Resourceful companies spread the wealth

When I was living in Ghana, West Africa, last year, I visited Nigeria, a large and notorious oil-producing nation.

It’s notorious, for those of you that don’t know much about the country, for the pollution and human rights issues that plaque the Niger Delta, the region where all of the oil exploration takes place.

It’s also notoriously dangerous for foreign oil workers, who are often kidnapped for ransom or as a form of political protest. The day before we arrived, four Chevron employees were abducted there.

I stayed in capital city Lagos, and visited the city’s largest daily newspaper while I was there. In a meeting with news editors, I asked if it was safe to visit the Niger Delta. Initially they all laughed, and then said ‘yes’, of course, would you like to go there? I laughed nervously, not knowing if they were serious or not. As it turned out, I would have no such opportunity to test my courage. The Niger Delta was eight hours away and we were leaving the country the next day.

Nigeria has become a symbol for everything wrong with oil exploration. The Niger Delta is heavily polluted, and the residents are very skeptical about promises from the government and oil industry to make things better; to clean up their villages and share the wealth that would help lift them out of crushing poverty.

For other African countries that have since discovered oil themselves, Nigeria’s experience serves as a cautionary tale, a reminder that natural resources often further impoverish countries, rather than enrich them.

I went back to Ghana after my visit to Nigeria. A month later, oil was discovered offshore and the Ghanaian government and the people celebrated the find. A major community rally was held at the central square in the capital city of Accra.

They have not yet begun to extract the oil. It remains to be seen if they indeed do learn from Nigeria’s experience.

I tell this story for two reasons. One, it’s a reminder of where our oil comes from. We can become so consumed by the issues that surround the refining of oil in Saint John. It’s good to bear in mind that the negatives aspects of the oil business are much worse in the developing world.

Two, it reminds us of the importance of sharing resource wealth, at home and abroad.

On the show last night, we tackled both of these issues.

We talked about Benefits Blueprint, the industry and government initiative to ensure that all New Brunswickers, not just the oil companies, share in the wealth that will be created by projects like the proposed second oil refinery.

We also discussed the politics of oil in Africa with John Ghazvinian who published a book called Untapped: The Scramble for Africa's Oil. He spent time in Angola, where Irving Oil’s partner BP drills for oil offshore.

- Mark