IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/sustdv/v9y2001i2p74-86.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Shell, Nigeria and the Ogoni. A study in unsustainable development: I. The story of Shell, Nigeria and the Ogoni people - environment, economy, relationships: conflict and prospects for resolution

Author

Listed:
  • Richard Boele

    (Kingston University, UK)

  • Heike Fabig

    (Sussex University, UK)

  • David Wheeler

    (York University, Canada)

Abstract

The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and its joint-venture partners - particularly the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation - have earned billions of dollars from the oil extracted from the land of the Ogoni in the Niger Delta. The Ogoni however complain that they have not seen adequate benefits; rather the oil has cost them dearly in terms of a deteriorating environment and underdevelopment and mobilized a successful national and international campaign against the Nigerian government and Shell. Despite the avowed non-violent nature of the campaign, military repression resulted in thousands of Ogoni killed, raped, beaten, detained and exiled and the main leaders executed. Under pressure from the Ogoni, Shell was forced to pull out from Ogoniland in 1993. Since then, Shell International has re-invented its corporate strategy in line with principles of sustainable development and it has committed itself to a level of stakeholder engagement on its environmental and social performance which would have been unthinkable in 1995. So for Shell, a return to Ogoni would be a powerful symbol that their corporate commitment to being a socially responsible company is being translated into action on the ground. However, there is still little trust between the company and the Ogoni people and their representative organization, the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP). Many of the issues raised by the Ogoni (such as the need for locally sustainable development, distribution of oil wealth, community projects and environmental issues) have yet to be addressed. This paper is the first of a trilogy examining the issues, relationships, management and strategic implications of the case. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Suggested Citation

  • Richard Boele & Heike Fabig & David Wheeler, 2001. "Shell, Nigeria and the Ogoni. A study in unsustainable development: I. The story of Shell, Nigeria and the Ogoni people - environment, economy, relationships: conflict and prospects for resolution," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 9(2), pages 74-86.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:9:y:2001:i:2:p:74-86
    DOI: 10.1002/sd.161
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1002/sd.161
    File Function: Link to full text; subscription required
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/sd.161?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kalé Z. Kponee & Jamaji C. Nwanaji-Enwerem & Xianqiang Fu & Iyenemi I. Kakulu & Marc G. Weisskopf & Chunrong Jia, 2018. "Elevated Indoor Volatile Organic Compound Exposure in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-11, September.
    2. Adedapo O. Adeola & Adedibu S. Akingboye & Odunayo T. Ore & Oladotun A. Oluwajana & Adetola H. Adewole & David B. Olawade & Abimbola C. Ogunyele, 2022. "Crude oil exploration in Africa: socio-economic implications, environmental impacts, and mitigation strategies," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 26-50, March.
    3. Ans Kolk & François Lenfant, 2013. "Multinationals, CSR and Partnerships in Central African Conflict Countries," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(1), pages 43-54, January.
    4. Rüdiger Hahn & Regina Lülfs, 2014. "Legitimizing Negative Aspects in GRI-Oriented Sustainability Reporting: A Qualitative Analysis of Corporate Disclosure Strategies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 123(3), pages 401-420, September.
    5. Daniel Reimsbach & Rüdiger Hahn, 2015. "The Effects of Negative Incidents in Sustainability Reporting on Investors’ Judgments–an Experimental Study of Third‐party Versus Self‐disclosure in the Realm of Sustainable Development," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(4), pages 217-235, May.
    6. Nuno Guimaraes Costa & Gerard Farias & David Wasieleski & Anthony Annett, 2021. "Seven Principles for Seven Generations: Moral Boundaries for Transformational Change," Humanistic Management Journal, Springer, vol. 6(3), pages 313-328, December.
    7. Prošková Anna, 2015. "Embracing Sustainable Development Is An Ethical Decision," CRIS - Bulletin of the Centre for Research and Interdisciplinary Study, Sciendo, vol. 2015(1), pages 61-65, January.
    8. Ottih, Rosecolette Ihuoma & Prof. H.E. Alapiki & Dr Innocent Barikor, 2023. "Crude Oil Prospecting and Security Challenges in The Niger Delta: A Case Study of Rivers State," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 7(7), pages 514-524, July.
    9. Christof Miska & Christian Hilbe & Susanne Mayer, 2014. "Reconciling Different Views on Responsible Leadership: A Rationality-Based Approach," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 125(2), pages 349-360, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:9:y:2001:i:2:p:74-86. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-1719 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.