Corporate social responsibility of multinational oil companies and conflict resolution in communities of niger delta region, nigeria: the role of the federal government

The emergence of oil exploration in commercial quantity in the Niger Delta region in 1956 came with great excitement and huge hopes for rapid development and accelerated civilization in communities, in the region. Although most multinational oil companies (MNOCs) have found the Niger Delta a fertile ground for business, the region remains backwards, poor and underdeveloped. The host communities in the region represent a sordid tale of its squalor and underdevelopment in centre of its tremendous wealth, which include deforestation, noise pollution and other ecological damages, which has presented serious humanitarian challenges with implications for security, development, human right, social justice and poverty. To address these issues, the MNOCs have engaged in some programmes intended to benefit the oil bearing communities in the area of corporate social responsibility (CSR). This paper is focused on the role of the federal government in regulating the activities of the MNOCs with regards to CSR in the development of communities in the region and its contributions to conflict resolution.