guidelines and public opinion is not adequately informed.^[31]

The Global Public Policy Institute posited that, although the regulation factor is essential, the cooperation amongst the actors involved in the corporate activities (companies, governments, civil society) is equally indispensable.^[32]

The scrutiny of the voluntary Codes of social conduct issued by two of the main oil MNCs operating in Nigeria at the moment (Shell and Chevron), will serve as a tool to demonstrate the unsuitableness of such Codes for the enforcement of CSR principles in general and especially in the developing countries, among which Nigeria is a special case. As maintained by Adomokai and Sheate, indeed, environment and society are closely linked in the Nigerian local communities’ perspective.^[33] The same viewpoint is shared by the United Nations.^[34] Ihugba views a possible avenue for sustainable development in the attribution to local people of the right to participate right from the stage of law and decision making. As a result, the lawmaking process would be fairer and more inclusive: this, in turn, would generate an environment in which different actors cooperate for the better.^[35]

Donnelly Roark and Percival and Homer-Dixon share the same perspective, and clarify that the community approach to development should be given the opportunity to guide the development of natural resources and to manage the challenges arising from such a development.^[36] In addition, Ebeku underlines the importance of the right approach of the Nigerian national courts in addressing issues arising from oil activity: not only access to justice has to be guaranteed, but also justice has to be done by taking into consideration all the factors involved, not on the basis of pure technical and juridical details.^[37]

Thereafter, the study will draw a scheme of cooperation between different actors, for a Corporate Social (shared) Responsibility. Okoye and Eyre consider the regulation of corporations by the state of primary importance. However, the authors cite Benioff and Le Jeune (two important MNCs consultants), who sustain that state regulation is counterproductive in this field, and Nakajima warns that an excessive state intervention could possibly determine an increased corruption level.^[38]

Beside the governments, the role of MNCs is increasingly recognised as of utmost importance in achieving CSR, even by the World Bank and by the MNCs themselves.^[39]

Ukeje discusses the much-needed turn – on the part of oil MNCs (thereinafter OMNCs) – to the abidance to international environmental and human rights standards: the author, indeed, describes the complicity between OMNCs and Nigerian government in sharing the benefits of oil profits and revenues without involving local people, and, on the contrary, harmfully affecting them.^[40]

As concerns the role of communities, Ako stresses the importance of relying on NGOs for technical and legal consulting; on the other hand, Orji underlines the fundamental want of direct local communities empowerment and capacity building.^[41]

[...]

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^[1] As a way of example, see: European Commission, ‘Sustainable, secure and affordable energy for Europeans’ (europa.eu 2013). Available at: <http://europa.eu/pol/ener/flipbook/en/files/energy.pdf> accessed on 15 August 2014, and The Business Council for Sustainable Energy, ‘Sustainable energy in America. Fact-book 2014’ (bcse.org 2014). Available at:

<http://www.bcse.org/factbook/pdfs/2014%20Sustainable%20Energy%20in%20America%20Factbook.pdf> accessed on 15 August 2014.

^[2] CIA, 'The World Fact-book Nigeria' (cia.gov 2014). Available at: <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ni.html> accessed on 25 July 2014.

^[3] The debate about the difference between Multinational Corporations and Transnational Corporations originated during the early discussion on international enterprises having their headquarters in one country but carrying out business in various parts of the world. Here, this difference is not relevant: for the purposes of this work, Transnational Corporations and Multinational Corporations are regarded as the same kind of international business.

^[4] R T Ako, ‘Nigeria’s Land Use Act: an anthitesis to environmental justice’, [2009], JAL 53:2 289-304.

^[5] L Atsegbua, ‘Environmental rights, pipeline vandalisation and conflict resolution in Nigeria’, [2001] IELTR 5 89-92.

^[6] The reference, here, is especially to the Petroleum (Drilling and Production) Regulations 1969.

^[7] See K S A Ebeku, ‘Compensation for damage arising from oil operations: Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria v Ambah revisited’ [2002] IELTR 155, 156,

J G Frynas, Oil in Nigeria, Conflict and Litigation between Oil Companies and Village Communities. LIT, London 2000, and

O Adewale, ‘Oil Spill Compensation Claims in Nigeria: Principles, Guidelines and Criteria’ [1989] JAL, 33, 91-104.

