This study examined how community relations activities were used by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to manage oil spillage in Ogoni land. Oil spillage in Ogoni has led to the contamination of water and destruction of farm lands, thereby causing a strain in the relationship between Ogoni indigenes and SPDC. Three research objectives were raised for this study with the aim to determine the extent to which Ogoni community had been exposed to oil spillage, to find out SPDC's community relations activities towards managing the aftermath of the oil spillage and to investigate the community's perception of the oil producing company's community relations activities in response to oil spillage. Survey and key informant interview designs were adopted for the study. For the survey, 399 respondents were drawn from two local government areas (LGA), Khana and Gokhana, which were randomly selected, while a representative of SPDC participated in the key informant interview. The findings revealed that oil spillage is still on-going in Ogoni and it constitutes a major cause of conflicts with the oil company. The community is also irk with SPDC's community relations activities in dealing with the spillages.
Â
Keywords: Oil spillage, Community relations, Environment, Perception, Ogoni,
Nigeria.