Oil, gas and goodwill: Assessing press coverage of Nigerias oil industry CSR activities

Abstract

Oil, being the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy has continuously generated controversies at various levels, particularly between government, exploration companies and host communities. One useful method of dousing such tension is to display a sense of empathy, creating some level of ownership mindset in natives and residents of host communities and the nation at large. This study probes into the volume of coverage of Nigeria’s oil industry CSR activities by selected newspapers; the directions given to the reportage of Nigeria’s oil industry CSR activities by the selected national dailies and issues of Nigeria’s oil industry CSR activities that received the greatest coverage by the selected national dailies. Content analysis, employing multi-stage and purposive sampling techniques was utilized for this study. Editions of The Guardian, The Nation, Vanguard and Punch for the year 2016 were analysed for this study. Data collected using the coding sheet was analyzed using Chi-Square and the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). This study posits those stakeholders and practitioner in NNPC’s Public Relations and CSR arm should proactively engage the media, to boost confidence and goodwill in the oil and gas industry, thereby minimizing potential conflicts and mitigating the effects of lingering ones.   Key words: Corporate social responsibility, goodwill, public relations, newspaper coverage, oil and gas.