^[8] Sanctioned, amongst others, by the United Nations Draft Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with Regard to Human Rights.

^[9] L J McConnell, 'Establishing liability for multinational oil companies in parent/subsidiary relationships' [2014] ELR 50, 51.

Pertaining to this – and highlighting the peculiarly intricate situation in the management of the oil sector in Nigeria – Ploch stresses the point of the political complicity in the criminal activities related to oil: the deriving proceeds are used for the funding of electoral campaigns and other political activities. See: Ploch, 'Nigeria: Current Issues and U.S. Policy' (Federation of American Scientists 2012). Available at: <http://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL33964.pdf> accessed on 15 July 2014.

^[10] See: O O Amao , ‘Corporate Social Responsibility, Multinational Corporations and the Law in Nigeria: Controlling Multinationals in Host States’ [2008] JAL 52 89-113, O Ejims, 'The impact of Nigerian international petroleum contracts on environmental and human rights of indigenous communities' [2013] AJICL 345, 349, and C Villiers, Corporate Reporting and Company Law (1st, Cambridge University Press, e.g. Oxford 2006), xi.

^[11] In this regard, it is possible to link the discussion to the opinion of Ogutuga, who posits that the transposition of international law instruments into national law has to be carried out in a particularly careful way in the developing countries. See: M Ogutuga, ‘CSR obligations of Transnational Corporations and legal enforcement mechanisms in extractive industries: how effective are these mechanisms in the protection of Human Rights in Africa?’ [2009] CELMPM Annual Review, Vol.13.

^[12] As an example, see: E Oshionebo, 'Transnational corporations, civil society organisations and social accountability in Nigeria's oil and gas industry' [2007] AJICL 107, 108.

^[13] Sayne, Mahdavi, Heller, Schreuder, 'The Petroleum Industry Bill and the Future of NNPC' (RevenueWatch.org 2012) available at:<http://www.revenuewatch.org/publications/petroleum-industry-bill-and-future-nnpc> accessed on 14 February 2014.

^[14] Among these, Obi and Rustad, on the one hand, and Maass in the other hand, are of particular relevance for the aims of this work. See: C Obi and S A Rustad, Oil and Insurgency in the Niger Delta, Managing the complex politics of petro-violence (1st, Zed Books Ltd., Uppsala, Sweden 2011). P Maass, Crude World, The violent twilight of oil (1st, Alfred A. Knopf, New York 2009). The former is a book which gathers various contributions from different authors, ranging from the issues of ethnicity and environmental disaster in the Niger Delta to the question of the access to justice for the affected communities, passing through the incapacity of the state and the responsibilities of the oil MNCs. The main thread of the book lies in the perspective according to which the unique asset of the country implies a scrupulous attention if the goal is to remedy to the current situation: the analysis carried out throughout the chapters is not conducted only from the legal point of view, but also by the means of political and sociological research. The latter is a direct reportage: the chapter dedicated to Nigeria describes it through interviews with local villages’ heads, government’s and oil companies’ officials and rebel groups leaders, allegedly fighting for political and economic self-determination through the control of natural resources.

^[15] See: C O Opukri and I S Ibaba, 'Oil induced environmental degradation and internal population displacement in the Niger Delta' [e.g. 2005] JSDA 185, 188, and B A Ahonsi, 'Capacity and governance deficits in the response to the Niger Delta crisis' in C Obi and S A Rustad (eds), Oil and insurgency in the Niger Delta, Managing the complex politics of petro-violence (1st, Zed Books Ltd., Uppsala, Sweden 2011).

^[16] C Nwapi, 'A legislative proposal for public participation in oil and gas decision-making in Nigeria' [2010] JAL 184, 187, and N E Ojukwu-Ogba, 'Legislating development in Nigeria's oil producing region: the NDDC Act sever years on' [2009] AJICL 136, 137.

