A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF THE SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNTABILITY PRACTICES OF LISTED NIGERIAN OIL AND GAS COMPANIES

environmental accountability gas companies. modified word counts content analysis of annual reports and accounts of sampled companies is to The disclosure guideline is used to benchmark the disclosure accountability practices of sampled companies. Descriptive statistical tools are employed to present collected data while vulnerability and exploitability analytical framework is employed to give insights into the disclosure practices. Findings indicated that sampled oil and gas companies are exploiting the vulnerabilities of host communities, Nigerian governments and citizens in their disclosure accountability by making more social disclosure on issues that concerns employees and managers while making little environmental disclosure. paper is assess the social and environmental accountability practices of listed Nigerian oil and gas companies. To achieve this, the quantity of the disclosure which is signifying the importance of disclosed topic to the disclosing entity is determined through modified word counts content analysis of the annual reports and accounts of sampled companies. To further assess the accountability, factual reported social and environmental problems bedevilling the industry are compared with disclosed issues while vulnerability and exploitability analytical framework underpins the study.

Nigeria is a country located in the West African sub-region of the African continent and the country is blessed with abundant reserves of oil and gas resources . The country has proved oil reserves of 37.50 billion barrels as at end of December 2018 making it the eleventh in global ranking. Likewise, it has 180.80 trillion cubic feet of proved natural gas reserves placing it in the tenth position of global ranking as at the end of December 2018 (BP 2019). The Nigerian oil and gas industry is playing significant roles in the socio-economic development of the country being the major source of foreign revenue and total government revenue earnings which is then shared among the three tiers of governments in Nigeria (CBN 2019). However, the Nigerian oil and gas industry is also associated with lots of negative social and environmental problems. The social problems encompasses destruction of farming and fishing lands thereby making it scarce which in turn affects food production and causing hunger (Allen 2012). Thus, parents are finding it difficult to feed their families and provide for the educational needs of their children (Okereke and Orjiafor 2011) which in turn is causing teenage pregnancies in girl child and militancy among the male children (Mohammed 2016). There are also social problems relating to health consequent to oil and gas exploration such as convulsions, chromosomal damage and birth defects caused by benzene due to blazing fire of gas flaring (Osuokaand Roderick 2005). The long term gas flaring in oil and gas producing region is found responsible for bronchial and respiratory diseases among people in the region (Akoroda 2000, Ebegbulem, Ekpe and Adejumo 2013). Excessive exploration and seismic activities are negatively impacting on soil fertility and quality of crops (Jike 2004, Benedict 2011. Indeed, the quality, size, and shape of traditional staple such as cassava, yam, plantain etc. are reported as adversely affected due to oil exploration activities (Akoroda 2000). Similarly, constructions of oil and gas pipelines destroy rainforest and mangroves leading to segregation of natural population and affect the breeding behaviour of animals and birds species (Ugochukwu and Ertel 2008). The industry is also associated with problem of oil spillage (Benedict 2011, Allen 2012, Ebegbulem, Ekpe and Adejumo 2013) which is among the worst globally (Ifeadi, Ekaluo, and Orubuma 1985). Indeed, the environmental problems of the industry are identified as the causes of numerous social problems in the Niger Delta oil and gas producing region and youth militancy leading oil bunkering, vandalisation of oil and gas assets, kidnapping and loss of lives (Mohammed 2016). In the downstream sector, there problems of adulteration of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) and Kerosene reported to have caused loss of many human lives in Nigeria (NNPC 2014).
