THE BRITISH MINING & OIL REGULATIONS IN COLONIAL NIGERIA C. 1914-1960S: AN ASSESSMENT

Abstract

The British colonial authority ran an elaborate administration in Nigeria up to 1960. The strong nature of the colonial economy accounted for the success of the British administration in Nigeria, and an important element of the economy was mining. As expected, the mining and oil exploration activities by multinational companies in colonial Nigeria were guided by certain regulations. This paper examines some selected British mining and oil regulations in Nigeria from1914 up to the era of decolonization. It employs both primary and secondary sources to examine the motive behind the British colonial government's decision to embark on mining exploration and later on the search for crude oil in the country. The study focuses on the processes of enactment of certain Ordinances like the 1906 and 1907 mining rights, and particularly the 1914 and other subsequent oil legislations. It argues that the mining and oil rights were passed into law as part of the processes of amalgamation of the three protectorates by Lugard even though the colonial administration was not yet ready at that time to finance crude oil exploration which had not yet been found in commercial quantity. It was meant to secure the British easy administration as well as to make the exploration a wholly British monopoly. The paper further argues that the British mining and oil rights at the time were not made for the protection of the Nigerian environment because the oil industry in other parts of the world had not really established what constitutes pollution or damage to any environment. The authors argue that this notwithstanding, certain environmental laws were established by the British colonial government in Nigeria to safeguard the rights of the local land owners as well as the oil or mining operators. While the study suggests that the British exploration policy on mining and oil, had laid a solid foundation for the future growth and development of the oil sector in Nigeria, it concludes that Nigeria's post-colonial governments could tap and use the revenue accruing from petroleum resources for the socio-economic transformation of the Nigerian society, particularly the Niger Delta oil-producing region.