‘The Oil is Drilled in Takoradi, but the Money is Counted in Accra’: The Paradox of Plenty in the Oil City, Ghana

Abstract

Recent scholarship on Ghana's oil industry has focused primarily on its grand contributions to the national economy while its intra-city impact has received less academic attention. Borrowing from Terry Karl's interpretation of the paradox of plenty, and drawing on empirical evidence from 25 purposefully selected interviewees, the study examines how the oil production off the shores of Sekondi-Takoradi is creating complex processes of accumulation, contradiction, and displacement in a low-income community-New Takoradi. The results point to the accentuation of socio-economic risks in the community following the inflow of oil revenue which is shaping government's macro-level policies. The paper opines that without attention to place-specific contexts, understanding its socio-economic risks and decadence, and its semblance of strong resilience becomes deceptive. The paper concludes that context and situation are significant for how and to what degree the oil boom matters in the oil city.

‘Informal Exceptionalism?’ Labour Migrants’ Creative Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Livelihoods in Accra, Ghana

“…We concur that short of proper planning within the remit of the socio-economic realities, poverty in sub-Saharan African cities will persist and perhaps, worsen access to social infrastructure and increase urban poverty, with disproportionate impact on women and compromising the attempts to eradicate poverty by 2030 (Gillespie, 2015; Turok, 2016). This case study presents enough evidence to suggest that most present-day labour mobility is no longer a desperate jump into the unknown, but rather a purposeful movement of networks of relatives, with improved courtesy transport and communication means, from low-wage to high-wage areas to ‘test the waters’ (Oteng-Ababio, 2016a). We see labour migration as part of the overall urbanisation process where members of an informed family strategically live and work geographically, decidedly informed by comparative advantage as a way of escaping poverty.…”

“…Generally, the interviews lasted between one and two hours in length, mostly when the interviewee’s responses were seen to have reached saturation point and were no longer yielding novel insights, became redundant and were only reinforcing previously collected data. Further, a total of two focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted, one each for identified livelihood and these helped bridge the gap between the observed actions, motivational values and governmentality that underpinned some of their activities (Oteng-Ababio, 2016a).…”

“…Similarly, although challenging, Abu and his cohorts engage in multiple livelihood activities, forming expanded ‘income-generating portfolios’, which due to increased job insecurity, may be a form of risk diversification. These are clear cases where ‘hopelessness’ inspire ‘innovativeness’ – informal exceptionalism – in a contested urban environment – urbanism controversies – where official aspiration parallels migrant labour concerns (Oteng-Ababio, 2016a). The respondents using their entrepreneurial skills are able to identify opportunities and invest in them accordingly.…”

“…The authors further maintain that city authorities are duty-bound to ease the self-inflicted regulations that criminalises informality and thus making the transition to formal sector fraught with uncertainty. In situations where city authorities pervasively exhibit high-level uncertainty and disdain about creative enterprises, social policies become socially explosive, generate ‘hot situations’ and breed ‘urbanism controversies’ (Oteng-Ababio, 2016a, 2016b). Our paper is organised as follows.…”

World cities and peripheral development: The interplay of gateways and subordinate places in Argentina and Ghana’s upstream oil and gas sector

“…Once a sleepy coastal town, Takoradi has become the operational hub for the upstream sector because it is the closest harbour to the offshore fields. Land, labour, and housing have been profoundly and often negatively affected by the oil boom (Obeng‐Odoom, 2009, 2014b; Oteng‐Ababio, 2016). Takoradi—not Accra—serves as logistics and services gateway to Ghana's oil and gas fields, with specialised service providers such as Belmet 7, Oceaneering, and the Expro Group carrying out physical operations there.…”