Thus, although the global and Nigerian oil and gas industry is a significant player in the socio-economic development of the world in general and Nigeria in particular; the industry is causing lots of social and environmental negative effects. These negative effects have drawn global concerns on the need for the industry to render accountability on its activities (Frynas 2005, Mohammed 2016); in response to the raised concerns, the oil and gas industry is reported as following good practices of disclosing the social and environmental impacts of its activities (Krishna et al. 2012). Indeed, the industry is leading other industries in championing social and environmental disclosure (Mohammed 2016, Frynas 2009) which is a form of corporate accountability . Corporate disclosure accountability is a way of taking responsibility for actions and decisions which could pave the way for dialogue among interested parties that may lead to resolving contentious issues such as on corporate social and environmental negative effects (Mohammed 2016. Therefore, the aim of this 479 paper is assess the social and environmental accountability practices of listed Nigerian oil and gas companies. To achieve this, the quantity of the disclosure which is signifying the importance of disclosed topic to the disclosing entity is determined through modified word counts content analysis of the annual reports and accounts of sampled companies. To further assess the accountability, factual reported social and environmental problems bedevilling the industry are compared with disclosed issues while vulnerability and exploitability analytical framework underpins the study. It is of significance here to acknowledge that previous studies on the social and environmental disclosure practices of the oil and gas industry were conducted in oil and gas resources endowed countries. The environmental disclosure practices of energy companies in Saudi Arabia were evaluated based on GRI guideline issued in 2016. The result showed environmental compliance having 26% of total disclosure volume as the most disclose information followed by emission 20.6%, material 16.7% and energy 15.7% while the least disclose information is related to biodiversity and effluents and wastes (Abdull Razak , Al Hujaili and Al Ahmedi 2019). Content analysis of annual reports and accounts of twenty three Libyan oil and gas companies was carried out for the years 2008, 2009 and 2010. The results of the study indicated low level and quality of environmental information disclosed in the annual reports most especially before Arab spring (Eljayash 20 15). Specifically on Nigeria, Dibia and Onwuchekwa (2015) investigated the relationship between firm size, profitability, leverage and audit type and environmental disclosure in the annual reports and accounts of listed Nigerian oil and gas companies by means of content analysis. Findings showed significant and positive relationship between firm size and corporate environmental disclosure, while the relationship between profitability, leverage, audit firm type and corporate environmental disclosure is insignificant. Similarly, Yusuf, Samuel and Ekundayo (2016) investigated the extent of environmental disclosures by listed oil and gas companies in Nigeria by means of content analysis of only annual reports of sampled companies. Results from the study reveal that oil and gas companies operating in Nigeria are paying little or no attention to the disclosure of environmental information of their operations in their annual reports. Disclosed information are mostly general in nature usually relating to the companies stands on health, safety and environment which are not useful to stakeholders. Similarly, Mohamed (2016) found that the most disclosed issues are social especially on labour practices and decent work, diversity and equal opportunity, employment and society as the first; second, third and fourth most disclosed social aspects while environmental disclosure is found few in a study of the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
Likewise, an empirical investigation was carried out to examine environmental accounting disclosure practices and corporate financial attributes in the annual reports of the ten listed oil and gas companies in Nigeria 2009 -2018. The study examined 40 items in a disclosure index developed in line with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) while obtained data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings revealed that sampled companies are disclosing very inadequate financial and nonfinancial environmental information in their annual reports at a minimum disclosure practice of 0.0283 and maximum of 0.2727 and on average the disclosure level stood at about 11.67% of total disclosure. Corporate leverage and liquidity have significant positive influence on the environmental disclosure; profitability is found having significant negative influence; while long-term financing has insignificant positive influence. Thus, the study concluded that companies' financial attributes are key determinants of the environmental disclosure and many listed Nigerian oil and gas companies are disclosing very negligible qualitative environmental accounting information in their annual reports (Udo 2019). This study one; looked into not only environmental disclosure, but social and environmental disclosure practices of listed Nigerian oil and gas companies as a means of discharging corporate accountability; two it is carried for a period of fifteen years (15) perhaps long enough to reveal the trends of social and environmental accountability by the sampled companies and three, it is benchmarked with GRI which is a global disclosure guideline. These may perhaps make the study different from previous studies conducted in the industry; therefore, it may reveal to industry operators the level of social and environmental accountability being rendered which is vital in ensuring peaceful and smooth operations. Policy makers may be availed with useful insights on social and environmental accountability of operators to other stakeholders especially host communities which may reveal areas that need to be improved upon. Social and environmental right groups may get useful information from findings of this study to help them in pursuing their legitimate cause. This introduction is section one of the study; subsequent section two outline the method of conducting the study; section three presents the results of the study while section four discusses the results of the study.

