Conflict ResourcesA Case Study into Nigeria

Description of Conflict

Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer, contributing to 40% of all of Nigeria’s revenue. Because of this, the focus of the economy has been shifted to oil.

Description of conflict

Because local oil resources are usually controlled by oil companies, locals are angry that they do not receive enough money from the oil resources of their own country.

Description of Conflict

The methods of which they demonstrate their anger are quite extreme, ranging from oil theft to sabotage and even kidnapping.

Effects of Conflict

Three years: 53,000 people dead; thousands of homes destroyed; tens of thousands of men, women, and children displaced.

It was not a civil war, but a bloody battle over the use and control of resources, a battle that ultimately is about property rights.

Effects of Conflict

Nigeria also struggles with economic crises that undermine support for the government.

Despite its vast oil wealth, problems of corruption, a flourishing black market, and mismanagement have left Nigeria one of the poorest countries in the world: about 37% of the population lives in extreme poverty.

The latest UN human poverty index ranks Nigeria as the 25th poorest country in the world.

Effects of Conflict

Nigeria faces a growing HIV/AIDS crisis. After South Africa and India, Nigeria is estimated to have the third most people living with HIV/AIDS in the world: 2.9 million as of the end of 2005, although the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate is relatively low compared with some African countries.

An estimated 55% of those living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria are women. Only 3% of those requiring antiretroviral drugs have access to such treatment, and there are almost 1 million AIDS orphans in Nigeria.

Gas FlareHuge amounts of natural gas emissions are an inevitable byproduct of oil drilling

Gas flares are everywhere in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. But few are dramatic as the Oshie flare, owned by the Italian oil company Agip.

Dagogo Joel's arm was burned by the Oshie gas flare when he was a child. The flare--lit since early 70s and adjacent to Joel's home village of Akaraolu -- occasionally spews out flaming liquids on the countryside, and burned Joel's arm while he was fishing with his father.

The Oshie flare is almost on top of a village of 1,700 families, posing a potential threat to the thousands who were given the false promise of economic benefits Nigeria oil leaks and

gas flaring have for decades been causing major problems for people and the environment in the Niger Delta. Shell  has continued to postpone solving these problems.Sign the petition demanding Shell to clean up their mess in Nigeria: http://www.milieudefensie.nl/globalisering/english

Short movies about gas flare protest (May 3rd) at Shell headquarters: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Po7d3ra-rA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckEdNFvpWwA

Charles Taylor

Born on Janurary 28th, 1948, 60 years old to date

He was Africa’s most prominent warlord

He gathered support from all the other countries to invade Liberia, just for the money he would make from the resources

Arrested and charged for crimes against humanity in the International Criminal Court

Causes of Conflict

Poverty is the main cause.

The oil fields are not controlled by the locals, but by the oil companies, which means that most of the profits do not go to the locals.

This causes the locals to be angry at the government, because they do not receive much profits even though the oil is their country’s.

Effects of ConflictThe conflicts have caused the economy of Nigeria to be less stable

The violence in the Nigerian Delta have also caused crude oil production to slow

Effects of Conflict – Social Ills

African children are among those underprivileged ones who are dying every single day due to countless problems surrounding them: right from AIDS, child labour, child abuse to poverty their life is no better than a living nightmare.

Effects of Conflict – Social Ills

According to the latest UNICEF report, Nigeria is at the top of the list, with the world’s highest number of malnourished children.

Out of 146 million children all over the world, Africa alone houses nearly 73% of them, which also includes Nigeria. Precisely, Nigeria has about 6 million malnourished children.

THESE ARE ALL BYPRODUCTS OF CORRUPT RULE AND MISMANAGEMENT

Children pray at a school in Nigeria.

Solutions to conflict

The federal government have set up a Joint Task Force (JTF) to support the local police in ensuring peace

Also, there is a plan to tear down areas where gangs hide, to remove such unwanted organisations.

SolutionsTAKE ACTION

Demand accountability for human rights violations in the Niger Delta. Write to the Nigerian Federal government urging it to:

conduct thorough and independent inquiries into allegations that the security forces killed, injured or attacked civilians or damaged their property in incidents on 4 February 2005 at Escravos terminal and on 19 February 2005 in Odioma; make public the findings of these inquiries and of the Bayelsa State inquiry into the Odioma case; and bring those responsible for human rights violations to justice.

Take immediate measures to fully uphold the rights of the affected communities as recognized in international human rights laws and standards, including the right of communities affected by oil exploitation to freely grant or withhold their consent for such operations.

WRITE TO:His Excellency Olusegun Obasanjo President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Office of the President, Aso Rock Abuja, Federal Capital Territory Nigeria Fax: 234-9-314-1061 or 234-9-234-7546Salutation: Your Excellency President Obasanjo

Solutions – enforcing CSR

CSR – Corporate Social Responsibility

Despite an injunction by a Nigerian judge, in 2005 Shell still flared nearly 600 million cubic metres of gas in this country. In 2001 the amount flared equalled 40 per cent of gas consumption on the entire continent of Africa.

Gas flares never go out — there's enough gas from even a modest oil well to burn off for decades, day and night. This causes heavily air pollution which eventually shortens the life expectancy of the people with prolonged exposure to such gases

Sign the petition demanding Shell to clean up their mess in Nigeria: http://www.milieudefensie.nl/globalisering/english

Acknowledgements

http://images.biafranigeriaworld.com/LiberianPresidentCharlesTaylor4.jpghttp://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/vol20no4/204-conflict-resources.htmlhttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/09/HD-SC-98-07558_Ausschnitt_fcm.jpg/200px-HD-SC-98-07558_Ausschnitt_fcm.jpg http://www.africaaction.org/resources/countries/nigeria.phphttp://www.africaaction.org/docs/oilresource2.pdfhttp://www.enterpriseafrica.org/repository/docLib/20070806_The_Human_Face_of_Resource_Conflict.pdfBhavnani, Ravi. (2008, March) "Resource Scarcity and Abundance: Oil, Democratization, and Conflict in the Niger Delta"

Acknowledgementshttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/467640.stm

http://www.earth.columbia.edu/news/2006/story04-24-06b.php

http://www.chrishondros.com/work_int/nigeria/nigeria_01.htm

http://www.shelltruth.com/case1_e.html

http://www.bepartofamiracle.org.uk/Prayer+points/The+power+of+prayer/Nigeria.htm

http://www.stolenchildhood.net/entry/worlds-highest-number-of-malnourished-children-in-nigeria/