How political corruption and instability destroys development
In this post I will concentrate on how Nigeria’s political stability
has been undermined by TNCs and this has led to development being undermined.
We will focus on the example of Shell and the Ogoni people for this post.
In order for economic development to thrive two factors are
crucial, political stability and low corruption (Lawal
& Oluwatoyin, 2011). Nigeria, for decades, has struggled with both. Corruption
and political instability in Nigeria can be argued to be the greatest obstacle
to the nation’s development. TNCs, such as Shell, are responsible for both.
Political instability is a massive challenge for Nigeria and fuels corruption.
Since 1960, Nigeria has had seven military coups and military
governments and many unstable civilian governments. Much of this is fuelled by
religious and ethnic tensions that divide the nation, but they are also made
worse by TNCs (Frynas,
1998). Shell has hundreds of oil spills every year since it began operations
in Nigeria. The Ogoni people who relied on the water resources of the Niger
Delta suffered great agricultural and cultural destruction of their homeland,
Ogoniland, as a result of these spills. In the 1990s they formed the Movement
for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) as a form of peaceful protest
against Shell (Frynas,
1998). MOSOP began causing political strife and disruption to the
governance of the nation fuelling even more political instability. Shell claimed
that the oil spills and political instability were as a result of sabotage by
locals but these have been proven to be exaggerations (Frynas,
1998). The result of this was the brutal crackdown of MOSOP by the Nigerian
government, hundreds were killed, maimed and raped as a result (Austin,
2019). Despite Nigeria’s own people protesting peacefully, the government
sided with Shell as it executed this gross abuse of human rights.
In the 1990s, oil extraction accounted for 90% of Nigeria’s
foreign exchange receipts and 70% of budgetary revenues. In the 1960s Shell had
a 100% monopoly over the Nigerian oil industry, today Shell’s influence it a
lot less and shell shares oil extraction with other large oil companies such as
Chevron (Frynas,
1998). However, they still held considerable power over the government, for
example, Shell attended the trial of Ken Saro-Wiwa the leader of MOSOP by
paying 500,000 Naira to the then Attorney General of the Rivers State (Frynas,
2000). They heavily influenced the outcome of the trial and, despite MOSOP
being peaceful, Saro-Wiwa was executed following the trial.
The result of the corruption and political instability fuelled
by TNCs in Nigeria means that water resources such as the Niger Delta become
badly polluted due to the hundreds of oil spills, meanwhile governance is
corrupted by and heavily influenced by such TNCs. As a result, development for
Nigerians such as the Ogoni people is undermined heavily as their agriculture, culture,
environment and human rights are trampled on by politicians corrupted by TNCs
such as Shell.
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