The government cozies up to Big Oil

Nigeria

Editorial

What kind of hold does Halliburton have over the Nigerian government? asked Lagos’ This Day in an editorial. A Halliburton subsidiary, KBR, just won a $1.7 billion oil contract from the Nigerian state oil company. Yet Halliburton is supposed to be banned from the country. Just six months ago, our parliament blacklisted the U.S.-based company because of its past “corruption” and “disregard for Nigerian law.” Halliburton has admitted that it bribed Nigerian officials to undervalue its tax obligations. And KBR almost certainly bribed other Nigerian officials to get a gas contract, although it is fighting that charge in a French court. When radioactive devices used in oil drilling suddenly vanished from Nigeria, the company did nothing to get them back, raising suspicions that it had “aided in the theft.” Yet, after all this criminal activity, KBR was somehow able to produce a letter from the president’s office exempting it from the blacklist and awarding it this lucrative contract. Nigerians deserve to know why. “There is nothing to show that Halliburton has turned a new leaf.”