- There are some steps Shell has taken to nip some of the protests against it in the bud, or even preempt them. First, they should reform its organization culture by hiring more Ogoni people and respecting the value Ogoni employees. Secondly, they should have paid full compensation to the farmers and the local community as Nigerian government had originally promised them. Thirdly, some of the local people were unhappy about the environmental degradation, Shell Company should take full responsibilities regarding to the oil spills and drilling activities. They should improve their safeguards in the process of oil production in order to prevent any further oil spills. Lastly, before they start a new project, they should have a clear agreement when negotiating with Ogoni community to prevent future mistakes and accidents.
- There are some things that Shell Company could have done more to gain clemency for Ken Saro-Wiwa. Since oil accounts for 30% of Nigeria GDP; 95 percent of foreign exchange earning and about 80 percent of the Nigerian government’s budget revenues, Shell could have used its enormous political influence on local government to prevent Ken’s death. Furthermore, since Nigerian government was replaced in a coup by a military regime, Shell Company should not have informed the Nigerian government about the protest in the first place, thus there wouldn’t be any Nigerian military to start that deadly violence. Basically, Shell Company is a man-made company, own and operate by the people, consume by the people world wide; therefore, the owners, shareholders, its employees at Shell should have some sort of concern and understanding about the human rights in Nigeria and they should have stand up for those innocent people and return to the rule of law.
- The response from Western governments to the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa was too excessive. In the United States, President Bill Clinton recalled the U.S ambassador in Nigeria back to its country and banned the sale of military equipment. British Prime Minister John Major banned arms sales to Nigeria. Ambassadors from the 15-nation European Union were recalled. As the matter of fact, recall on all these ambassadors was unnecessary for the death of Ken Saro-Wiwa, because it was only the Nigerian government at fault; those innocent Nigeria citizens shouldn’t have been punished for this. However, I think that banning on sale of military equipment and arms sales to Nigeria was appropriated, since the military force that formed the Nigerian government seemed to be outlaw and had less concern for its people and lack of understanding in human rights.
- In the wake of Saro-Wiwa’s execution, Shell was correct to push ahead with the liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Nigeria. From this case, Shell had expressed some concerns what could have happened if they pull out of Nigeria’s liquefied natural gas project. A statement was issued by Shell, “A cancellation would certainly hurt the thousands of Nigerians who will be working on the project, and the tens of thousands benefiting in the local economy”. Moreover, if Shell would put out of the Nigeria LNG project, it is not only cutting off thousands of Nigerian employees but as well as the revenues for Nigeria economic. In such matter did occur, who would be the one to pay for such consequences? The truth is: the people and the Nigerian government of that time would be the only victims. Therefore, Shell’s decision on the LNG project kept Nigerian business continuing, kept the oil flowing, and remained majority employee in place.
- I do not believe that it is possible for a company such as Shell to reform itself from within. However, I do think there should have an external body, an independent committee, to monitor its human rights and environmental policies. Shell Company could have been better if Shell establish an external body to monitor its human rights and environmental policies. I personally believe that this external body can not be actively reforming the corporation from within but act as more of an internal control auditing and periodically perform reviews on the company’s operation as necessary.
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Since the people has concerned about the high level of unemployment rate in Nigeria, Nigerian government set a policy that people should seek to encourage individuals to create jobs rather than seek them. This raises the entrepreneurial development in Nigeria, which is a viable small-scale business sector. It is a creation of employment opportunity for those of unemployed (Fundamental Issues in Entrepreneurship). The economy of Niger Delta Region and the security consequences of oil and gas explorations and production in the area can be tackled through entrepreneurial development among other strategies.
Citation
Fundamental Issues in Entrepreneurship. (May 4, 2004 ). Africa News