Wealth and Poverty in the Niger Delta: A Study of the Experiences of Shell in Nigeria

Abstract

The Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies has been extracting oil in the Niger Delta since 1958. By 2003 Nigeria’s oil export revenues had reached a total of US$290 billion (Litvin, 2003, p. 257). These revenues have benefited Shell and other multinational oil companies like Mobil, Texaco, Agip, Elf and Chevron also operating in Nigeria. They have provided the primary source of revenue for the Nigerian government, helped build a new national capital and enriched a number of high-ranking government officials. But after 45 years the people of the Niger Delta, one of the world’s largest wetlands, are practically as impoverished as they were in the 1950s. Natural capital, both in form of oil reserves and of potable and fishable water, has been significantly diminished. Per capita income for Nigerians in 2002 was US$260, less than at independence. Economic analyst Sarah Khan (1994) has called the history of the oil industry in Nigeria ‘one of missed opportunities, administrative disorganization and resource mismanagement’ (p. 2). 1 These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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