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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Development and conservation: perspectives on the political economy of the Nigerian environment
Author:Ogbonna, D.O.
Year:1991
Periodical:Savanna: A Journal of the Environmental and Social Sciences
Volume:12
Issue:2
Pages:43-53
Language:English
Geographic term:Nigeria
Subjects:environmental policy
environment
petroleum
Abstract:In the space of only 33 years, oil production in Nigeria has grown so rapidly, under laissez-faire conditions, that the environment of the oil region is already showing signs of serious deterioration. The problem of maintaining environmental quality arises because Nigeria's inherited capitalist mode of production (particularly in the oil industry) is inherently very destructive of nature, without minding the costs, while the country's total commitment to a 'vigorous and growing economy', powered almost exclusively by oil, severely limits the political, administrative and legal machinery to deal effectively with the problem of oil pollution. The author examines the causes and extent of the problem and looks at the conventional responses and the difficulties associated with them. He then considers reasons why recent efforts to provide remedies have been frustrated by the dictates of the economy and politics. He suggests that inadequate knowledge of physical processes and inadequate measurements of the social value of alternative uses of the commons are the main obstacles to solving environmental problems and that as long as the Nigerian political economy depends on the profits of the oil industry for its survival, ecologically responsible behaviour will remain impossible. Note, ref., sum.
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