^[17] For an account of the debate on this topic, see: UNHCR, 'Internally Displaced People, On the run in their own land' (unhcr.org 2014). Available at: <http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49c3646c146.html> accessed on 13 July 2014, National Emergency Management Agency, '16,470 Persons still in IDP camps' (nema.gov 2014). Available at: <http://nema.gov.ng/16470-displaced-persons-still-in-idp-camps/> accessed on 13 July 2014, UNHCR, 'Global Estimates 2011, People displaced by natural hazard-induced disasters’ (unhcr.org 2011). Available at: <http://www.unhcr.org/50f95fcb9.html> accessed on 14 July 2014, and Human Rights Watch, 'Nigeria: UPR Submission March 2013' (hrw.org 2013). Available at: <http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/10/17/nigeria-upr-submission-march-2013> accessed on 5 August 2014.

^[18] See: Universitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona, 'Nigeria: Issues and dilemmas' (econ.epf.edu 2004). Available at: <http://www.econ.upf.edu/~lemenestrel/IMG/pdf/shell_nigeria_website-2.pdf> accessed on 14 July 2014.

^[19] See Amnesty International, 'Nigeria: Petroleum, Pollution and Poverty in the Niger Delta' (amnesty.org 2009). Available at: <http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AFR44/017/2009/en/e2415061-da5c-44f8-a73c-a7a4766ee21d/afr440172009en.pdf> accessed on14 July 2014, United Nations Environment Programme, 'Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland' (unep.org 2011). Available at: <http://postconflict.unep.ch/publications/OEA/UNEP_OEA.pdf> accessed on18 June 2014, and A A Idowu, ‘Human Rights, Environmental Degradation and Oil Multinational Companies in Nigeria: the Ogoniland Episode’, [1999] 17 Neth. Q. Hum. Rts. 161.

^[20] On this issue, see: I S Ibaba, 'The Ijaw National Congress and conflict resolution in the Niger Delta' in C Obi and S A Rustad (eds), Oil and insurgency in the Niger Delta, Managing the complex politics of petro-violence (1st, Zed Books Ltd., Uppsala, Sweden 2011).

^[21] See: E Osa Ekhator, 'Environmental Protection in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria: the roles of governmental agencies' [2013] IELR 196, 203, and E Oshionebo, Regulating transnational corporations in domestic and international regimes an African case study, University of Toronto Press Inc., Toronto 2009. 57.

^[22] See University of Minnesota. Human Rights Library, 'Ratification of International Human Rights Treaties - Nigeria' (umn.edu 2012 – last update). Available at: <http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/research/ratification-nigeria.html> accessed on 15 July 2014.

^[23] E Egede, 'Bringing human rights home: an examination of the domestication of human rights treaties in Nigeria' [2007] JAL 249, 284.

^[24] See supra note 5.

^[25] See: B J Richardson, ‘Socially Responsible Investing for Sustainability: Overcoming Its Incomplete and Conflicting Rationales’, [2013] TEL 2:2 311-338, for a theoretical discussion about the definition and the interpretation of the Complicity Doctrine. See also P T Muchlinkski, ‘Human rights and multinationals: is there a problem?’ [2001] International Affairs 77:1 31 – 48.

^[26] Human Rights Watch, 'The Price of Oil. Corporate Social Responsibility and Human Rights Violations in Nigeria's Oil Producing Communities.' (hrw.org 1999). Available at: <http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/nigeria/nigeria0199.pdf> accessed on 16 July 2014.

^[27] Raidt and Smith, 'Advancing U.S., African, and Global Interests: Security and Stability in the West African Maritime Domain' (atlanticcouncil.org 2010). Available at: <http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/images/files/publication_pdfs/3/advancing-us-african-global-interests-security-stability-west-africa-maritime-domain.pdf> accessed on 19 July 2014.

^[28] C Obi and S A Rustad, ‘ Oil and insurgency in the Niger Delta ’. See supra, note 12.

^[29] Sende, 'The Responsibilities of States for Actions of Transnational Corporations Affecting Social and Economic Rights: A Comparative Analysis of the Duty to Protect' (cjel.net 2009). Available at: <http://www.cjel.net/online/15_2-marsella-sende/> accessed on 1 August 2014.

^[30] Muchlinski, moreover, argues that the socially responsible business has started to be considered favourable by the MNCs themselves. See: P T Muchlinski, Multinational Enterprises and the Law (2nd Edition). OUP, Oxford 2007, 516.

