dc.description.abstract |
Oil exploitation has occasioned environmental degradation, conflicts, restiveness and
insecurity in the Niger Delta region with resultant effects on family lives in particular
and human security in general. Extant studies have focused more on environmental
degradation, communal conflicts over land and violent agitations over allocation of oil
revenues among members at communal level than on effects of oil exploitation
particularly at family level in Ogulagha Kingdom. This study, therefore, was designed
to examine the effects of oil exploitation on families in Ogulagha Kingdom, Delta
State, Nigeria, with a view to determining how their livelihood, education and health
were affected.
The Radcliffe Brown’s Structural Functionalism was used as the framework, while the
mixed methods design was adopted. Convenience sampling was used to select 230
respondents to whom a self-designed questionnaire was administered. Purposive
sampling technique was used to select 20 family heads, 10 community chiefs, 10
community opinion leaders, 10 representatives of youth groups and eight
representatives of women association, the Chairman of Burutu Local Government
Area and the traditional ruler of Ogulagha Kingdom with whom in-depth interviews
were conducted. Key informant interviews were conducted, four each, with members
of staff of Shell Petroleum Development Company and Nigerian Agip Oil Company,
Niger Delta Development Commission and Delta State Oil Producing Areas
Development Commission. They also included two officials of the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation, two medical doctors, four officials of federal and state
agencies on environmental impact assessment in Delta State. Eight Focus Group
Discussions were held, one each, among the largest associations of men, women, boys
and girls. Relevant reports and publications on the activities of government agencies
and multinational companies were used to generate secondary data. Quantitative data
were analysed using descriptive statistics, while qualitative data were contentanalysed.
Prior to oil exploitation, families in Ogulagha Kingdom flourished economically
through fishing, farming, salt making, trade by barter, canoe carving and gin
distillation among others. Oil exploitation activities led to poor livelihood and abject
poverty. Economically, fishing (63.3%), a major means of livelihood for families
diminished to 3.4%, and only made possible with modern fishing boats, which an
average fisherman could not afford. Farming (17.8%), another source of sustenance
for families dwindled to 2.6% owing to severe gas pollution. Families were further
affected by health-related challenges, such as body itching, skin rashes, chronic cough,
catarrh, diarrhea and cancer. Other societal effects included high rate of school
dropout, prostitution among young ladies and incessant conflicts between the youths
and oil companies. Palliative measures from government and oil companies in form of
financial largesse and social amenities were inadequate to address the situation.
Oil exploitation in the Niger Delta depleted families in Ogulagha Kingdom, Nigeria
socially, economically and health wise. Government agencies at all strata and
multinational companies should develop well-targeted interventions at household level
as well as resuscitate primary health care programme and provide social amenities to
mitigate the negative effects of oil exploitation. |
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