Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
other INGOs have reported that these practices obscure widespread
diversion of public funds for personal purposes. These examples illus-
trate the scope and scale of corruption in the nation's governments over
the years. This intranational problem has proven to be both deep and
relatively intractable.
Evaluating Stakeholder Actions
If the accountabilities envisioned in an ideal or model state represent a
reasonable synopsis of what democratic processes would demand of
responsible offi cials in Nigeria, governments at all levels should be
working assiduously to ensure that resources are allocated by criteria
that are subject to vigorous and open popular debate and that may be
changed by suitable accountable government action. But the principal
actors are not yet meeting these criteria. The national government is now
elected in free (but not yet violence-free) elections and is making efforts
to conduct its operations in a more transparent and accountable fashion,
but it is still fi ghting corruption in its own ranks and has not succeeded
thus far in addressing the rampant corruption in its state and local gov-
ernments (Aluko 2006). It is now transferring larger sums to the state
and local governments of oil communities than ever before, but citizens
of the Delta are benefi ting little from these resources owing to govern-
ment corruption.
Indeed, a recent Human Rights Watch study revealed that Niger Delta
states and localities are failing their citizens on a shocking scale. Corrup-
tion and ineffectiveness are epidemic and transparency and accountabil-
ity for public funds is not a part of the behavior of relevant offi cials.
Large sums simply “disappear” as projects are not completed and schools
fall into such disrepair and so completely lack topics and materials that
they become both physically unusable and educationally untenable
(Human Rights Watch 2007).
For their part, the major multinational corporations have begun to
expend resources to support development projects in the communities
near their facilities. The effi cacy of these projects is hotly debated and
the pace of improvement in environmentally relevant practices and initia-
tives is uneven. Shell Nigeria, in particular, has obliged itself to upgrade
its pipelines and facilities to standards it meets at other locations, includ-
ing those in the United States and Europe, and to sharply curtail its
use of fl aring. But the changes will take some years to complete due to
their cost.
