A Failure of Resource Governance

In this episode, Nnimmo Bassey and Father Edward Obi discuss why the structure and approach to resource governance in the Niger Delta causes disaffection in extractive communities.

Transcript

Voiceover: You're listening to Partners United on Resource Governance, brought to you by Shehu Musa Yar'Adua Foundation.

Nnimmo Bassey: Hello, everyone. You are welcome to the Partners United podcast on resource governance, and today's episode is the opening, so to speak. And we're going to be looking at environmental resource governance in a very broad sense. This topic includes so many things, including how communities relate to their resources, what are the challenges they face, and what ought to be the situation where people would enjoy the benefits of the resources that nature has given them. And very happily today, we have an expert on this topic. His name is Father Edward Obi and he'll be handling the episode. Welcome, father Obi to today's episode. Thank you for the work you've done over such a long time, especially with regard to resource governance in the Niger Delta. We very privileged to have you share your ideas, your experiences and what you've seen. And so just to open, could you just. Tell us about what has been your experience with regard to resource governance generally in the Niger Delta of Nigeria?

Father Obi: Thank you very much for inviting me to this discussion. From my experience with the Niger Delta over the years, the very reason why there is recurrent disaffection from the communities and from the people, and the very reason why it doesn't seem to be to have been a resolution to any of these crises in the past and even in the present is because of the absence of a diligent natural resource governance framework and structure. We have a situation where the. The Nigerian government is the business partner, thereby using resources under their feet. And give that then to the oil companies as a right to give them access to the land, unfettered access to explore and to exploit for resources. Whereas resource governance is a little bit different than that, it bringing everybody around the table, especially those who are considered to be important actors on whatever the resource is. First of all, let me state for the purpose of clarity to those who perhaps are not familiar with the discussion. Why should they even be resource governance? The reason is simple. All of us, as human beings, are fated to live on the surface of the Earth. I'm sure you are going to talk to me about the richest man in America and in the United Kingdom who have made trips recently to the Moon. Well, up till today, the Moon is not habitable to human beings, so there is only one Earth since there is no alternate Earth. The resources on this one planet become somewhat stretched, and when they are so stretched, then there is scarcity. And scarcity ultimately needs the competition. So the very reason why there is competition of any sort about resources is simply because of the scarcity and human beings understand scarcity and everybody wants to ensure that they do not fall on the wrong side of that scarcity. So wherever I have been in the Niger Delta, whoever I have met, it has always been about how they would fare in the long run and natural resources by their very nature. Are exhausted. So everybody is looking at that time when they would exist. Where would I be when these resources are exhausted? Would I be in a good place or perhaps in a completely devastated environment? So because people know that a time will come when they'll be on the wrong side of that question? They want to make the best of it now, if possible, by taking what they can take out of that resource system before it completely. 

Nnimmo Bassey: You brought up a lot of issues in this introductory comments, and I do agree with you that there's no alternative planet. But let me take you back to two things you said earlier that Nigeria has an absence of a diligent natural resource governance structure. You take this up to the fact that in Niger state oil companies, they operate in partnership. Would you like to tell us a bit more about the absence of governance structure and about how the business partnership is not working in the best interests of local communities?

Father Obi: Thank you very much. It is clear that. If there is any structure at all, the structure is not working. But I insist that there is an absence of structure. What kind of structure can there be that excludes from the table, the people who live on the land? Decisions are made chopped down and handed to them, and they are left to say, all right, we accept it, or at worst, we don't accept it. So a discussion, a framework for a natural resource governance should include all important actors. That means the communities in the first instance, the government and perhaps the company or the business that wishes to have access to the natural resources. And if you come to the community level, you can then include the opinion leaders, the traditional authorities, the youth, once you have a structure like that and these people each in turn has a certain official recognition as an owner of the resource. Once you have that, then people begin to feel that they are part of this business and nobody who is part of the business wants to destroy it. If anybody wants to destroy it is because they know that the business is of no use to them. Let me make a distinction between how the rights of people have been construed in this framework. You know, rights are divided into two segment there’s right in rem, that is right in the things themselves, which the local people have by reason of the fact that they have been there for centuries. So they have a right and access to the things that are in their area. But then in a common law that also right in persona, that means in the person know what's the law, invest some rights on the person's what has happened in the case of the Niger Delta is that though people have the natural rights in rem to the things that are in the area. They lack the rights in persona. In other words, they have not been given that right by the law to own the things that are there, including things that are in the subsoil and in the deep belly of the Earth under their feet. This is what is causing the friction all the time when people are asserting their rights in rem. The government is looking down at them and say, But you have no rights in persona, therefore you cannot go into that land. And this remains an important missing link in the structure of the natural resource and governance in the Niger Delta region. 

