Browsing by Author "Okere, Samuel"
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Item Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development in a Changing World Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Conflict Management in the Niger Delta Oil Producing Communities(Babcock University Press, 2018) Okere, Samuel; Ogbiten, Brickins O.Relationship between Niger Delta communities and the companies that participate in oil exploration can best be described as restive. The host communities accuse both the government and the oil companies of unmindful degradation of the ecosystem and, therefore, ask for a deliberate and sustained system of rectifying the anomaly. Government and the oil companies on the other hand seem to perceive the host communities as making too much demands. In the cases where such varying views are unresolved, the natural i outcome is tension and more often than not conflicts. Alabi & Ntukekpo (2012) observe that tension has become heightened in spite of various strategies government claims to have adopted in resolving the issue, leading to conflicts of various kinds. In the face of the unresolved conflicts, the observable evidence of damage to aquatic life and buildings, destruction of crops, farmlands and soil has continued to be a regular feature of the affected environment (Adekola & Uzoagu, 2012; Alab i& Ntukekpo, 2012; Wosu, 2013). This has made the host communities to persistently accuse the government of connivance with the oil companies to impoverish the region as a result of oil exploration. For the host communities, there has to be an investment in improving the people's lives and their environment in the areas of infrastructure, education, employment, health, welfare, to mention a few. This request amounts to the demand for good corporate citizenship from the oil companies. In defence, government claims to have put in place policies aimed at ensuring that the oil companies invest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the area. The oil companies also claim to be investing enough to bring about development in the area where their operations yield profits for them and the Nigerian government. This variance between the claims of both parties the host communities on the one hand and the oil companies on the other- is in itself a source of conflict which brings to question the adequacy or otherwise of the CSR programmes'/projects which the oil companies are adopting. The heightened tension has resulted into vandalisation of oil installations, kidnapping and killing of expatriates. and secession threat, all having negative impacts on the country's economy and collective existences.Item Corporate Social Responsibility in Conflict Management: The Perspective of the Niger Delta, Nigeria(Benin Mediacom Journal, 2018) Ogbiten, Brickins O.; Okere, SamuelThe perennial conflict in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria has taken its toll on the smooth operation of oil companies, their peaceful coexistence with their host communities and by extension, the Nigerian economic survival, which depends largely on oil revenues. The impact of oil exploration activities has resulted in negative consequences on the environment and human life manifest in massive destruction and disruption of farming activities, unproductiveness of farmlands, reduction of fishing in the waterways and increased poverty of the inhabitants of the oil producing communities. These have led to negative reactions by host communities, leading to conflicts characterized by protests, kidnapping of oil expatriates and destruction of oil facilities. All of these could have been avoided or mitigated through appropriate corporate social responsibility (CSR) in view of the fact that it is a veritable strategy for managing conflicts between oil companies and their host communities. It is on this basis that this paper examines the place of CSR as a strategy which oil companies can adopt for managing conflicts in their Niger Delta host communities. The paper conceptualizes conflict, identifies its types and causes, discusses the concept of CSR and examines its application by oil companies in managing the conflicts in the Niger Delta. The paper concludes that although the oil companies are engaging in forms of CSR as a strategy to manage the crisis, such CSR programmes have been inadequate, ineffectively planned and implemented. It recommends a proactive approach to planning and executing CSR programmes and projects as well as identification of key stakeholders in order to involve them in the planning and execution of such programmes.Item Host communities' perception of oil companies' corporate social responsibility for managing conflict in Nigeria's Niger Delta(Journal of Communication and Media Research, 2019-04) Okere, Samuel; Ogbiten, Brickins O.This paper examined what host communities of oil companies operating in the Niger Delta think about the corporate social responsibility programmes of the oil companies as conflict management measures. The study sought to provide answers to the following research questions: what is the knowledge of the host communities about CSR programmes which the oil companies are executing in the Niger Delta for managing conflicts in their host communities?; to what extent are the host communities satisfied with the CSR programmes of the oil companies in resolving conflicts in the Niger Delta?; and what do the host communities consider as impediments to effective implementation of CSR programmes by the oil companies as conflict management tools. The study was guided by the social conflict theory. Data were generated through direct in-depth interviews with four respondents representing four communities, two in Delta State and two in Rivers State. The qualitative mode was adopted for analysis and discussion. Findings show that host communities have a high level of knowledge of CSR programmes of the oil companies, but the host communities are dissatisfied with the oil companies because of continued environmental degradation and increasing rate of poverty in the host communities.