Big Men: Deprave Business Practices

Film maker, Rachel Boyton, spent 5 years in the making of Big Men. This documentary took an inside look at oil development in Ghana. Kosmos Energy, a small startup Oil Company, made the discovery in Ghana and was backed by Blackstone Capital partners and Warburg Pincus. They allowed the cameras to follow them to uncover the struggles to accomplish their mission, while exploring the question of how people in developing countries benefit. Kosmos faced numerous challenges in its journey for big profits.

“The Nile perch was introduced to Lake Victoria, Africa in 1954 to counteract the drastic drop in native fish stocks caused by overfishing.” (Browne) It has caused the extinction of more than 200 different fish species through predation and other means. The Nile Perch has gone through a variety of names from 1758 all the way to 1932, common names that the Nile perch also goes by is the African snook and the Victorian perch. In 1929 there was a study done in order to examine the fish in Lake Victoria to see their commercial liability.

Nile perch is a freshwater fish native to Lake Albert and Lake Turkana (Global Invasive Species Database). They have been an invasive species since they have been swimming in Lake Victoria. This species was introduced in 1954 (Global Invasive Species Database). The reason why the Nile perch was introduced was to gain back population (Lowe). Lake Victoria’s Native population was being overfished (Lowe). In the 1980s the Nile perch population dominated three quarters of Lake Victoria (Global Invasive Species Database). Two hundred species of fish in Lake Victoria have become extinct because the Nile perch was introduced (Global Invasive Species Database). The reason why so many fish became extinct was the Nile perch introduced a new predator and competed for food (Lowe).

When the Nile Perch was introduced into Lake Victoria it caused controversy whether or not it was right to have the fish thriving in

In the film Big Men by Rachel Boynton, it is exposed the true meaning of what a “Big Man” is. This documentary is based on oil companies trying to extract oil from Ghana and Nigeria and how corruption is being proceeded in theses countries. Director Boynton interviews the businessmen from oil companies which are from Kosmo energy company, the government officials of those countries and of course the people of the country. The citizen see government officials and oil companies as the the “Big Men” the big men are men who are in power and have wealth, these men only lookout for themselves and no one else. It is brought up in the movie that between 1960 and 1999, nigerian officials stole or wasted more than $440 billion, it is also stated in the

     Violation of Human Rights, destruction of the environment, and denial of freedom of speech and congregation are the ethical issues raised in this case. The Human Rights violations are many. The Nigerian special police force raped, tortured, and murdered hundreds who spoke out against the tyrannical government. All together they killed 2,000 Ogoni, razed 27 villages and displaced over 80,000 people who fled into the bush as refugees. The oil spills by the Shell Company, the lying of the pipeline across farmlands, and

Situated along the coast of the Gulf of Guinea is a region about the size of South Carolina that offers a land full of sweet, light crude oil, known as the Niger Delta (Delta). The Delta sits within the country of Nigeria in West Africa and is in a constant state of crisis, underpinned by a multitude of key issues. Those issues include severe poverty, soil and water contamination, high infant mortality rates, low life expectancy, depletion of natural resources, corruption, and armed militia groups. These issues have one thing in common: oil.

Nigeria is an Agricultural and oil rich nation but characterised by Political instability, corruption, poor

In Oil on Water, Helon Habila, the author, uses his characters’ backgrounds and experiences to illustrate how corruption affects individuals and communities. The novel is set in the Niger delta. The two main characters are journalists who have personalities which strongly contrast with each other. Rufus is an idealist and Zaq is a jaded veteran reporter. Rufus, unlike Zaq, grew up in the delta and is personally connected to the communities. The story follows Rufus and Zaq on an assignment to find “the White Woman,” but ultimately, Habila uses his characters to tell a much more complex tale of environmental devastation and destruction of communities as a result of oil company corruption and greed.

