Oil firms showcase giving ahead of Nigeria poll, but many blame them for environmental damage

AP

27 March 2011

Oil firms showcase giving ahead of Nigeria poll, but many blame them for environmental damage

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria — Posters show smiling students posing after receiving university scholarships. New roads appear on formerly potholed mud tracts. Millions of dollars are promised to improve the lives of the desperate poor.

These campaigns by oil company Royal Dutch Shell PLC and other foreign firms make it seem they are running for office in crude-rich Nigeria, which will hold crucial presidential, federal and local elections in the coming weeks. The multinational firms have spent hundred of millions of dollars toward projects they advertise as improving the life of those living in the country's troubled Niger Delta.