Capital Accumulation, Environmental Pollution, and Public Health Challenges in the Nigerian Petroleum Industry: Lessons on Market Criminology

Abstract

Abstract Petroleum exploration activities started in Nigeria’s Niger Delta in the early twentieth century as part of the expansive process of primitive accumulation instituted by the British colonial administration to advance its economic interest. Since petroleum resources were discovered in commercial quantities in the region in 1956, transnational extraction corporations (including Shell, Chevron, and ExxonMobil) in collaboration with the emergent domestic compradors have plundered the resource wealth. While decades of crude oil and gas production in the region have enormously enriched the captors of the petroleum industry, the host communities have suffered debilitating economic and health consequences. This article discusses the public health challenges resulting from this predatory political economy, along the lines of a bourgeoning body of literature that conceptualizes preventable market-driven harms as criminal.