The environment and community relations

Even though the petroleum industry in Nigeria has become the back bone of the Nigerian economy the relationship with the communities in the oil producing area is not all what it should be. There has been a significant shift in emphasis from the earlier peaceful and cordial relationship to the present more vocal sometimes violent relationship from a few communities who would like to see the operator held responsible for all environmental lapses of the past 50 years of oil operations in Nigeria. As the leading and most visible oil producer, we experience our share of strained relations in proportion to the size and extent of Shell's operations. Social unrest in the oil producing areas can be attributed to the frequent complaint by the communities of gross neglect by the oil producing companies and the Federal Government of Nigeria in the development of their areas. The community's feeling in that the level of compensation from environmental pollution is not sufficient to compensate the damage caused and this affects good community relations. Also, some communities feel that despite the taxes and royalties paid by multinational companies that, most of the petroleum profit from their God-given wealth is being taken away by such multinationals for development elsewhere. This feeling stems from the perceived glaring disparity between developments in the urban and rural areas where oil operations are carried out. This paper is an attempt to examine the social problems associated with oil exploration and production and the related environmental pollution therefrom and proffer suggestions on how such problems can be solved for good community relations