Method:-
The process of data collection and analysis in a research is referred to as the method of conducting the research, but choosing the philosophical assumptions that will underpin the study is of significance in conducting any research. The assumptions are ontological, epistemological and methodological (Collis and Hussey 2014); while ontology is about whether reality is objective in nature; therefore, something external to the researcher or reality is from within the individual; thus subjective (Burrell and Morgan 1979); epistemology is about what constitute valid knowledge (Collis and Hussey 2014) or an acceptable knowledge in a particular field (Bryman and Bell 2007). The methodology is build on one hand on the belief that only observable and measurable phenomena are considered valid knowledge; therefore, following positivism methodological approach or the belief that requires participation of the researcher in that being researched; thus, deep rooted in interpretivism methodological approach (Collis and Hussey 2014). From the perspective of ontology, the social and environmental disclosure practices of sampled listed Nigerian oil and gas companies in their annual reports and accounts represent an objective reality. The social and environmental disclosure practices of sampled companies in their annual reports and accounts is valid knowledge as annual reports and accounts are the medium through which corporate organizations are communicating with all stakeholders and is the media for discharging accountability (Zeghal and Ahmed 1990, Gray, Kouhy and Lavers 1995b). Quantitative data obtained through content analysis of annual reports and accounts which is a quantifiable method of obtaining data which is consistent with positivism research methodology. Therefore, the essence of collecting the data is to test chosen theory underpinning the study (Collis and Hussey 2014). Consequently, the task on hand is to find out probable explanations or a theoretical argument explaining the social and environmental disclosure practices of sampled listed Nigerian oil and gas companies (Collis and Hussey 2014, Blaike 2007).

Data and its Collection:
There are two broad sources of data for conducting research which are primary and secondary from which quantitative or qualitative data could be collected through observations, interviews, questionnaires, surveys, content analysis of documents (Collis and Hussey 2014, Creswell 2013, Morgan and Smircich 1980). Determining which method to collect data depends on the method considered most suitable by the researcher to answer raised research questions (Collis and Hussey 2014, Spencer et al. 2003). To determine the social and environmental accountability disclosure of sampled listed Nigerian oil and gas companies, secondary data from the annual reports and accounts were collected online for the period of fifteen (15)  The annual reports and accounts are in PDF format; thus, were converted to words documents using ABBYY PDF transformer. Data relevant to the study is then collected through content analysis which is -a method by which selected items of qualitative data are systematically converted to numerical data for analysis‖ (Collis and Hussey 2014, p. 166). The method is also regarded as quantitative analysis of qualitative data (Morgan 1993) associated with the positivism research paradigm (Collis and Hussey 2014) described as objective, systematic and quantitative (Berelson 1952). Content analysis assumes that extent of disclosure signifies the importance of the disclosed topic to the reporting entity (Krippendorff 1980). Therefore, volume of social or environmental disclosed words by sampled oil and gas companies signifies the importance attached to the disclosed issues. Content analysis has the strength of allowing the use of retrospective data, its track and changes over time which could be useful for building data base (Kondracki, Wellman and Amundson 2002) and reflect trends in a social system (Babbie 2013). Consequently, the method will show patterns of social or environmental accountability of sampled companies over the period of the study which could be used to develop data base for future use. Although different approaches were utilized in conducting content analysis such as counting number of words ( (Williams 1999). Word count content analysis is expected to provide maximum robustness when assessing quantity of disclosure (Wilmshurst and Frost 2000), although it is criticized for lacking meaning to provide sound basis of coding disclosure . Capitalizing on the strength of word count content analysis as well as overcoming its criticisms, this study adopted modified word count (Mohammed 2018, Mohammed 2016) in which only words in a sentences or phrases conveying meaningful social or environmental information are counted, rather than individual social or environmental words that have no meaning.
However, to determine what is social or environmental disclosure, researchers could develop disclosure index (Ernst and Ernst 1978); adopt and modify existing disclosure index or use disclosure guidelines developed by national and international organisations such as the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), the Oil and Gas Industry Guidance 481 on Voluntary Sustainability Reporting (OGIGVSR) and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). The oil and gas industry guidance could perhaps be most appropriate guidance to use in this study; however, the first edition of the guidance is issued in April 2005 while this study commences from January 2004 and the guidance is not available online. Similarly, the second edition was released in 2010, to overcome the apparent difficulties, GRI disclosure guideline is employed as benchmark in evaluating the social and environmental accountability by sampled companies. The GRI is a multi-stakeholder, international guideline designed to be used by organisations of any size, sector, or location (GRI 2002). The guideline enables benchmarking of different organisations (Ioannou and Serafeim 2012) using the same rigor as financial reporting (Alonso-Almeida, Llach and Marimon 2014) and is the most widely used sustainability reporting guideline worldwide (KPMG 2017). The guideline is of different versions with the first version issued in 1999 referred to as G1; this is followed by the second version issued in 2002 (G2); the third was issued in 2006 (G3); the fourth version issued in 2011 (G3.1) while the fifth version was issued in 2016 (G4). Therefore, the period covered by this study 2004 -2018 is covered by the regimes of G2, G3, G3.1 and G4; thus, while G2 is the first employed version, the study adopted all modification in subsequent guidelines.

Population and sample of the study:
The entire members of a group on which some information is required to be ascertained is referred to as the population (Banerjee and Chaudhury 2010). However, sometimes some members of the population do not possess all the attributes required to achieve the goal of the research. In this context such members of the population must be excluded and what is left after such exclusion is referred to as the sample of the population (Asiamah et al 2017); thus, the sample of a population is simply a subset of the population (Banerjee and Chaudhury 2010). The population of listed Nigerian oil and gas companies in the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) from 1 st January 2004 to 31 st December 2018 is twelve (12). However, one of the companies has online annual reports and accounts only from 2012 to 2018; another company has no online annual reports and accounts from 2004 to 2009; another company has no online annual reports and accounts from 2004 to 2013; while another company was listed in April 2014. Therefore, there are no adequate annual reports and accounts for all these four companies 204 -2018; thus, these companies are excluded from the population to arrive at the sample as depicted in Table I.

indicates non-availability of annual reports and accounts x** indicates availability of annual reports and accounts
Analytical Framework of the Study: Vulnerability is defined as exposure to the possibility of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally while exploitability signify tendency to being exploited selfishly or unethically by someone (Oxford Dictionary 2013). The International Monetary Fund (IMF) World Economic Outlook 2019 classified the world into two major groups as advanced economies and emerging and developing economies. The advanced economies comprises thirty nine countries characterised by high GDP of 40.80% of global total, 63% of global export of goods and services while accounting for only 14% of global population. There are one hundred and fifty five countries under the emerging and developing economies category sharing 59.20% of global GDP, 37% of global export of goods and services while having 85.70% of global total population (IMF 2019). However, a number of these emerging and developing economies are endowed with natural resources such as minerals, oil, gas and forests and large human 482 population living in poverty. Alongside these resources, legal and regulatory frameworks are weak and less strictly enforced in these countries than in developed countries (Belal, Cooper and Roberts 2013). Indeed, governments drive to legislate and regulate in many developing countries is missing (Hilson 2012). Therefore, in their quest to exploit their natural resources to earn revenues, governments in emerging and developing countries provides stabilisation clauses in contracts with corporate organisations harnessing their natural resources (Sikka 2011). Such stabilisation clauses are found harmful to current and even future government tax revenues and on social and environmental issues (Saidu 2014, Belal, Cooper and Roberts 2013, Sikka 2011). Consequently, governments and citizens in these emerging and developing economies are exposed to number of exploitable vulnerabilities. First; these economies are characterized by poverty, low literacy and increasing population all of which corporate organisations in emerging and developing countries are exploiting. Second; contractual agreements between governments and corporate organisations for the exploitation of natural resources in these countries are composed of stabilization clauses that are detrimental to current and future revenues. Third; more often, existing laws and regulations are weak and unenforceable by governments and citizens in the event of breach. Fourth; citizens of these countries as employees of corporate organisations have to contend with low wages in the face of weak and unenforceable labour laws as governments are in dire need of revenues from the corporate organisations. All these vulnerabilities are exploited by corporate organisations exploring and producing natural resources in emerging and developing economies to the detriment of governments and citizens even on social and environmental accountability through disclosure (  Disclosure under the relevant performance indicators of an aspect will give total disclosure practices under such an aspect; for instance if employment aspect of social disclosure has 3 performance indicators, assessing disclosure under employments means collecting data on all the 3 performance indicators. Therefore, disclosure on individual performance indicators gives total disclosure on the relevant aspects while total disclosure on all aspects under social or environmental disclosure category give the overall disclosure under either social or environment. Consequently, this section is results of social and environmental disclosure information collected from the annual reports and accounts of sampled listed Nigerian oil and gas companies 2004 -2018. Figure I is on total disclosed words in the annual reports and accounts compared with words devoted to social and environmental accountability.  Table I depicts total disclosure and percentages devoted to social and environmental accountability and economic accountability. Perhaps to give a clear pattern of the social and environmental accountability of sampled companies, Figure II present the patterns of the social and environmental disclosures alone without comparison to total disclosed words. words while the remaining 1% or 165 words are on environmental accountability. In 2012, social accountability has 16,446 words or 97% of the total social and environmental disclosure while environmental disclosure has 569 words or 3% of the total. Social disclosure accounts for 19,335 words or 96% of total disclosure in 2013 while environmental accountability has 823 words or 4%. In 2014, social accountability has 10,474 words or 93% of the total while environmental accountability has 807 words or 7% of the total. Social disclosure accounts for 13,602 words or 91% of total disclosure in 2015 while environmental accountability has 1,424 words or 9% of the total. Similarly, in 2016, social accountability has 13,035 or 91% of total disclosure while environmental accountability has 1,364 words or 9% of the total. In 2017, social accountability has 15,685 words or 92% of the total while environmental accountability has 1,439 words or 8% of the total. Social accountability has 17,964 words or 96% of total disclosure while environment has 758 words or 6% of the total in 2018. Perhaps Table II presents the percentages of the interactions between social and environmental components of the disclosure in clear terms.  