Oil Companies and Sustainable Community Development in the Niger Delta, Nigeria: the Issue of Reciprocal Responsibility and its Implications for Corporate Citizenship Theory and Practice

• Published in: Sustainable development (Bradford, West Yorkshire, England) Vol. 22; no. 3; pp. 177 - 187
• Main Author: Idemudia, Uwafiokun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.05.2014; Wiley; Wiley Periodicals Inc
• Subjects: Africa; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Applied ecology; Biological and medical sciences; Citizenship; Communities; Community development; Community relations; corporate citizenship; Deltas; Energy policy; Environment and sustainable development; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gaps; International business enterprises; Local communities; Multinational corporations; Multinational enterprises; Niger; Nigeria; oil; Oil companies; Petroleum industry; Social responsibility; Studies; Sustainability; Sustainable development; Niger Basin; Nigeria; West Africa; Sub-Saharan Africa; Africa; Niger Delta; ASE, Nigeria, Rivers, Niger Delta; oil; Delta; Theory; Tropical zone; Africa; corporate citizenship; River basins; Sustainable development; Community
• ISSN: 0968-0802; 1099-1719
• DOI: 10.1002/sd.538

ABSTRACTMost of the works that have explored the relationship between Corporate Citizenship (CC) initiatives and their contribution to sustainable community development in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria have been insightful. However, the question of reciprocal responsibility has largely been unaddressed. Similarly, disagreement persists with regard to the impact of oil multinational corporations' (MNC) CC initiative on governmental community development efforts and its implication for sustainable community development. Unfortunately, these gaps have allowed for a number of CC orthodoxies to emerge in the region with practical ramifications for community development. The findings presented here suggest that local communities accept and have a clear sense of what constitutes their reciprocal responsibility. In addition, there was limited evidence to suggest that oil MNCs efforts at community development affected governmental community development initiatives in the region. The paper concludes by considering the implications of its findings for CC theory and practice. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment