Legal strategy for resolving the socio-economic and environmental symptoms of the resource curse in Nigeria: the role of impact and benefit agreements (IBAs)

Abstract

Traditionally, the discovery and exploitation of natural resources can change the destiny of countries in which they are found. However, history shows that in many developing resourcerich states, particularly in Africa, many citizens do not benefit from the resource revenues. This is due to factors such as mismanagement of the resource revenues, lack of transparency and accountability and corruption, amongst others. All of these are characterised by what is known as the 'resource curse' phenomenon. This article examines the resource curse phenomenon with a jurisdictional focus on Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta region (NDR). Further, it considers a potential legal instrument -the Impact and Benefit Agreement (IBA) -that could be used to resolve some of the problems characterised by the resource curse in the region. Using Canada as a reference point, the article demonstrates that the adoption of IBAs could be an alternative legal strategy for resolving socio-economic and environmental symptoms of the resource curse in Nigeria's oil-rich region.