The Clash Of Property And Environmental Rights In The Niger Delta Region Of Nigeria

Abstract

The Niger Delta region of Nigeria, home to about 30 million people, is one of
the world’s most prominent deltas. Petroleum exploration in this region has
been ongoing for over fifty years and revenue from this activity is at present
the mainstay of the Nigerian economy. Granted that it is impracticable to
undertake petroleum operations without some negative impact on the
environment, a good deal of this pollution can be mitigated. The International
Oil Companies (IOCs) are complacent about pollution reduction to a
sustainable level; regulatory agencies are either compromised or lack the
required expertise or equipment to monitor and enforce compliance with
extant environmental protection laws and regulations. The pursuit of the
IOCs’ property right over petroleum resources has set them against the other
stakeholders’ right to a healthy environment. The clash of these rights can
best be addressed by ascribing “collective property” and not “private property”
right to the acreage over which they have been granted licence to prospect
for, explore or mine petroleum resources.