Introduction: Environment and development in the Niger Delta
According to a report by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in 2006 (Page 135), “The Niger Delta has an enormously rich natural endowment in the form of land, water, forests and fauna. These assets, however, have been subjected to extreme degradation due to oil prospecting. For many people, this loss has been a direct route into poverty, as natural resources have traditionally been primary sources of sustenance” This region has been neglected for a relatively long time. According to the report, the region has a gross prevalence of academic conflict, filth and squalor, abject poverty, social deprivation, high rate of unemployment, crumbling social infrastructure and administrative neglect. The rich endowment of natural resources within this region might not be of much help if the above challenges are not addressed in due time. For example, abject poverty continues to affect thousands of lives in the Niger Delta region at a time when the same segment of the population is supposed to live in splendor.
As oil prospecting becomes the main agenda of this region, there is little regard for the environment. In other words, environmental degradation is taking toll on both the human and animal life.
A study by Olsson (2015) observes that the actual volume of oil spills in the Niger Delta zone is yet to be established. Although estimates vary, the volume of spills is quite high. The study offers a number of recommendations on policy measures that can be put in place in order to curb pollution and degradation of the environment. The author is emphatic that the level of spills over the last 50 years should be reduced significantly in order to realize any positive gains
Poor management of the environment even as oil is being extracted from the region is the main reason why poverty index is on the rise. The communities habiting this region have been depending on the natural resources for centuries and once they are degraded, they have nowhere to turn to for economic sustenance. Although there is lack of consensus on the actual frequency or count of oil spills, the Delta region is still one of the worst affected regions in terms of environmental pollution.
This literature review examines existing literature under three areas, namely: Niger Delta oil; Institutional arrangements and Deficits in the Niger Delta. The aim is to analyse Deficits of oil related regulations in the Niger Delta and the existing gaps in the current literature on the emerging socio –environmental deprivations of the region in the context of oil exploitation. Deficits here refer to the deficiency in enforcing oil related laws on the government’s part and compliance on the part of oil companies involved. National and international oil related regulations are supposed to govern all oil-related activities such as oil explorations, production, drilling, refining and storage. This chapter will also explain how this proposed new research will contribute to the area of study.
1) Niger Delta Oil
The Niger Delta has the largest deposits of oil in Nigeria and covers approximately 7.5% of the total Nigerian land mass, encompassing an area of 112,000 km2. The region comprises 9 oil producing states (Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo, and Rivers) (Figure1) situated in the south- south and south-east geo political zones of the country and is home to about 35 million people (Ibaba, 2012, Lange, 2004, NDES, 1999 ).
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