Nnimmo Bassey: These are very important points that you just raised down. I mean, you made a point that the issue of resource ownership is very critical for the protection of the resource management of the resource and by extension, the state of the environment, the interests that people have in ensuring that the environment is protected for the interests of all. Now you also mention the issue about who the important actors would be in environmental or resource governance, the communities, the government, the company. Can you tell us what constitutes a host community? What if indeed the recent Petroleum Industry Act? There's a lot of controversy around the issue, of course, commodities. Can you shed more light on this before we go forward?

Father Obi: The operative word in the phrase host community is post. In other words, is the community that has accepted that this form entity can come and settle in their area and share their water, share their air and share their land and the resources in the land. So at the first instance, it is a generous welcome. But the communities have offered or offered long ago to the oil companies to work with, so they are playing host to this foreign entity. This foreign entity, they are never part of that community. The land belongs to people and yet people precede governments. Societies precede governments. So no matter how remote a community is and the society that develops around it, it always precedes and should have precedence over the government. The government exists only because the people say, All right, we accept you can come and rule over us, take care of us, protect all of us and ensure that we are not killing each other every day. Now the motto here is whose community plays host to all the infrastructure, to the company as a whole, to the personnel. And then it means therefore you cannot abuse the social licence that a community gives to you. The very fact that they welcomed you in their midst means that they give you a certain social licence. But you know, if you are a community member, you must also be a good neighbour to not pollute the land, to not pollute the water that you are using. Do not drain it completely. Do not pollute the atmosphere because the same atmosphere that we also are breathing. I mean, these are basic, basic expectations of any community. So where the facilities are and where they extend to and where operations are ongoing? All the communities in that area are host communities, even if it's just pipelines that have passed there.

Nnimmo Bassey: You are bringing up so many exciting ideas and important things that we need to reflect on, and we believe that our listeners are taking note. Also, let me repeat or more or less echo what you said. You presented communities in Niger Delta as generous communities because by that generosity, they accepted foreign entities represented by the oil companies to move in and share their resources. I mean, this is a very high level of generosity, considering that there was no negotiation between the communities and these entities. It means the community is more or less trusted that the government too brought in these entities would do everything in their best interest. And you also said that the companies are foreign remains foreign. That is a very striking way to capture that. That fact, you stress also that societies perceive governments as very important. Now in terms of social licence and good neighbourliness. Can you just tell us how these foreign entities, whether they are international oil companies, Nigerian variants of these corporations? How much have they been good neighbors in our communities? And how have they used their social licence?

Father Edward Obi: Well, I can only take you on a trip very quickly. Let us go to Gui. It used to be a village, it is still a village. They are still community members of GOI, only that they don't live there. They all have moved away from their village or whatever the reason was. But they are moving away is not unconnected with the devastation of their land and water by a certain oil company that allowed a burst pipe to go on mended for weeks and months. I was in Goi only a week and a half ago when the tide was high and I met a few boys there who were trying to throw their nets into the water to catch fish. They weren't very successful because not many fish are still able to venture into that area. Another area in Ahoada West local government area, they are communities inside the bush. There are gas flares that have been burning on end for the last fifty something years since Agip drilled in those areas. Now those people, those communities didn't ask for any of this to come to them. In fact, they may have had abundance of oil and gas beneath their feet, but they were quite happy to do their farming and their fishing, so they did not invite anybody in. However, they came in and government gave those companies rights in Persona. They said the company was a person, so a person has rights. So the people accepted the company based on what the government said. But little did the government tell them. The nature of this industry or the impact that it would have on their lives, et cetera. And after the government signed the papers, the government retreated and left the people to their own devices because the people began to see the true nature of the industry and that it was absolutely destructive to their lives and their livelihoods. And it was poisonous even to their to their atmosphere. So the people in these communities, particularly in Ahoada West, they have dry skin from the hot gas and the flares that have inundated their communities for over 50 years. Yeah, of course, they cannot run to another community. That's their ancestral land. That's where their ancestors have been buried. You can't say to them, No, let's just take you to somewhere else where the gas is not burning. Now this is a social licence that has been abused over decades, and because the people feel powerless and indeed have been rendered powerless by their government, they cannot do anything about this or that they are saying to the companies or try to assuage the sufferings that we have by giving us electricity, perhaps by doing one thing or the other.

