Hardball 

And when the government does declare change, multinationals like Shell take the hard line too. This was evidenced in Shell's recent decision to withhold $40 billion in offshore oil investment following the NNPC's decision to wean itself off government subsidies, as well as renegotiation of royalties and other financial elements contained in a new petroleum bill presented to the National Assembly.

"If passed in the form currently proposed, its mistakes will take years to correct," said former regional Vice President Ann Pickard. "Nigerians will have to wait longer for the electricity they need to light their homes at night. They will have to wait longer for the jobs they need to put food on the family table."

According to the results of a major study (2008) conducted by University of Alaska's Professor Rick Steiner, analysis revealed, "Shell Nigeria continues to operate well below internationally recognized standards to prevent and control pipeline oil spills, and thus is out of compliance with Nigerian law." 

Presently, Nigeria holds a poverty rate of between 50-70 percent of the population, especially prevalent in the Niger Delta. There is no telling yet of the price of frontier oil.

Make Them Accountable

Nigerian born veteran diplomant Ibrahim Agboola Gambari, Joint African Union-United Nations Special Representative for Darfur, on the Niger Delta spills

ChinAfrica: The current oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has been dominating headlines, but oil spilling in the Niger Delta has been ongoing for some time. What do you think the government or the oil companies should do to stop it?

Professor Gambari: To be honest with you, this has been one of the most unfortunate aspects of Nigeria, dealing with the Niger Delta, because the Niger Delta is a major source of foreign investment for Nigeria. But it has been one of the most neglected parts of the country by many governments, military, civilians, progressives and conservatives.

You have to hold the government responsible because companies will get [away] with everything they can get [away] with, including what you are seeing in this country. The principal responsibility belongs to the government to ensure that environmental degradation is not continued, that people benefit more from these resources of oil rather than [damage] their daily lives, lives that are compromised by the gas flaring, and the oil spilling. If oil companies promise billions of dollars to clean up [in the Gulf, it appears there are] one set of rules for the developed countries and the powerful and another set of rules for the poor and the underdeveloped. That cannot be allowed to continue. There must be a uniform rule whereby the cleanup of the damaged zone must be taken care of.

But also the government of Nigeria has to speak up, has to do more and also to address [this issue]…we're talking about one of the root causes of the conflict in Darfur. There's a lot of root causes in this content of the Niger Delta, which must be addressed. The environment is one of them, then the feeling of marginalization and also the very poor governance at a local, at the state level and even at the national level, that impacts on it. Because it's not just about money, if you look at the proportion, the share of the Nigerian resources, a lot has been going also to the Niger Delta. So the question is: how do we make the local leaders and state governors accountable for the management of those resources? How do we also make the Nigerian Government accountable for the management of the resources including [those] in the Niger Delta?

So it's about accountability?

Absolutely it's about accountability from the local government, the state government, the Federal government and the oil companies. We have to make them accountable. So far, that is not as good as it should be.

Professor Gambari was speaking about the Niger delta oil issue in his personal capacity and not representing a United Nations viewpoint