Latent geotechnical pathogens inducing cost overruns in highway projects

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 269-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alolote Ibim Amadi ◽  
Anthony Higham
Keyword(s):  
Niger Delta ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Cost Overrun ◽  
Delta Region ◽  
Cost Overruns ◽  
Highway Projects ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Niger Delta Region ◽  
Geotechnical Risk

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the statistical validity of geotechnical risk factors in accounting for cost overruns in highway projects. The study hypothesises that “latent pathogens” because of mismanaged geotechnical risk, which lay dormant in organisational practices of highway agencies, trigger cost overruns. Design/methodology/approach To test this hypothesis, cost and geotechnical data gathered for 61 completed highway projects, executed in the Niger Delta, recording unusually high cost overruns, along with qualitative data from 16 interviews with the project commissioners, were comprehensively analysed via regression modelling, to statistically explain recorded cost variance. Findings The results provide empirical evidence supporting a cause–effect relationship between the extent of cost overrun and key geotechnical factors. It is suggested that positive changes made in the geotechnical practices of the highway agencies will produce an expected exponential decrease in the level of cost overruns recorded in highway projects. Research limitations/implications The study is limited to explaining the propagation of unusually high cost overruns in the geologic setting of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. As such there is a need to test the generalisability of the theory presented. Practical implications The emergent view of geotechnical practice calls for further research, necessary to align geotechnical best practice into highway project delivery in the Niger Delta region. Originality/value The study used a robust methodological approach to understanding the propagation of cost overruns in highway projects, based on a characterisation of geotechnical intricacies, which is unprecedented in cost overrun research.

The arguments for environmental rights in Niger Delta: a theoretical framework

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 132-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Samy ◽  
Heineken Lokpobiri ◽  
Ade Dawodu
Keyword(s):  
Niger Delta ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Polluted Water ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
Delta Region ◽  
Environmental Rights ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Oil Companies ◽  
Niger Delta Region

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the extent to which environmental rights enforcement is currently practiced in Nigeria and the relevant characteristics for the development of a legal framework for the practice of environmental rights enforcement in Nigeria, particularly in the interest of the Niger Delta region of the country. The Niger Delta region of Nigeria is rich with abundant hydrocarbon resources and plays host to numerous multinational oil companies. For over five decades, oil spills and gas flaring from the operations of these companies have polluted water bodies and degraded farmlands on which the inhabitants depend for their livelihood. However, the absence of a legal regime of environmental rights has made it difficult for inhabitants of the region to seek legal remedy against these companies. Design/methodology/approach – This paper examines the extent to which environmental rights enforcement is currently practiced in Nigeria and the relevant characteristics for the development of a legal framework for the practice of environmental rights enforcement in Nigeria, particularly in the interest of the Niger Delta region of the country. Findings – Nigeria does not have constitutional environmental rights. The legal implication of this provision is that it is not justiciable as such no court of law can exercise jurisdiction to hear any matter that is connected with the provisions of that chapter. In other words, even the government’s “constitutional” responsibility to protect the environment cannot be judicially enforced, let alone environmental rights for victims of environmental damage. Originality/value – The original and significant contribution of this paper is to highlight the real issues and address them through substantive and procedural environmental rights provisions either in the constitution or positive legislations.

scholarly journals Corporate social responsibility: towards a context-specific perspective in developing countries

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 399-415 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilson Ozuem ◽  
Kerry Howell ◽  
Geoff Lancaster
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Niger Delta ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Delta Region ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Niger Delta Region ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
Western Perspective

Purpose – This paper aims to empirically test, in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, the external perceptions which hold that a firm that has acted in a socially irresponsible manner can have negative consequences, as an organisation’s success and very survival depends, in part, on satisfying normative expectations from its environment. Design/methodology/approach – A purposive sample of 28 respondents was selected from three communities within the region. In addition, 20 in-depth interviews took place with oil workers, community leaders and elders within the region. These interviews lasted for approximately an hour and were transcribed verbatim. Findings – Drawing on qualitative research methodology, it is proposed that socially responsible investment could promote and facilitate business and social cohesion between corporations and broader communities that impinge on the company, rather than simply viewing business practice exclusively from an economic or political point of view. Research limitations/implications – This study has examined a small range of companies from an interpretivist ethnographic position in the Niger Delta region using data collected from interviews and observations. Future research could take a more positivistic position and explore a wider range of companies using a variety of data collection methods. Practical implications – Understanding corporate social responsibility (CSR) tends to be contextually bound, and should be divorced from the mechanistic Western perspective prevailing in most extant literature. Despite this context-specific notion to CSR relevance, there is still an overwhelming dominance of the understanding of CSR from the Western perspective, so companies should more closely consider local issues when drawing up CSR policy guidelines in a non-Western environment. Originality/value – Forty-eight individuals in the Niger Delta region have been interviewed, and their opinions on CSR issues have been reported.

