"Development and Underdevelopment in
Silvia Federici
The village sits at the very junction between the Qua River-
one of the main water arteries of southeastern
Yet it would be a mistake to conclude that this area is
underdeveloped. For just one mile
down the beach is one of the major oil complexes in the country. It belongs to Mobil Oil which for
fifteen years has been pumping oil and wealth out of this seemingly remote
corner of the world. The MO complex
is a giant, white, round, spaceship-like structure which speaks of millions of
dollars and some of the most sophisticated technology the “first world” can
provide. At night its rigs cast an
eerie flame which, together with the flare from the burning of natural gas,
lights up the sky as if it were northern
Nearby is the airport strip, as the managers prefer to settle in
Thus, the MO complex, which in February 1985 celebrated its first one billion barrels, seems an island all of its own. Its life and that of the village are two separate worlds, two time frames and certainly two incommensurably different standards of living. The only point of contact is the “inn,” where in the evening even the mbakara (white) men come, trekking down the beach like strange animals looking for some sex or perhaps just a break in the routine. This, however, is not an example of development “coexisting” with underdevelopment. For as in other oil-producing areas, the company is largely responsible for the pauperized conditions in which people live in the village. It is no accident – with the exception of the road the company needs for its operations- that all the roads in the area are mud paths, which threaten to turn into small rivers in the rainy season. Bad roads keep nosy people out and minimize interaction with the disgruntled surrounding human environment. The same applies to employment practices. Foreign workers are treasured not so much because of their (easily learned) skills, but because they cannot rely on local support networks or give in to their families’ demands.
There are even more crucial ways in which development here is at once
underdevelopment. Oil
extraction and exploration have ruined the environment and deprived many of
their traditional forms of sustenance.
Because of oil pollution, less and less can the villagers rely on fish
for food.
Oil spills also affect the cropland and the health of people, who now
suffer from the same ailments one finds in parts of
Mobil Oil here operates through sea rigs. In other areas oil extraction has implied expropriating farmers from their land, which is usually the most fertile as oil like to dwell in the moist areas around where crops abound. Land expropriation was facilitated by the Land Use Decree passed in 1978 (in the wake of the hike in oil prices), which nationalized all the land in the country. At first the villagers used to receive a pittance for the trees felled and the crops they could not harvest; oil time is very expensive and the companies, after receiving the green light for their operations, never allowed the farmers to gather their crops. Many farmers, however, are still waiting to get even the little money they were promised, while the government has announced that no more compensations will be forthcoming, for the government now owns the land, and paying people for it can foster bad ideas. The villages of the oil communities have often rebelled and “taken things into their own hands.” But this now is rare, for the Anti-Economic Sabotage provision of Decree 20, passed in 1984, makes it a capital offense to engage in any actions that disrupt the operations of the oil companies.
In this context, development for those who had the bad luck of living near oil pools has meant the loss of everything they had, beginning with their land and their sources of food while all they have gained have been health problems. In the case of Mobil Oil, its only “positive contribution” to the community is the occasional granting of scholarships to “gifted” children; meanwhile the majority of the village children never see a book, even when they are luck enough to make it primary school. When they grow up, most have to leave the area, since with the exception of a few jobs at the company, there is nothing there for them to do. Thus, as their wealth goes up in smoke or finds it way to New York and other capital markets, their only alternative is another mid-passage, this time to the urban center, where the landless of Nigeria congregate, adding to the governments fear of a “population explosion.”