Nigeria is in the news today. I dont know much about Nigeria. I assume that problems have been brewing there for some time but that the people cannot get any media attention. Inspired by Iraq perhaps, they have taken hostages and threatened the oil supply and that always gets attention. Expect to learn more about Nigeria in 2006.
Nigerian Militants Hit In Oil-Producing Region
February 18, 2006
WARRI, Nigeria -- Militants launched a wave of attacks across Nigeria's oil-rich southern delta Saturday, blowing up oil installations and seizing nine foreign oil workers, including three Americans, officials said.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said in the email that the attacks were a response to military helicopter assaults this week on ethnic minority communities in the region. The militants threatened more attacks would follow on "a grander scale."
The militants say they are fighting for more autonomy, a greater share of oil wealth and compensation for environmental degradation for the impoverished region's estimated eight million Ijaw people. The area's largest tribe accuses the government and oil companies of cheating it of wealth produced on its land.
Nigeria supplies 1/5th of our US oil supply so one would think that the country would be as prosperous and wealthy as Saudi Arabia. But it is not. Despite its wealth of natural resources, the country is still poor and undeveloped. This is the complaint of the hostage takers. The oil money is not falling far enough from the tree they say and they are probably right.
The issue gets me thinking about natural resources. Who should profit from something that comes out of the ground or grows on the ground? Are there different ways to distribute this wealth from the way we do it? Are some ways more just and equitable than others?
Oil and water are liquids that exist in massive pools underground. Man did not make these products. Our contribution is drilling it out of the earth and deciding who should get paid for it.
We have a system of real property in this country that makes someone the owner of the land, anything under the land or above the land. We have divided all the land in our nation into a grid and keep meticulous records of ownership. (Of course this was after we got rid of the Native American's who had some crazy idea that the Earth was to be honored and shared by all men.)
Oil and water dont respect this grid system of ownership but somehow people decide who owns the oil and they get paid for it. Presumably that money goes straight to individuals and companies. (I know that I dont get any money for our nations resources.)
How do other people allocate these resources?
In Nigeria 19% of every barrel goes to the 'country', presumably to some wealthy individual or group, and the other 81% goes to the international oil company that drilled the oil out. The Rebels want 25% of the oil money and they want it distributed more evenly. Those demands dont seem unreasonable to me. Even if the oil company only got 10% of the money, they would drill it out because there is money to be made and lots of it.
In Alaska, part of every barrel of oil is given to the citizens of the state. I dont know the exact amount but at the end of every year, the citizens of Alaska get a few thousand dollars for their "oil dividend" which they can spend on firewater, snowmobiles or whatever. Like Nigeria, Alaska has a a great deal of natural resources. Are the people there wealthy? Is the state prosperous and well developed? I have heard Alaska is nice but it remains one of the least populated (and most politically influential) states in the nation.
In Venezuela, money from the oil goes to the federal government. In that country, oil pays for the government not personal income taxes, which sounds like a good deal for all the citizens. Such a good deal that it provoked death threats from our Christian leader, Pat Robertson. Sharing the wealth is just too radical for many people in the US to handle. It blows their minds.
I dont know about oil specifically but in China, the "people" own all the land collectively. One can lease land from the government but you can never own the land. Now that is pretty different.
So I guess that there are some different systems out there. But like a lot of issues, we are so used to our system we dont even notice it and certainly dont question whether it is still the best way. I am sympathetic to the people of Nigeria and I hope they can work out a solution without more violence. God, not man, created these resources and it seems like we all ought to share in the benefits.