Father Obi: I was privileged to bring a number of companies together to sit around the table with community members, and the purpose of that was to let those company managers see and hear the people that they often call criminals the people with. Some of them with their chiefs and just ordinary villagers. I say, Okay, these are the people that you say are criminals. Tell me what looks like criminality in what they are saying now and all they say, the generator you put there has been sport for over three years. And each time we go to the Agip audit, whatever company and they say, well, are coming, just wait until after this releases, come and repair the generator. They didn't say, come and remove your installation. You know, there is still an enormous amount of goodwill there, which is not being reciprocated because the companies feel covered by the government. Now, any such abuse of social licence indeed should lead to a loss of that social licence. Absolutely. It does not matter that you have rights in persona. If the people who have the rights in REM do not give you willingly that social licence, you do not have it. 

Nnimmo Bassey: Ok, Father Obi. I like the way you capture many of these issues. I like the way you said you capture the fact that government signed contracts with corporations that they did treated so people were more or less left stranded. One of the places I go to in Ogoni land when I want to remind myself that the job of environmental justice is not done because that is a totally devastated community. But most of the members of that committee living as refugees in other parts of Ogoni land and Niger Delta. The last question I would like to consider briefly is having said all this and having considered the lack of governance structures and the fact that the entities are not using the social licence in a way that is respectful. What would you say the place of local knowledge in community environment has to watch?

Father Obi: You know that one of the things that any operator should do. In an area that has been awarded to them is to conduct an environmental impact assessment now in conducting an environmental impact assessment. The contribution of local knowledge is inestimable because these are people who have lived there for generations. They know when which bird comes to their area to nest. They know when which type of fish farms on the shores or in the mangroves in their community. They know the particular type of plant that grows or does not grow there. Now, if you wanted to do an environmental impact assessment, you need and you require that kind of knowledge. You cannot bring people from somewhere in Europe without the local knowledge. So my experience in the Niger Delta has been just this. Never has the oil companies or the government considered that local knowledge is absolutely crucial to environmental sustainability, governance, protection, stewardship sustainability is a very important one. The very fact that God created one planet. Meant that the human person that he put on Earth. What's supposed to be a steward of creation? So stewardship and environmental stewardship in particular. Is supposed to be that, yes, this is what we have been given. And it is limited. We must enjoy as much of it as we can now. Nobody says or puts a limit to how much we can enjoy of our environment, as is given to us. However, in doing that, we must be sustainable. We must, as much as possible, put back what we have taken so that the enjoyment that we all are enjoying now. We'll be enjoyed again by another generation, and that is not yet here.

Father Obi: Now, if we go into an environment and then we turn it to dust and reduce it to desert, then there is a certain callousness that comes with people who approach the environment simply as a resource for consumption. Yes, but allows us to consume as much of it as we desire. However, we must have a thought for that future generation that is not yet here. What is the heritage? What is it that they can inherit from us? Devastated lands, waters without fishes in them or atmosphere that are continually poisoning people? Is that the best legacy that we can extend to future generations? No. I think that we still have an opportunity now to turn things around, even not being able to turn them around 360 degrees, but to turn them around somewhat by being careful of those resources that got put there for all human beings to enjoy and to approach them with care and love with a spirit of sustainability in mind. If we do this, then there may be some assurance that perhaps God in his bounty will enrich us even more. So we cannot blame God for giving us a limitless set of resources, but we blame ourselves for approaching them with a certain greed that is devastating to that environment. And I think that perhaps if we approach things in this way, it might be better for all of us in the long run, including those oil companies themselves. I think their bottom line will go up if they are careful of the environment and the resources in it.

Nnimmo Bassey: Well, thank you so much for that. I think this is a good point for us to draw the curtain. We're ending on a note of hope that there's time for us to turn things around to do things differently. Let me thank all our listeners for joining us on this episode. I will be your way again on another episode. Thank you so much for joining and make a note to be with us. Bye bye.

Voiceover: Please visit www.partnersunited.org to join the conversation on Environmental Justice to report any issues that have threatened your environment. Please visit www.report.nhrc.gov.ng or blow the whistle at www.report.corruption.org. You could also visit homef.org for useful advocacy resources on climate change, food systems, freshwater ecosystem and other socio ecological issues.