Management of petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated sites in Nigeria: Current challenges and future direction

Sites affected by petroleum hydrocarbons from oil exploitation activities have been identified as a major environmental and socio-economic problem in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The current Nigerian regulatory instruments to manage these contaminated sites are fragmented and the roles and responsibilities of government agencies, such as the Department for Petroleum Resources (DPR), and the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), are not well defined. This lack of coordination has led to ineffective land contamination policy and poor enforcement more generally. Appropriate, risk-based policy instruments are needed to improve regulatory capacity, and to enhance the regulator's ability to manage new and existing petroleum hydrocarbons contaminated sites. Lessons can be learned from countries like the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States America (USA) that have experience with the management and clean up of historically contaminated land. In this paper, we review the status of petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated sites management in Nigeria and identify the gaps in existing policy and regulation. We review the contaminated land policies and regulation from the UK and the USA, and identify lessons that could be transferred to the Nigerian system. Finally, we provide a series of recommendations (e.g. source – pathway-receptor approach, soil screening criteria, clean-up funding, liability) that could enhance contaminated land legislation in Nigeria.     

Formalisation of land rights: Some empirical evidence from Mali, Niger and South Africa

In this paper, we re-interpret three cases of research previously carried out in Mali, Niger and South Africa in light of the recent debate about formalisation of land rights that has emerged since the publication of Hernando de Soto's ‘Mystery of Capital’. The Malian case shows that lack of broad access to formalisation processes in high-pressure areas may play into the hands of those with power, information, and resources. The case also demonstrates that timing of formalisation efforts in urban areas characterised by rapid expansion is crucial in terms of distributive outcomes. The Nigerien case demonstrates how impending formalisation led to a scramble for land and increased conflicts in a context of institutional competition and limited administrative capacity. The South African case shows that the very process of surveying and registering rights may also change the rights themselves. Formalisation procedures may also amplify the tension between individual and communal rights, and boost privatisation.     

Gender,entrepreneurship and food security in Niger

In many African countries, the income generated from the informal sector and the entrepreneurship is particularly important for reducing poverty. Previous studies have not found clear evidence on the relationship between self‐employment by gender and food security. We argue that this may be a result of the gender inequality in resource accessibility. In this paper, we analyze the implication of household entrepreneurship on food security in Niger, where gender disparities in resource accessibility are reduced. We find that owning female‐managed non‐agricultural enterprises is positively related to food accessibility and food availability within female‐headed households. The results draw the attention on reducing gender differences in resource accessibility in entrepreneurship for improving food security.     

Nontraded food commodity spatial price transmission: evidence from the Niger millet market

Using an Augmented Factor Vector Autoregressive (FAVAR) Model, this study analyzes spatial millet prices transmission in Niger. Our results did not find condition for millet markets integration existence. However, the Granger causality tests and impulse response functions from the estimated short‐term dynamic as FAVAR model revealed the existence of leading markets whose millet prices affect a maximum number of other regional millet prices, while some regions seem to be isolated from trade or information flows. Furthermore, the significance of a shock depends also on the characteristics of the region where it originates in terms of millet demand or supply, indicating that the region to target and where the price shock originated matter for the policies’ success.     

Education budget savings from ending child marriage and early childbirths: the case of Niger

Ending child marriage and early childbirths would reduce total fertility rates and population growth especially in countries with a high incidence of child marriage, early childbirths, or both. Savings for public budgets could be large. This article relies on demographic projections and a UNESCO costing model for the provision of education by governments to estimate savings that could result from ending child marriage and early childbirths for public education budgets. The analysis is conducted for Niger, the country with the highest rate of child marriage in the world.     

