New corporate social responsibility models for oil companies in Nigeria’s delta region: What challenges for sustainability?

Abstract

Against the background of new models of corporate-community engagements in response to the failings of old models by oil transnationals, this article attempts an assessment of the implementation of the Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU) by Chevron and Shell on sustainable community development in host communities in Nigeria’s oil belt. It argues that though the GMoU represents a radical departure from the past in terms of participation and ownership of development projects with the benefits these entail, its potency for sustainable development is hampered by a number of old challenges, namely, the enormity of the development challenge in the Delta thrown up by the failings of an absentee state, the structural constraints imposed on corporations by the profit-maximizing motive and cultural factors that not only prevent effective participation but also promote voicelessness of marginalized groups such as women. The implications of these to sustainable development are explored.