Stakeholder Interaction for Sustainability: The Impact of Social Media on Nigeria’s Oil and Gas Industry

The wave of new media technology is sweeping across the globe. Given its speed of information dissemination and retrieval, it is relevant to explore how it can be used to manage corporate-stakeholder relations, engagement, and communication. This is because communication is an effective medium for managing relations (and crisis). In the post-conflict era in Niger delta region of Nigeria that has been described as slipping into the abyss of renewed conflict and violence following perceived failure of the amnesty deal to drive change, it is crucial to rethink the instrumentality of the new media in bringing better corporate-community relations in the region. It is expected that this process will democratise stakeholder engagement and widen discursive space following the speed, method, and multiplicity of the platforms that new media affords. The author also hopes that arguments shared here will cause a rethink on the possibility of a sustainable future in post-conflict Niger delta through new media technology.