Theresa Atutu The historical ecology of oil in Nigeria. The social, economic and environmental impact in the Niger Delta and how the Nigerian government, oil companies and local communities interact because of oil. ! Master’s thesis in Global Environmental History !1 Abstract Atutu, T. 2018. The Historical Ecology of Oil in Nigeria: The Social, Economic and Environ- mental impact in the Niger Delta and How the Nigerian government, Oil companies and Local communities interact because of Oil. Uppsala, Dept of Archaeology and Ancient History. In this thesis, a historical analysis on the oil production and management in Nigeria is examine. Petroleum changed the Nigerian economy in the 1950s with the finding of oil by Shell-BP in Oloibiri, Niger Delta. This led to the neglect of the agriculture sector. In recent years, violent activisms has impacted the management of oil because of the continuous environmental damages in the region. In 2015, under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, the Nigerian gov- ernment began to open its economy up to diversification, focusing on agriculture, manufacturing, and solid minerals, including iron, gold and coal. This shift in attitudes can be seen as the result of the ongoing social unrest which is leading to activities such as hijacking oil companies and blowing up pipelines. An empirical analysis, social analysis, Actor-Network Theory and Gover- nance Theory are to assess, compare and contract the impact of oil and the framework of this thesis. The results of this study are analysts of media reports, scientific data and historiography. The conclusion of this study is an analysis on the actions and relationship of the actors, and how this can contributed to the Nigerian economy’s new approach. The main issue between each ac- tor is communication and taking action to the continuous environmental damages of the extrac- tion and production of oil in the Niger Delta. Keywords: Oil management, Niger Delta, economic, environment, social, Ogoniland, agricul- ture, oil, governance, oil companies, local communities, Nigerian government, environmental damage. Master’s thesis in Global Environmental History (60 credits), supervisor: Anneli Ekblom, De- fended and approved spring term 2018-06-05 © Theresa Atutu Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University, Box 626, 75126 Uppsala, Sweden !2 Contents 1. Introduction ...............................................................................................................................................4 1.3 Method and theory .............................................................................................................................5 2. Prospecting for oil .....................................................................................................................................8 2.1.First explorations ................................................................................................................................8 2.2. An industry is emerging .....................................................................................................................9 2.3. Oil spills and increasing social protesting .......................................................................................12 3. From a farm economy to an oil economy ...............................................................................................14 3.1. A rural economy ...............................................................................................................................14 3.2. A growing economy fuelled by oil ...................................................................................................16 3.3. The effect of oil on the Nigerian economy ......................................................................................18 4. Zooming in on the coast: Environmental and social conflicts ................................................................19 4.1. Environmental effects and its consequences ................................................................................... 19 4.1.1 Environmental effects and health................................................................................................... 19 4.1.2 Environmental consequences ........................................................................................................ 21 4.2. Social protests .................................................................................................................................22 4.2.1 Emergence of social protests in the Niger Delta ...........................................................................23 4.2.2 Social protests turns into violence ................................................................................................26 5. A changing industry? ...............................................................................................................................30 5.1. Shell .................................................................................................................................................30 5.1.1. Media reporting............................................................................................................................. 30 5.1.2 Shell’s website ..............................................................................................................................33 5.2. Chevron............................................................................................................................................ 35 5.3. ExxonMobil .....................................................................................................................................38 5.4. Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation .......................................................................................40 5.5. Government Agencies ......................................................................................................................42 6. Local voices .............................................................................................................................................46 6.1. Impact of the oil industry on everyday life ..................................................................................... 46 6.2. Oil industry and the environment ....................................................................................................47 6.3. A changing industry ........................................................................................................................48 7. Discussion................................................................................................................................................ 52 7.1. Summary .........................................................................................................................................52 7.1 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................56 7.1.1 Suggestions ...................................................................................................................................58 References ..............................................................................................................................................59 !3 1. Introduction This thesis attempts to study the ‘historical ecology’ of the oil industry in Nigeria. There are many sources written on the Nigerian oil industry. Each study is written from specific perspect- ives, political, economic or social. Thus, studies have been taking different angles to the topic (technical, economic, environmental, social instability, civil protest etc) but there is still a lack of studies that attempts to look at the issue of oil in Nigeria and its history through the integration of perspectives. This study is about the impact oil has on Nigeria’s social, environmental and economic sectors. I will begin by reviewing various aspects of the Nigeria oil industry, how it began, which actors were involved and how oil exploitation interacted with national and interna- tional companies. I will also introduce the subject of oil in Nigeria by looking at the economic market and the historical and contemporary effects of oil in the domestic economy. As will be discussed in Chapter 3, strong dependency in oil has led to the overall neglect of the agriculture sector. As reviewed by Genova and Falola (2003), there has been a shift in the literature on the oil industry. This can be seen in the early works in 1960-1970s, that was framed in a very posit- ive manner with great expectations of the potential of the oil industry for domestic economy and public welfare in Nigeria. Later publications have become increasingly negative. The increasing negative reporting in the local communities is related to political instability. Warfare such as for instance the Biafra war that was, as some argue, ‘fuelled by oil’ (see chapter 2.2). Throughout the 1990s there was a number of scandals related to pollution from oil, far from un- precedented, but now given intensive media coverage. Local and global social protests were ral- lied around a few disasters such as the Ken Saro-Wiwa and the MOSOP. These dynamics will be the focus on the fourth chapter in the thesis which will focus on the Southern part of Nigeria, the Niger Delta region because it is heavily oil based. This study will also closely look at predomin- ate cases in Ogoniland, a city in the Niger Delta