In June, 2010, an annual favorability poll by Gallup covering the 24 largest industries in the US, rated the oil industry 24th out of 24 for the seventh year in a row (Jones 2010). Despite multinational Oil and Gas companies having the most

Nigeria is Africa’s leading producer of oil and the seventh largest producer of crude oil in the world, and equally endowed with other numerous natural resources. But rather than utilizing its resources for maximum development, the country is unfortunately bedevilled with how to efficiently and effectively distribute oil revenues in an equitable manner. The revenue allocation phenomenon in Nigeria is basically the issue of distribution of national (resources) revenue, mobilized by the central federal government. And as far as the revenue allocation debacle is concerned, the haggling is between those who bake the national cake (major contributors to national revenue) and those at the helm of affairs to allocate it. There

It was a sunny Monday morning in Badia West, Lagos. I was manning the emergency room that day when a group of young men brought in a man in his twenties who was severely injured. He was beaten to near comatose by the police for protesting the demolition of his father’s house. While resuscitating him and suturing his wounds, I learned firsthand the horrors that besieged the peaceful protests of the Badia East residents which turned violent. Indeed, people where thrown out of their homes, with little warning about the intended dam construction and protesters who tried to defend their ancestral homes were first shot tear gas and later fired at.

Imagine a world where daily planned blackouts and shorter workdays were implemented to conserve energy. For people living in Venezuela and Libya, this is very much the norm. In addition to being two of the most corrupt and politically unstable governments in the world, Venezuela and Libya are plagued with problems surrounding their energy sectors. This is surprising, since they are both globally known for being oil-rich countries. Venezuela had 300 billion barrels of oil reserves in 2016, passing oil-rich Saudi Arabia at 266 billion barrels, Iran at 158 billion, and Iraq at 142 billion. Libya on the other hand, had about 50 billion barrels of reserves in 2015 (OPEC, 2016). So, where does the oil go and why do Venezuelans and Libyans suffer energy poverty if they live in oil-rich regions of the world? Nearly all of it is exported out of the country for profit, leaving many of the local citizens in these two countries empty handed. Corruption revolving around these countries’ oil exports has pairs with political instability and leads to a plethora of economic, political, and social problems.

Most children in the Niger delta have little or no education, due to lack of funds from their parents who have lost their lands and have no jobs because of limited opportunities. The Niger delta government and the oil companies have refused to look into the situation; instead they favor their close relations neglecting the masses. Corruption in the Niger delta has led some youths in taking drastic measure in order to put food on their table. For example, Ikechukwu Efe an indigene of the Niger delta said that some of his friends created their own “oil refinery”, which is made up of crude oil in metal barrels with controlled heat from fire woods. This is a dangerous process in refining crude oil but the degree of poverty in the state left his friends with no choice. If only the government of the Niger delta have created jobs with the wealth of the state Ikechukwu’s friend would not have to put their lives in danger. Until corruption is put to an abrupt the people of the Niger delta will continue to live in poverty.

I belong to a proud people called the Ogoni people. The Ogoni people are a minority tribe that’s in the Southeast of Nigeria and they happen to own most of the vast oil reserves in Nigeria. Why does this matter you ask? Well because they’ve been economically exploited, suffered environmental degradation and political marginalization in Nigeria for fighting for the right to self determine their destiny and keep control of their resources. Shell, a oil company that was founded in 1907 when the Dutch company practiced unfriendly environmental practices while drilling oil where people were living. This caused oil spills and polluted the water and land that was used to produce fruits and vegetables. Nigeria also allowed these practices to go on because a lot of Nigeria’s wealth came from oil. The Nigerian government also supported the efforts of Shell to get rid of the Ogoni so that they can continue to take the oil without any consequences. With the help of Shell and the Nigerian government the Ogonis were forced to go out of Nigeria as exiles. My dad came here as a refugee and I was born here. While many see that some parts of the world are doing fairly well and operate in a democracy, I believe that we as a world community should rally behind human rights and address the degradation and devastation that has plagued the Ogoni community and other indigenous