The purpose of the paper is to highlight the opportunity that exists within the ambience of peace in the Niger Delta precipitated by the amnesty deal; particularly for the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to highlight the opportunity that exists within the ambience of peace in the Niger Delta precipitated by the amnesty deal; particularly for the oil‐multinationals that operate there, to re‐invent the delivery of corporate social responsibility (CSR) to maintain peaceful relations with their hosts and therefore optimize their business potentials.
Design/methodology/approach
The method is purely a review of extant literatures and deductive arguments that will give insights to how conflict situations arising from denial of rights can be resolved through the CSR and stakeholder's perspective.
Findings
The paper concludes that the oil‐multinationals operating in the Niger Delta region ought to take advantage of the ambience of relative peace which has been created by the amnesty initiative to re‐invent their relationship with their host‐communities.
Practical implications
The oil‐multinationals must seize the opportunity of a peaceful operating environment precipitated by the amnesty deal to engage with their host‐communities more objectively. This move will contribute to a healthy relationship between both parties and contribute to sustainable peace, which is a requisite to the sustainable exploitation of oil resources in the region, sustainable development of the resource, region and country.
Originality/value
The paper draws upon the hypotheses in extant literature that argue that there is a link between the local expectations of oil‐multinationals CSR, its actual delivery and violent conflicts in the Niger Delta region. It however moves the discourse forward by highlighting the window of opportunity that the federal government's amnesty initiative has opened to reassess CSR thinking, strategies and implementation.
Details
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Rhuks Temitope Ako, Lawrence Ogechukwu Obokoh and Patrick Okonmah
The purpose of this paper is to determine the level of corporate social responsibility (CSR) that is expected of oil‐multinationals by the host‐communities in which they operate…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to determine the level of corporate social responsibility (CSR) that is expected of oil‐multinationals by the host‐communities in which they operate in Nigeria's oil‐rich Delta region. It also suggests how the aggressive opposition of the host‐community to the oil exploration activities of oil companies may be curbed.
Design/methodology/approach
The method is purely review of extant literatures and deductive arguments that will give insights to how conflict situations arising from denial of rights can be resolved through CSR and stakeholder's perspective.
Findings
The paper concludes that the major determinant of success of most companies in the world rest in the performance of their CSR to the host‐community, stakeholders and the society in general.
Practical implications
The oil‐companies operating in the Niger Delta region have to re‐assess their CSR objectives towards improving their delivery to the intended beneficiaries otherwise the pervasive violent conflicts in the region will persist with adverse consequences on the corporate image, reduced profits of the oil‐companies and high cost of the product due to disruptions in production.
Originality/value
The paper usefully points out that the Niger Delta region that hosts Nigeria's oil upstream sector has been enmeshed in violent conflicts essentially due to the adverse socio‐environmental effects the industry has on their communities. The companies however assert that they operate as responsible corporate entities and as such their operations and activities benefits their host‐communities rather than induce violent conflicts.