SDW   EDW  486   3  2006  7,856  98  2  4  2007  8,470  97  3  5  2008  10,254  98  2  6  2009  14,566  99  1  7  2010  16,486  99  1  8  2011  15,842  99  1  9  2012  17,015  97  3  10  2013  20,158  96  4  11  2014  11,281  93  7  12  2015  15,026  91  9  13  Results from Figure III and Table II have indicated the dominance of social accountability compared to environmental accountability; therefore, it may be interesting to present the most disclosed aspects of social disclosure. Prior to this, it is important to note that the social disclosure practices of sampled companies are mainly on 3 performance indicators of employment aspect, 2 indicators of training and education aspect, 1 indicator of diversity and equal opportunity aspect, 1 indicator of labour and management relations aspect, 3 indicators of health and safety aspect, 1 indicator of community and 1 indicator of bribery and corruption. Therefore, although there are disclosures on seven social disclosure aspects, only 3 aspects are presented in Figure IV due to the low volume of disclosure on the other four aspects. equal opportunity is the most disclosed aspect with 3,851 words followed by employment 1,207 words and training and education 696 words. Again, diversity and equal opportunity is the most disclosed aspect in 2009 with 7,993 words; then, employment 1,213 words and training and education 707 words. Likewise, in 2010, diversity and equal opportunity is the most disclosed with 8,652 words followed by employment 2,110 words; then, training and education 792 words. Furthermore, in 2011, diversity and equal opportunity is the most disclosed with 8,420 words followed by employment 1,901; then, training and education 759 words. Again, diversity and equal opportunity is the most disclosed aspect in 2012 with 7,749 words followed by employment 3,630 words; then, training and education 420 words. Similarly, in 2013, diversity and equal opportunity is the most disclosed aspect with 8,126 words; then, employment 4.246 words followed by training and education 525 words. In 2014, employment is the most disclosed aspect with 4,447 words followed by diversity and equal opportunity 2,178 words; then, training and education 139 words. Likewise, employment is the most disclosed aspect in 2015 with 7,582 words followed by diversity and equal opportunity 2,901 words; then, tainting and education 579 words. Again in 2016, employment is the most disclosed aspect with 5,615 words; then, diversity and equal opportunity 5.368 words; then, training and education 637 words. Furthermore, employment is the most disclosed aspect in 2017 with 6,615 words; then, diversity and equal opportunity 6,566 words; then, training and education 496 words. Finally, in 2018, diversity and equal opportunity is the most disclosed aspect with 7,763 words followed by employment 7,285 words; then, training and education 919 words. Having presented the results of this study, the next section discusses these results in light of existing literature, theory and practice.

Discussion:-
This section interpret and discusses findings from the study in the context of existing literature, theory and practices on social and environmental disclosure in order to explain new understanding or findings from this study. To do this, findings from the study are linked with existing literature, theory and practice (Mohammed et al 2020, Mohammed 2016, Labaree 2013, Kretchmer, 2008. As presented in Figure I and Table I, disclosure in the annual reports and accounts of sampled companies are dominated by accountability to economic stakeholders such as creditors, suppliers of goods and services, the government for tax purposes and debtors among others. While Figure I showed the trends and dominance of economic accountability, Table I showed the extent of the dominance by revealing percentages of disclosure on economic, social and environmental issues. The highest percentage of social and environmental disclosure words from the total is 13% in 2007 and the lowest is 5% in 2014, 2016 and 2018. This dominance of economic accountability is consistent with Udo (2019) and Yusuf, Samuel and Ekundayo (2016) that found oil and gas companies making negligible environmental disclosure in their annual reports and accounts. Although the pattern of the disclosure practices by sampled companies on the overall showed increasing trends, there is a decreasing pattern in 2014 on both economic and social and environmental accountability. This is attributed to slowing down of economic activities due to build-up apprehensions in preparation to the 2015 general elections (CBN 2014). Economic stakeholders could be regarded as having economic influence on the activities of sampled companies such as access to capital, goods and services; thus, less vulnerable and exploitable by sampled companies which perhaps explain volume of accountability on issues of interest to them. However, stakeholders interested in corporate social and environmental accountability have no control over the vital resources of sampled companies; thus, more vulnerable to accountability which sampled companies exploited by not rendering adequate accountability on these issues. This pattern of disclosure is better explained by vulnerability and exploitability analytical framework underpinning the study.
