EFFECTIVENESS OF SHELL PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT COMPANY’S COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES IN PROMOTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION MANAGEMENT IN NIGER DELTA, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study examined the effectiveness of shell petroleum development company’s (SPDC) communication strategies in promotion of environmental degradation impact management in Niger Delta, Nigeria. Purposive random sampling technique was used for the selection of 240 community members in SPDC host communities. Data were collected using structured questionnaire, and were analyzed with descriptive statistics, while linear multivariate regression was used to test the hypothesis. The result showed that SPDC provided start pack for trained farmers ( x=3.3), delivery of household health service ( x=3.3), provides safe drinking water ( x=2.9) were the various environmental degradation impact management intervention by SPDC. The further showed that radio advertisement on shell (x =3.4), bill board promotional campaign of shell’s activities ( x=3.4) and advocacy visit by SPDC to royal fathers (x =3.6) were various SPDC communication strategies in management of environmental degradation community members were exposed to. The study found a significant relationship between the extent of exposure to SPDC communication strategies and impact management intervention by SPDC was rejected at 5% level. The study concluded that Shell Petroleum Development company’s communication strategies promoted environmental degradation impact management intervention within host communities. The study recommended that there is need for SPDC to increase her effort to provide conflict prevention strategies among host communities within her clusters in order to ensure uninterrupted exploration of crude oil.