Environmental Costs and Responsibilities Resulting from Oil Exploitation in Developing Countries: The Case of the Niger Delta of Nigeria

Interest shown on the environmental impact of operations of multinational enterprises in developing countries has grown significantly recently, and has fuelled a heated public policy debate. In particular, there has been interest in the environmental degradation of host communities and nations resulting from the operations of multinational oil companies in developing countries. This article examines the issue of environmental costs and responsibilities resulting from oil exploitation and production in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The case study is based, in part, upon series of interviews with key stakeholders in the Nigerian oil industry. The article further examines the implications of the current practice and policies of multinational oil companies with respect to environmental impact of oil exploitation. The study’s findings illustrates that it is becoming increasingly apparent to oil companies that pollution prevention pays while pollution does not and under pressure from stakeholder groups, oil companies now routinely incorporate environmental impact assessments into their corporate strategy.Dr Gabriel Eweje is a lecturer in Management and International Business at College of Business, Massey University, Auckland Campus, New Zealand. Previously, he worked as a Research Fellow at the United Nations University, Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU/IAS), Tokyo, Japan, and taught at Royal Holloway University of London, England. His PhD from University of London focused on Corporate Social Responsibility and Activities of Multinational Oil and Mining companies in Developing Countries. He also worked as a Research Fellow with International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), London on a project on how mining and minerals can contribute to sustainable development (MMSD). His research interest lies around the issues of business ethics, corporate social responsibility and sustainability related disciplines.     

Sources of food price volatility and child malnutrition in Niger and Malawi

In recent times, considerable attention has been paid to the nutritional impact of the sharp hikes in the international food prices which took place in 2007–8 and 2010–11. While understandable, this growing focus has perhaps obscured the impact of other variables affecting malnutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa, i.e. the long-term impact of agricultural policies on food supply and prices, large and persistent seasonal variations in food prices, and the impact of famines which still affect parts of the continent. This paper focuses on the relative impact of these factors on child malnutrition (measured by the number of child admissions to feeding centres) in Malawi and Niger, two countries which closely represent the situation of other small, landlocked, subsistence agricultural economies facing severe food security problems. Our analysis shows that in these countries the drivers of changes in domestic staple prices and child malnutrition are related not only – or not primarily – to variations of international food prices but also to the impact of agricultural policies on food production and prices, in a persistent food price seasonality, and in recurrent and poorly managed famines. These factors can exert a strong upward pressure on food prices and child malnutrition even during years of falling international prices.     

Dynamic transformations for base-of-the-pyramid market clusters

Extending scholarship on industry clusters, this article reconsiders the relationship between development and marketing opportunities in base-of-the-pyramid market (BOPM) nations. Recent literature on industry clusters suggests a set of theoretical themes regarding cluster efficiencies, governance, adaptability, and performance. These themes are scrutinized using an extended case employing longitudinal, ethnographic data collected from an indigenous leather-working cluster in West Africa. The authors’ findings provide guidance in identifying local clusters with global market potential in BOPMs. They lead us to a dynamic market-driven transformational model of BOPM clusters. Consequently, the authors recommend several keys for leveraging investments in boundary-spanning firms in BOPM clusters. Finally, the article demonstrates the value of microlevel, longitudinal analyses in assessing cluster performance in BOPMs. Eric J. Arnould (eamould2@ unl.edu; Ph.D. 1982, University of Arizona) is E. J. Faulkner College Professor of Agribusiness and Marketing and interim director of the CB A Agribusiness Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He spent more than 10 years trying to do less harm than good working on economic development problems in more than a dozen West African nations for a variety of stakeholders. Since 1990, he has been full-time academic teaching about consumer behavior, marketing and globalization, and research employing qualitative data. His research appears in major U.S. marketing journals and many other social science periodicals and books. He was a two-term associate editor of theJournal of Consumer Research and is a coauthor of Consumers (2nd ed., 2004), a textbook. Jakki J. Mohr (Jakki.Mohr@business.umt.edu; Ph.D. 1989, University of Wisconsin-Madison), the Jeff and Martha Hamilton Faculty Fellow is a professor of marketing in the School of Business Administration at the University of Montana. Herinterests are primarily in the area of marketing of high-technology products and services, with a focus on distribution channels and governance. Her early research focuses on organizational communication and learning between partners in strategic alliances/ partnerships and between distribution channel members. Her research has received several awards and has been published in theJournal of Marketing, the Strategic Management Journal, theJournal of Public Policy and Marketing, and other specialized journals at the intersection of technology and business marketing. In addition, she is the lead author of the book,Marketing of High-Technology Products and Innovations (2005). Before beginning her academic career, she worked in Silicon Valley in the advertising area for both Hewlett Packard’s Personal Computer Group and Tele Video Systems.