Team

EXPLORING THE ETHICS OF COMMUNALISM IN OIL PRODUCING COMMUNITIES OF THE IGBO-SOUTH EAST NIGERIA AND THE ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IMPLIED

Igbo, Nigeria

Lawrence Ogbo Ugwuanyi, Theresa Atutu, O.F. Uche

A blue house with tropical plants in the foreground.

The aim of this work is to explore the emergent forms of community in oil producing companies in Igbo area of Nigeria and how or whether they reflect the ideals of Igbo communitarianism and the environmental justice implied. Obile community is located in Awarra Court Area in Imo State where the second largest gas plant is being constructed (Assa North Gas project). This project addresses the following question in relation to this region’s history: How has oil production affected the notion of community in oil producing areas of South Eastern Nigeria and what form of community has merged through oil production? I address this question by engaging the longstanding Igbo tradition of cooperative communalism which makes community development a collective venture and principle in Igbo culture.

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About the Team

Lawrence Ogbo Ugwuanyi Ph.D, Professor of philosophy, University of Abuja, Visiting Scholar, University of South Africa (2005); Environmental Humanities Fellow, IASH, University of Edinburgh(2021); Fellow, RVP and CUA McLean Center Seminar, USA (2021), engages environmental issues through the African thought scheme amongst other researches. For more details visit http://www.cectraafrica.org.

Theresa Atutu is a PhD student in Environmental History. Currently, she is working on the AFREXTRACT comparative study project on the diversity of cultural and political responses to environmental change in the Niger Delta, Nigeria.

O.F. Uche is a native of Obile Community in the Oil producing area of Imo State of Nigeria. He is a public servant. He has been actively involved in the community projects in Obile and is passionate about how Obile community of Ohaji town can achieve environmental justice through community development.