Running Head:: CORPORATE ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITIES

Shell Nigeria: What has been the Impact of their Corporate Environmental Responsibilities

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

In the beginning, Nigeria was an agrarian nation, and no flicker of hope of any investigation could adequately point to the fact that Nigeria was blessed with crude oil deposits in the region of Niger Delta, South- South axis of the country until 1956 when oil was discovered in commercial quantity in Oloibiri, Rivers State. The excellent opportunity offered itself for the influx of foreign investors in oil and gas investment in Nigeria. That is, an open invitation for the global multinational companies in the likes of Shell, Exxon Mobil, Chevron and others to begin oil exploration, and exploitation activities in this region in 1957-58 (Caroll, 1979, 74).

As exploration and exploitation activities began, there was little or no consideration for corporate social responsibility or any form of policies targeted towards ameliorating environmental hazards such as pollutions and human degradations for the investors in this segment of the economy from the inception of the exploration and exploitation activities. Even, if there was any, it was invisible, and there was no concrete basis to measure environmental and human rights abuses, and the punishments or compensations necessary. Therefore, the floodlights of environmental and human rights abuses were enamored in most barbaric manners by these multinational companies (Burke, Logsdon, 1996, p49).

The story of Shell in Nigeria has been well documented, from its entry in 1958 to the backlash against the organization due to its alleged destruction of thousands of acres of the Ogoni's land. This came to a head in 1995 with the hanging of environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight of his colleagues. Although Shell's part in this event is not fully known (some protestors believe that the company had a direct involvement), most accept that this tragedy was the wretched climax to a bitter feud.

Shell discovered the hard way the cost of ignoring your immediate surroundings as a business - a mistake that fewer and fewer organizations are making these days. Even before the corporate scandals that rocked the USA, companies realized that there was more to CSR than simply handing over a large check to a seemingly worthy cause. They were developing their ethical strategies in line with the rest of their business plans; an approach that has since developed into what Hess et al. would describe as “corporate social initiatives”. Hess et al. believe that there are a number of reasons why this trend has emerged over the past few years.

The issue of Shell Petroleum Development Company became most critical, thereby gaining international attention (Basu, Palazzo, 2008, p22). The dumping of toxic wastes in wells, streams, and rivers in the region of Niger Delta in measures of millions of tons, and the resultant effects on the socio-economic developments of the communities in these affected areas, coupled with deliberate wasting of human lives, and bestial criminality in most avartgardistic manner became gory pictures to behold in a ...