scholarly journals Cognitive Mapping of Geotechnical Practices as Cost Overrun Drivers in Highway Projects

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alolote Amadi ◽  
Anthony Higham
Keyword(s):  
Niger Delta ◽  
Cognitive Mapping ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
Project Delivery ◽  
Cost Overrun ◽  
Social Constructs ◽  
Cost Overruns ◽  
Highway Projects ◽  
High Level

Cost overruns experienced in transportation infrastructure projects continues to remain an issue of wide scholarly interest throughout the developed and developing world. Adopting a geotechnical trajectory, this research investigates the cause of unusually high cost overruns experienced in highway projects, executed in the tropical wetland setting of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Using the case study research strategy, archival data is sourced along with sixteen interviews conducted within the three highway agencies responsible for infrastructure project delivery in the region. The qualitative data gathered was comprehensively analysed using deductive-inductive thematic analysis. The results of the analysis identified latent triggers such as non-adherence to geotechnical best practices, amidst a wide array of unanticipated social constructs, which festered in the practises of the highway agencies. The interplay of the emergent social constructs with the fundamental geotechnical triggers is cognitively mapped out, relaying the intricate web of the contextual dynamics, driving the unusually high level of cost overruns experienced in highway project delivery in the Niger Delta. The study submits that the phenomenon of cost overruns in highway projects is multi-hydra headed, driven by a complexity of technical and social variables, contextually specific to the practices of highway organisations.

Women’s participation in the offshore and inshore fisheries entrepreneurship

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Ikechukwu Uduji ◽  
Elda Nduka Okolo-Obasi ◽  
Simplice Asongu
Keyword(s):  
Niger Delta ◽  
Cultural Influences ◽  
Coastal Communities ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Delta Region ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Entrepreneurship Development ◽  
Oil Companies ◽  
Niger Delta Region ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the multinational oil companies’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in Nigeria. Its special focus is to investigate the impact of the global memorandum of understanding (GMoU) on women involved in offshore and inshore fisheries entrepreneurship in the coastal communities of the Niger Delta region. Design/methodology/approach This paper adopts a survey research technique, aimed at gathering information from a representative sample of the population, as it is essentially cross-sectional, describing and interpreting the current situation. A total 800 respondents were sampled across the coastal communities of the Niger Delta region. Findings The results from the use of a combined propensity score matching and logit model indicate that the GMoU model is gender insensitive, as extensive inequality restrains fisherwomen’s participation in the offshore and inshore fisheries entrepreneurship, often due to societal norms and customs that greatly frustrate women’s development in fisheries. Practical implications This implies that if fisherwomen continue in this unfavourable position, their reliance on menfolk would remain while trying to access financial support and decision-making regarding fisheries entrepreneurship development. Social implications The inshore and offshore fisheries entrepreneurship development can only succeed if cluster development boards of GMoUs are able to draw all the resources and talents and if fisherwomen are able to participate fully in the GMoUs intervention plans and programme. Originality/value This research contributes to the gender debate in fisheries entrepreneurship development from a CSR perspective in developing countries and rationale for demands for social projects by host communities. It concludes that business has an obligation to help in solving problems of public concern, and that CSR priorities in Sub-Saharan Africa should be aimed towards addressing the peculiarity of the socio-economic development challenges of the countries and be informed by socio-cultural influences.

Participation in Community Development Micro Projects in Niger Delta Region of Nigeria: Implications for Social Work Education and Practice

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 335-352
Author(s):  
Oghenechoja Dennis Veta
Keyword(s):  
Niger Delta ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Survey Design ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Delta Region ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Niger Delta Region ◽  
Borehole Water ◽  
Work Education

This study sought to investigate factors militating against community participation in development projects executed under the Micro Projects Programme and how to reduce such factors to the barest minimum in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. A cross-sectional survey design was adopted for the study. A questionnaire, an in-depth interview (IDI) guide and a focus group discussion (FGD) guide were used for data collection. Borehole water, generator-house, health centres, staff quarters and markets were the projects executed. Inadequate devolution of power to the grassroots, among others, was the major problem that hindered involvement of community members in the development process of the Micro Projects Programme in the study areas. To enhance active participation of beneficiaries in the development process of the programme, suggestions are proffered.

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