Figure II that indicated the trends of social and environmental disclosure on the overall showed increasing pattern with the exception of 2014 which was discussed and 2016 that also showed decreasing pattern. The decreasing pattern in 2016 could be attributed to economic recession experienced by the Nigerian economy (CBN 2019, Kazeem 2017). Therefore sampled companies gave more economic accountability to economic stakeholders by way of explaining the economic environment. Again, this pattern of disclosure is revealing the vulnerability of social and environmental stakeholders which sampled companies exploited by making little social and environmental accountability. Figure III broke down the social and environmental disclosure into social and environmental components while Table II reveals the percentage share of the social and environmental components with social disclosure being dominant. This finding is consistent with Mohammed (2016) that reported the dominance of social aspects of disclosure accountability by listed Nigerian companies. Consequently, sampled listed Nigerian oil and gas companies have neglected to account for such environmental problems of gas flaring, oil spillage, destruction of biodiversity, emissions of carbon dioxide and other atmospheric gases reported in the industry. These environmental problems in addition to their negative effects are the causes of many social problems in the oil producing region of Niger Delta; yet, sampled companies are not rendering accountability on these issues. Therefore, sampled companies 488 are exploiting the vulnerabilities of their host communities and other stakeholders interested in environmental accountability as less influential to be given accountability. The result is consistent with Udo (2019), Mohammed (2016) and Yusuf, Samuel and Ekundayo (2016) that found listed Nigerian oil and gas companies making little environmental accountability. This disclosure accountability is better explained by the lens of vulnerability and exploitability analytical framework. while the least most disclosed aspect is training and education. These aspects concerns the employees and management of sampled companies; thus, as influential custodians and operators of sampled companies' vital financial and non-financial resources, accountability is rendered on issues that concerns them the most such as their benefits, diversities, and recruitments. Being employees and managers of sampled companies, it could be contented that these groups are less vulnerable and exploitable (Mohammed 2016, Mufson 2014) and this perhaps explain the volume of disclosure accountability devoted on issues of interest to these groups. The aspect of training and education; although, the least disclosed is also an issue that concerns these groups; therefore, the patterns of disclosure on these aspects are better explained by vulnerability and exploitability analytical framework.
From the findings of this study, it could be concluded that listed Nigerian oil and gas companies are exploiting the vulnerabilities of one; host communities that lack strong voice to demand and get social and environmental accountability, two; environmental and human rights groups working in an environment with weak and unenforceable laws and three; Nigerian governments in dire need of oil and gas revenues; thus, not capable of protecting or enforcing citizens rights of getting social and environmental accountability from sampled companies. However, employees and managers of sampled companies are perhaps less vulnerable; thus, less exploitable and this perhaps explain the dominance of social accountability on issues of interest to these groups. All these are explained from the perspective of vulnerability and exploitability analytical framework underpinning this study. The findings of this study have some policy implications; one, considering the socio-economic significance of the Nigerian oil and gas industry, its adequate social and environmental accountability practices could have drive the practice in other industries; however, this may probably be not achieved. Two, the little social and environmental disclosure accountability by listed sampled Nigerian oil and gas companies are not reflective of the factual social or environmental problems of the industry and this may have signalling effects for other industries to also be concealing their factual negative effects. Three, the social and environmental disclosure accountability of sampled companies' may not contribute to achieving stability in the oil and gas producing region as sampled companies failed to take responsibility for their negative social and environmental effects. Therefore, it is recommended that policy and decision makers in the industry should embrace social and environmental disclosure accountability in the industry as a means to contributing to peace in the region. Policy and decision makers in institutional and regulatory bodies in the industry should also take further steps to ensuring that operators are providing adequate social and environmental accountability in the industry for smooth and peaceful operations in the industry. However, further studies should be conducted employing different data, method of data collection and analysis and use of different theoretical framework to underpin the study all of which may result in obtaining different results from the ones obtained in this study, but may give further insight on the social and environmental disclosure practices of the industry.