^[31] See: R Ntongho, ‘Self-regulation of corporate governance in Africa: following the bandwagon?’ ICCLR [2009] 20(2), 427-435, M Ogutuga, supra note 11, M Oshionebo, supra note 12, and D Graham and N Woods, ‘Making Corporate Self-Regulation Effective in Developing Countries’ [2006] World Development 34:5, 868–883.

^[32] See A Okoye, 'Exploring the relationship between corporate social responsibility, law and development in an African context: should government be responsible for ensuring corporate responsibility?' [2012] IJLM, and C Mordi, I S Opoyemi, M Tonbara, S Ojo, ‘Corporate Social Responsibility and the Legal Regulation in Nigeria’ [2012] Economic Insights, Trends and Challenges, LXIV 1 1-8.

^[33] R Adomokai, W R Sheate, ‘Community participation and environmental decision-making in the Niger Delta’ [2004] EIAR 24 495-518.

^[34] See: A I Osuoka, 'Oil and Gas Revenues and Development Challenges for the Niger Delta in Nigeria, Expert Group Meeting on the Use of Non-Renewable Energy Resource Revenues for Sustainable Local Development' (un.org 2007). Available at: <http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/sdissues/institutional_arrangements/egm2007/presentations/isaacOsuoka.pdf> accessed on 14 July 2014, and UN Interagency Framework Team for Preventive Action, 'Renewable Resources and Conflict. Toolkit and Guidance for Managing Land and Natural Resources Conflict' (un.org 2012). Available at: <http://www.un.org/en/events/environmentconflictday/pdf/GN_Renewable_Consultation.pdf> accessed on 1 August 2014.

^[35] See, amongst others, B U Ihugba, ‘The governance of corporate social responsibility: developing an inclusive regulation framework’ [2014] IJLM 56 2, 105-120, and C Nwapi, supra note 16.

^[36] See: P Donnelly Roark, ‘Using Participation and Empowerment to Create a Human Rights Perspective on the Environment in Africa’ [1993] AUJIP 121, and V Percival and T Homer-Dixon, ‘Environmental Scarcity and Violent Conflict: The Case of South Africa’, JPR, 35:3. 279, 298.

^[37] Supra, note 5.

^[38] See: A Okoye, supra note 32, B Eyre, ‘The crusade for CSR’, [2004] CL 42 20-24, and C Nakajima, ‘The importance of legally embedding corporate social responsibility’, [2011] CL32(9), 257-259. The Nigerian corruption scenario is well described by O N Ogbu, ‘Combating Corruption in Nigeria; A Critical Appraisal of the Laws, Institutions and Political Will’ [2008] ASICL14 99.

^[39] In this regard, the study will benefit from the contributions of the former President of the World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz, and the Unilever CEO, Niall Fitzgerald. See: World Bank, 'Corporate Social Responsibility: Good for Business, Remarks to Business for Social Responsibility Conference, Washington, DC. ' (web.worldbank.org 2005). Available at: <http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:21195595~pagePK:64257043~piPK:437376~theSitePK:4607,00.html> accessed on1 August 2014, and Elliott, 'Cleaning Agent. Interview: Niall FitzGerald, co-chairman and chief executive, Unilever' (theguardian.com 2003). Available at: <http://www.theguardian.com/business/2003/jul/05/unilever1#> accessed on 2 August 2014.

^[40] C Ukeje, 'Changing the paradigm of pacification: oil and militarization in Niger Delta's Region' in C Obi and S A Rustad (eds), Oil and insurgency in the Niger Delta, Managing the complex politics of petro-violence (1st, Zed Books Ltd., Uppsala, Sweden 2011) 94.

^[41] See: R Ako, ‘The struggle for resource control and violence in the Niger Delta’ in C Obi and S A Rustad (eds), Oil and insurgency in the Niger Delta, Managing the complex politics of petro-violence (1st, Zed Books Ltd., Uppsala, Sweden 2011) 54, and U J Orji, ‘Towards sustainable local content development in the Nigerian oil and gas industry: an appraisal of the legal framework and challenges – Part 1’ IELR [2004] 1, 30-42.