Migrant Labour, Remittances, and Community Development in Nigeria’s South-South Oil Communities: A Critical HRM Perspective

This doctoral study critically examines the intersection of migrant labour flows from Nigeria's South-South oil communities, international and domestic remittance behaviour, and community development outcomes, developing an original Critical HRM perspective on how multinational oil companies' labour sourcing and management practices shape these dynamics. Oil-producing communities in Rivers, Delta, and Bayelsa States are simultaneously sending communities for skilled workers migrating abroad and receiving communities for internal migrants taking non-specialist oil sector roles, creating complex labour market and social development dynamics rarely examined through a critical HRM lens. Drawing on Critical Management Studies, the New Economics of Labour Migration, and Community-Based Development Theory, this study employs a critical ethnographic design involving 18 months of fieldwork in four oil-producing communities, 110 in-depth interviews with migrant workers, community leaders, oil company HR representatives, and government officials, and analysis of National Bureau of Statistics remittance data. The original theoretical contribution is a Petro-Labour Migration and Community Development Model that maps how oil MNC HR practices, including local content compliance strategies, expatriate preference, and contract labour exploitation, interact with migration decisions and remittance utilization at community level. The study finds that current HRM practices in oil MNCs, despite local content mandates, systematically incentivize skilled community members to migrate rather than engage with local employment opportunities, producing a development paradox where oil wealth accelerates human capital outmigration. Recommendations include community-embedded HRM accountability frameworks, participatory local content monitoring, and community development HR standards under the PIA. Keywords: migrant labour, remittances, oil communities, critical HRM, local content Nigeria