Book Description

Nigeria is a country that is richly endowed with both human and natural resources. Chief among the natural resources is crude oil, which has been the mainstay of the country's economy for decades, yet an average Nigerian lives on less than the equivalent of one US Dollars a day. Clearly, there is a disconnect between the endowment and the standard of living of majority of the people. Considering the available resources, the country is not developing at the rate expected, so many things are responsible for this stunted growth, they include, but are not limited, to corruption, mismanagement, unbridled stealing of the country's crude oil and other criminal activities. The fulcrum of this paper is the negative effects of the stealing of Nigeria's crude oil on the climate and how it has clipped the growth of the economy. In recent times climate change has taken the front seat in global discourse, there has been a growing concern about changes in the climate and the quest that no stone must be left unturned in addressing the issue. Good climate is a sine qua non to sustainable development. The acts of human beings had been fingered as the causes of adverse changes in the environment, such deviant behaviours includes those acts associated with crude oil theft such as oil spillages; illegal oil pipeline breakages; illegal bunkering of crude oil; environmental degradation; deforestation; etc. This egregious state of things was possible because of lack of good governance flowing from lack of respect for the rule of law. The deleterious effects of such acts of man described above are manifest in a myriad of social and economic malaise such as scarcity of potable water translating into health hazards and thus lowering the standard of living of its masses. Further there has been huge and recurring loss of revenue that could be used to mitigate the effect of climate change and the setting up of processes to properly address adaptation to natural changes in the climate and also to delimit deforestation in Nigeria. Some other effects includes pollution of land for agriculture; accumulation of harmful substances in food webs; diminishing biodiversity and people resorting to less environmentally friendly means of generating electricity and power. These factors represent some of the challenges which have impeded the country's likelihood of achieving the much touted millennium development goals (MDGS) of the current government in Nigeria. This work posits that there is a strong bond between good governance, sustainable development and climate change. The paper analyses these concepts as they relate to crude oil theft in Nigeria and its impact on climate change in Nigeria. It observes that sustainable development will naturally thrive in an environment of good governance and proper equitable utilization of the country's crude oil resources. The paper concludes that with the enthronement of necessary enforcement machineries for good governance in Nigeria, the currently booming international crude oil theft syndicate and its attendant ills would be stemmed thus ensuring sustainable development in Nigeria.