Abstract
This paper examines the duties of resources-rich developing countries inherent in Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Wealth and Resources (PSNWR) in the context of the laws and other forms of government regulatory frameworks, such as government institutional regulatory frameworks, governing petroleum development in Nigeria. It emphasises the significance of good, dynamic and effective laws, alongside viable, strong and efficient institutions in the governance of major natural resources extractive industrial development operations (EIOs) in Nigeria. It rationalises how and why petroleum and other EIOs regulatory frameworks in Nigeria should be designed and implemented in conformity with widely acknowledged and accepted benchmarked international EIOs regulatory mechanisms, such as guidelines, norms, rules, standards and practices, which are soft law instruments that are increasingly governing EIOs in sovereign states around the globe, in the ongoing era of sustainable development (SD). It recommends a need for domestication of such regulatory mechanisms governing petroleum resources development operations and other EIOs in Nigeria, as doing so would boost good environmental governance and overall government social responsibility, towards robust, efficient and effective accomplishment of the duties of Nigeria embedded in PSNWR, in the course of the resources development operations in the oil-rich Niger Delta region. Doing so would thus boost human wellbeing, good governance and environmentally-sound and socio-economically equitable SD in Nigeria, towards overall public good and all-embracing prosperity in the country. Keywords: Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Wealth and Resources (PSNWR), Petroleum Development, Extractive Industrial Operations (EIOs), Good Environmental Governance (GEG), Government Social Responsibility (GSR), Good Governance and Sustainable Development (SD). DOI : 10.7176/JLPG/92-09 Publication date: December 31 st 2019
Highlights
Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Wealth and Resources (PSNWR) unfolded as an international political claim and a principle of international law, which is rooted in international human rights law and the principles of self-determination and economic sovereignty
Rights and duties are closely related, and cannot be separated from each other,2 governments of resources-rich developing countries such as Nigeria are promptly exercising their rights of PSNWR to exploit the natural resources of their countries and to manage the wealth accruing from the exploitation of these resources, without performing their corresponding duties to cater for the wellbeing of their countries and citizens, including the wellbeing of the geographical regions where the natural resources being so exploited are derived. It is against this background that this paper examines how Nigeria, represented by its governments, may either improve on its performance or effectively perform its duties ingrained in PSNWR with regard to petroleum development operations in the oil-rich Niger Delta region, in the context of the legal and institutional frameworks governing PSNWR in the country
The persuasive nature of these global and other international regulatory guidelines, norms, rules and standards, as well as the findings and recommendations of key stakeholder-groups of extractive industrial development operations (EIOs), such as the Mining, Minerals and sustainable development (SD) (MMSD) project that took place in 2000,1 and the World Bank Group (WBG) that embarked on the WBG Extractive Industries Review (EIR) between 2000 and 2004,2 are distinct from the compelling nature of the domestic hard laws and institutional frameworks of Nigeria discussed hereunder
Summary
Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Wealth and Resources (PSNWR) unfolded as an international political claim and a principle of international law, which is rooted in international human rights law and the principles of self-determination and economic sovereignty. The principle presupposes absolute, inalienable, free and full, and unfettered right of newly independent developing countries over their natural wealth and resources.. The principle presupposes absolute, inalienable, free and full, and unfettered right of newly independent developing countries over their natural wealth and resources.1 It was enshrined in the UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 1803 (XVII) of 14 December, 1962, entitled: ‘Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Resources’.2. By virtue of PSNWR, the UNGA promotes the unfettered sovereign right of resources-rich developing countries to explore and exploit their natural resources as well as manage the wealth accruing from the development of these resources for development of their countries and the wellbeing of their citizens.. Article 1 of the UNGA Resolution on PSNWR provides that the duties inherent in the inalienable right of a resources-rich state are principally those of national development and the wellbeing of the citizens. Sovereignty over Natural Resources: Balancing Rights and Duties (Cambridge University Press 1997), 1–3
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