Precio Óptimo

So far no study conducted in this area that deploys and adapt the excellence theory as a public relations model to a relationship problem that is distinctive to the Sub-Saharan Africa. A major challenge to public relations practice in the developing countries is the neglect of the interest of the larger stakeholders also known as publics of the organisation with a corresponding attention paid to the media and government personnel (Sriranmesh,1992). This model of public relations practice tends to strengthen one-way, persuasive and audience manipulation which the two-way symmetrical public relations may not support (Grunig and Hunt, 1984). Lindeborg (1994) agrees that the two-way symmetrical model of public relations as tested in a previous study at the AT and T Corporation tend to add more value to the function of public relations in an organisation and by extension the potentials for a peace building process (Tirone 1977). This study is an extension of

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not only excellence theory but ethical communication14 _{which seeks a balance in the allocation of} resources as a strong pillar in a peace building process.

Within the context of the Niger Delta oil related conflict studies, this study attempts to fill the knowledge gap that has become evident either as an oversight, neglect or purposive avoidance by researchers in the past. Though the perspective of public relations has been involved in the analysis of the crisis situation in the Niger Delta but no initiative has been inclusive of the nature of public relations practice and sustainable stakeholders’ relationships as a measure of cultivating and sustaining peaceful co-existence in the region.

Negative effects of oil production in the oil producing communities have been in the front burner of studies which document the reaction of the oil rich communities, the response of both the oil producing companies and government. One of such studies with focus on the relationship between oil production and environmental degradation identified oil spills, gas flaring, dredging of the canal and land take as part of the negative effects of oil production in the Niger Delta since the discovery of oil in Oloibiri in 1956 in now Bayelsa State of Nigeria (Opukri and Ibaba, 2008). The study concludes that the associated consequences of oil production have resulted to losses in income and occupation of the oil communities which further gave rise to ‘voluntary and involuntary migration’ of some members of the oil communities. The position of the study was corroborated by the study conducted by a group of scholars who maintain that oil production activities have resulted in the downward turn of the local economy which naturally thrive on agriculture (Aaron, 2006, Salau, 1993, Okoko, 1998, Ibeanu, 2002). Another study on peace building process in the Niger Delta taken from the perspective of amnesty programmes and violence argues that disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of the militants would bring in peace to the Niger delta crisis. The study which uses both quantitative and qualitative method of analysis concludes that though there were some measures of success in the use of the amnesty programme, it observes that to sustain and improve on the level of success achieved will only be possible if the government can muster the will to evolve the participation of the oil communities in the design and implementation of development related programmes (Okonofua, 2011). The study concludes that failure of government to hook up the amnesty programme with broad base socio-economic programmes

14 _{Ethical communication is the exchange of information that has respect for truthfulness, honesty, reason and} accuracy (McConnell, 2011). The National Communication Association (NCA) maintains that ethical communication encourages human worth and dignity through the promotion of truthfulness, fairness, responsibility, personal integrity, and respect for self and others (NCA,1999).

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would likely usher in a more serious reign of violent rebels. This prediction was later vindicated in 2016 when a new set of militancy called Niger Delta Avengers began another regime of violent campaign against the government and oil companies operating in the Niger Delta. Within few days of launching their campaign, they have left several oil pipelines blown up thereby reducing the oil production from 2.3million barrels per day to 1.2m bpd. But none of these studies is yet to show significant focus on the likely relationship between the nature of public relations practice and the promotion of a long term peaceful relationship among stakeholders of the oil industry in relation to equitable distribution of natural resources. The excellence theory studies on which this study is principally anchored is unique in its support for managerial decisions on behalf of organisations towards corporate effectiveness especially in the Niger Delta region. It postulates that managerial decisions taken for organisation should be socially responsible for the satisfaction of publics’ interest as a basis for satisfying self-interest. It argues that the empowerment of public relations practice will offer the best leverage to publics of organisations, a position that appears to be relatively exclusive to the excellence theory, for meaningful participation which is a hopeful direction for forging a positive relationship and peace building mechanism, the duo needs of a progressive and meaningful human society (Grunig, 2002).

The failure to evolve the appropriate long term peace drivers in the region appears to have been supportive of the various activities in the region that have made attainment of a long term peaceful relationship intractable for some time now. For instance, the youths in Nembe, an oil rich community in Bayelsa State in reaction to the failure of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to honour the General Memorandum of Understanding (GMOU) it entered into with the community since the previous year gave a 30-day ultimatum on July24, 2014, to stop its operations in the area (Segun 2014). This post amnesty strain in the relationship between the oil company and the oil producing community suggests a picture that is typical of the pervasive state of strained relationship among the stakeholders in the Niger Delta for almost five consecutive decades now. It further points to the weakness in the hope of securing a long term positive relationship in the region for oil stakeholders.

It is not out of place to find the needed long term peace drivers that is capable of a sustainable long term positive relationship in the broad field of sociological studies. But in terms of a holistic commitment and professionalized approach to peace building process, the strategies for conscious stimulation of peace building drivers are more particularly rooted in modern public relations

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practice. The persistent need for a paradigm shift with emphasis on a proactive public relations practice which is a move away from organisation focused to a balanced representation of the interest of both organisation and other stakeholders interest tends to be the desirable answer to the Niger Delta oil resource related crisis. It is in the light of the foregoing that taking the perspective of public relations to address the challenges in the relationship among the Niger Delta oil resource stakeholders could not have been more imperative. This implies the need to examine the nature of public relations, as some types of public relations in the past were castigated when mistaken for propaganda or publicity, in order to establish the relationship that exists between such public relations practice and the resource related crisis. Thus what is of significant concern to this study is specifically to establish whether the current public relations approach to the question of the Niger Delta crisis is one or two-way asymmetrical or two-way symmetrical. The divide between the two natures of public relations practice if it is to be broadly categorized, is the extent to which the nature of public relations practice encourages organisation focus or a balance of both organisation and the public interest. Focus on both the interest of the organisation and the publics is the fundament of the two-way symmetrical model of Grunig which sticks to ‘using bargaining, negotiating, and strategies of conflict resolution to bring about symbiotic changes in ideas, attitudes and behaviour of both an organisation and its publics’ (Grunig 1989:29). This study believes that long term relationship is a function of the collective application of public relations tools in the form of changes in ideas, attitudes and behaviour of both the organisation and its publics with mutual respect for common interest. The practice of encouraging positive changes in both organisation and its publics using public relations strategies are not part of the advocacies of previous studies in this context of peace building particularly with reference to the Niger Delta question. Thus that this study relies on the Excellence theory15 _{as part of its theoretical backbones} in evaluating the nature of public relations practice in the Niger Delta to establish its closeness or otherwise to a relationship that is mutually satisfying to both the government, oil companies on one hand and the oil communities on the other hand was informed by its underlying postulation that effectiveness of organisations is a function of the extent to which corporate policies and actions satisfy the needs of organisation and its publics. (Grunig, 2006).

15 _{Excellence theory was a product of the excellence study under the coordination of Grunig emphasizes the value} of public relations to organisation and its publics on the basis of social responsibility of management decision and ‘quality of corporate relationship with its publics.

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