Michael Ogbe

Om

SHORT BIO.:

I have a PhD in Geographic Information Science and Natural Resource Management. Specifically, I researched Spatial Crowdsourcing and Citizen Participation in the management of Petroleum revenue in Ghana.

I have a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in Development Studies, specializing in Geography from NTNU, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Geography and Resource Development from the University of Ghana, Legon.

In the Fall/Autumn 2021 semester, I was the Course coordinator for these courses:

Additionally, I contributed to the teaching of the following courses between 2018 and 2022:

PhD PROJECT:
Citizen engagement in high-value natural resource revenue management: Evidence from Ghana.

When a country has a high-value natural resource, such as oil, gas, and gold, the extraction and subsequent revenue from the resource should contribute to a more robust economy, socio-economic development, and jobs for the citizens. The natural resource endowment should be a blessing to the country. However, natural resource revenue scholars argue that many resource-rich developing countries experience a natural resource curse, in part because their governments do not engage the countries’ citizens. For better natural resource revenue management, scholars and civil society organisations call for citizens to know, for example, how much revenue their governments receive from the extractive resource companies. Furthermore, citizens need to influence natural resource revenue utilisation. Additionally, research and experience show that engaging citizens in matters relating to natural revenue management can help revenue managers resolve citizens' grievances with the revenue management (which potentially can lead to violent conflicts).

From the available literature, we know that to avoid the resource curse, especially in resource-rich developing countries, governments must engage citizens in resource revenue management. Yet, we also know that in developing countries, including Ghana, natural resource revenue managers lack adequate staff and finance to engage citizens. However, with the advancement in information and communications technology, governments can use input devices, such as mobile phones, tablets, or computers, with access to the Internet and global positioning systems (smart devices) to collect citizens’ opinions. Despite this possibility, there is a gap in research on how natural resource revenue managers can leverage such technology to engage citizens. Therefore, my research for this thesis examined and identified how revenue managers could use geocoded survey platforms to engage citizens in natural resource revenue management. A geocoded survey platform is a tool that in real-time can transmit information to citizens, receive their responses, and record their geographical location.

My overarching objective in this thesis is to examine the potential of a geocoded survey platform in natural resource revenue management. Specifically, the thesis answers three research questions: To what extent do revenue managers engage citizens in petroleum revenue management? What is the potential of a geocoded survey platform for engaging citizens in petroleum revenue management? What feedback on petroleum revenue management could a geocoded survey platform collect from citizens? I used the Annual Budget Funding Amount, part of petroleum revenue that finances developmental projects in Ghana, as a case for my investigations.

Regarding the first research question, a key finding is that revenue managers need to engage more citizens in matters relating to petroleum revenue utilisation in Ghana. For the second research question, a key finding is that petroleum revenue managers in a country with widespread use of smart devices can use geocoded survey platforms to engage the country’s citizens. Concerning the third research question, a key finding is that a geocoded survey platform could be an effective tool for collecting citizens’ opinions about their desired projects on which petroleum revenue should be spent.

This thesis, which is based on research using both qualitative and quantitative methods, contributes to the literature and practice of natural resource revenue management. It demonstrates how petroleum revenue managers can engage citizens through geocoded survey platforms. In conclusion, as a geocoded survey platform could help citizens to provide feedback, natural resource revenue managers should consider adopting it as an alternative approach to citizen engagement.