The Niger Delta Externalities, Essay Example

In appearance from the surface the Niger Delta is an impoverished land and from the exterior you would never know the riches that lie beneath the surface; black gold. In no way is the wealth below ground proportionate to the life that resides above it.  Oil wealth enriches Nigeria, South Africa, but it has not alleviated the poverty and deprivation in the oil-bearing areas of the Niger Delta.

The oil-bearing Niger Delta has been exposed to ecological risks as a result of greed and violence the region. These ecological risks are also referred to as negative externalities. An externality is the uncompensated impact of one person’s actions on the well being of a bystander. An externality can be negative or positive, depending on whether impact on the bystander is adverse or beneficial. However, in the Niger Delta the externalities are a compounding negative.

Since the discovery of oil in the 1950’s in the Niger Delta region the oil companies have ignored the constant contamination and pollution in the region which in turn has brought the region to the brink of ecological destruction.  It is estimated that the area has endured an oil spill equivalent to that of the Exxon Valdez in Alaska, every year for the last 50 years (Nossiter 1).  The presence of the oil industry in the Niger Delta of Nigeria has brought oil spills, mass destruction of farmland, contamination of local water supplies and seawater, human rights abuse and despair to the majority of the population in the surrounding areas.

By far the worst negative externality is the oil spills that are destroying the area.  Oil spills have caused massive destruction to wild life, sea life, and threatens the traditional way of life for most people on the Niger Delta.  A UN report has criticized oil company Shell and the Nigerian government for contributing to fifty years of pollution in a region of the Niger Delta.  Claiming that it will need the worlds’ largest ever oil cleanup, estimated to cost an initial one billion and take up to thirty years (Eboh, Camillus, and Felix Onuah 1).

There are several contributing factors to the continued oil contamination over the past five decades.  First, the oil companies have not reinvested oil profit back into the Nigerian economy like they promised when oil was found in the early 1950’s. Nigeria is now the eleventh top oil producing nation in the world.  The lack of financial gain being returned to the local economy from oil investors drilling in the Niger Delta has left the people in the communities extremely poor and impoverished with an average day’s wage of one dollar.  The poverty has created a new threat; attacks on the oil pipelines in the region.  These oil pirates can make up to seventy-five dollars a day illegally refining the oil on the Niger Delta into diesel fuel. According to Shell Oil Company and the Nigerian government, oil theft responsible for the environmental damaged being caused.

The environmental factors are evident, in one community it was found that drinking water was contaminated with benzene, a substance known to cause cancer, at levels over 900 times above the World Health Organization guidelines (Eboh, Camillus, and Felix Onuah 2). Water contamination is also killing the marine life not only in the rivers and wetlands, but off shore in the sea as well.

Much of the local population rely on fish and larvae that the delta provides to feed  their families, but decades of oil spills, acid rain from gas flares, and the stripping away of mangroves for pipelines have killed off fish ( O’Neill 2). Oil pollution also damages fishing equipment and has seriously damaged agricultural land.  The long-term effects include decreased soil fertility and agricultural productivity, in some cases lasting for decades.

The destruction of the environment and in effect the livelihood of the local population has led people to steal oil and vandalize oil infrastructure in an attempt to gain compensation and survive.  A recent United Nations report shows that the quality of life in Nigeria rates below all other major oil nations, from Libya to Indonesia (O’Neill 2).  In many cases, these long-term effects have undermined a family’s only source of income for survival. These losses have led to despair and desperation in the Niger Delta.

In addition to the ecological impact, millions of gallons of oil spilled and government corruption has lead to severe human rights violations in the region. The regulatory system in Niger Delta is truly flawed. Oil has generated an estimated US $600 billion since the 1960s. Despite this, many people in the oil-producing areas have to drink, cook with and wash in polluted water, and eat fish contaminated with oil and other toxins.  The oil companies continue to issue inadequate compensation for the environmental damage they cause or provide a means to clean the area of contaminants.

The Niger Delta is one of the worlds ten most important wetland and coastal marine ecosystems and is home to some 31 million people (Hamilton 2). The oil companies in the region have continued to ignore the huge negative externalities that are causing massive ecological and social destruction in the Niger Delta region.  Complete ecological destruction of wetlands, agriculture, fishing, and clean drinking water are ruining the region.  This is a human and ecological crisis and an immediate effort needs to be enforced to stop further damage to the region.  Oil companies need to be held accountable for their actions and lack of action in the Niger Delta region. “The environmental restoration of Ogoniland could prove to be the world’s most wide- ranging and long term oil cleanup exercise ever taken ”( Eboh, Camillus, and Felix Onuah 1).  Though the damage has already been done, steps need to be taken to try to restore areas back to their pre-drilling state and profits from the oil in the Niger Delta need to be upheld and returned to the communities living there.

Works Cited

Eboh, Camillus, and Felix Onuah. “UN Seeks Massive Oil Spill Cleanup; Shell, Government Responsible for Contributing to 50 Years of Pollution in the Niger Delta, Report Finds.” The Vancouver SunAug 05 2011. ProQuest. Web. 23 Apr. 2014 .

Hamilton, Donald I. “Oil and Gas Companies and Community Crises in the Niger Delta.” American Review of Political Economy 9.1 (2011): 3-17. ProQuest. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.

O’neill, Tom. “Curse of the Black Gold.” Hope and Betrayal on the Niger Delta (2007): n. pag. National Geographic. Web.

Nossiter, Adam. “Far from Gulf, a Spill Surge 5 Decades Old.” New York Times [New York, New York] 16 June 2010, 1A sec.: n. pag. Print