20 - Economic change in the UK

• The oil industry in Nigeria is located in the Niger Delta region, a vast area of wetlands on the delta of the Niger River, where it flows into the Gulf of Guinea
• When oil was discovered in Nigeria


  1953
• Chief Sunday Inengite: 'It wasn't until we saw what they called the oil – the black stuff – that we knew they were after something different.'
• By 1959, Royal Dutch Shell-BP had 53 wells operating in the area
• While oil quickly became a lucrative export for Nigeria, it came at a grave environmental cost
• Transnational companies involved in Nigeria's oil industry

  • Royal Dutch Shell (UK, Netherlands)
  • Chevron (USA)
  • Exxon-Mobil (USA)
  • Agip (Italy)
  • Total (France)
• Role of transnational companies in Nigeria's oil industry

  • Erected drilling platforms on the oil and gas fields around the Niger Delta region
  • Linked by pipelines to export terminals in the Gulf of Guinea, where the crude oil is piped onto tankers
  • The oil is shipped to Europe and the USA where it is refined into petrol and other oil products
  • The companies make most of their profit from refined oil
• The Nigerian government set up the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to form joint ventures with TNCs to ensure part of the profit from oil stays in Nigeria
• Environmental damage caused by the oil industry in Nigeria


  • Oil spills from leaking pipelines damage farmland so crops no longer grow
  • Gas flares are used to burn off gas from the oil, affecting people's health and contributing to global warming
  • Oil heated by the Sun becomes highly flammable and can burn out of control
  • Oil pollution, which occurs offshore from tankers, kills fish in the sea
• The Delta region contains important wetland and coastal ecosystems, and most people depend on the natural environment for their livelihood, either through farming or fishing
• Britain has had a trading relationship with West Africa for over 300 years, from 1650 trading enslaved African people and later trading palm oil
• Nigeria, along with much of Africa, became part of the British Empire in the late nineteenth century and was ruled by Britain until it gained independence in 1960
• Nigeria's main export partners

  • USA
  • India
  • Spain
  • Brazil
  • South Africa
  • UK
  • Netherlands
  • France
  • Germany
  • Japan
  • Others
• Nigeria's main import partners

  • China
  • USA
  • India
  • Netherlands
  • Belgium UK
  • Brazil
  • France
  • Germany
  • South Africa
  • Others
• Nigeria's main import partner for manufactured goods is now China, and there is also growing Chinese investment in Nigeria and other African countries
• Benefits of Chinese investment in Nigeria

  • Nigeria needs huge investment in infrastructure, particularly its transport network and power supply, and China has recent experience in building its own infrastructure
  • China's fast-growing economy needs more resources than the country can provide for itself, and it can find these resources abroad, in countries like Nigeria
• In 2014, the China Railway Construction Corporation won a US$12 billion contract to build a new 1,400 kilometre railway along the coast of Nigeria, and another Chinese corporation agreed to invest $10 billion in exploration and drilling in a new oilfield in Nigeria
• Official development assistance (ODA)


  Aid given by governments and paid for by taxes
• Multilateral aid


  Aid given by countries through international organisations, like the World Bank or IMF
• Bilateral aid


  Aid given directly by one country to another, sometimes with conditions attached
• Voluntary aid


  Aid given by individuals or companies and distributed through charities and non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
• Types of international aid


  • Short-term emergency relief
  • Long-term development assistance
• In 2016, Nigeria received $2.5 billion of Official Development Assistance (ODA), around $12 for each person in Nigeria
• From 2009 to 2013, 60 million mosquito nets were distributed to households across Nigeria as part of an international aid project funded by the World Bank, IMF and USA government
• The industrial structure of the UK - the types of work people do - is always changing
• Changes in industrial structure over time

  • Decline in primary sector (agriculture, mining, fishing)
  • Decline in manufacturing sector since 1960s
  • Growth in service sector
  • Growth in knowledge sector since 1980s
• By 2011, 80% worked in services, 9% in manufacturing and 1% in agriculture
• Industrial structure varies around the country, with areas specialising in different industries
• Globalisation


  The way business, ideas and lifestyles spread rapidly around the world
• More businesses in the UK are now owned by foreign companies, while more British companies own businesses in other countries
• It would be almost impossible for the UK to be isolated from the global economy as the UK has been trading with the rest of the world for centuries
• For the UK economy to thrive, the UK needs to be part of the global economy
• In most years, the UK economy grows by one or two per cent, mainly due to more trade with the rest of the world
• The UK economy is changing due to globalisation
• It would be almost impossible for the UK to be isolated from the global economy as we have been trading with the rest of the world for centuries
• For the UK economy to thrive, we need to be part of the global economy
• Economic growth in the UK


  • In most years, the UK economy grows by one or two per cent, mainly due to more trade with the rest of the world
  • This helps to make us richer
• Cheaper goods and services

  • Many of the things we buy are cheaper because they are produced in places where people earn lower wages than we do in the UK
• Foreign investment


  • Foreign companies invest in the UK, bringing new ideas and technology
  • They also provide jobs for workers in the UK
• Migration


  • Migrants come to the UK to fill jobs where we have a shortage of skilled workers, for example in healthcare and construction
  • British people also travel abroad for work