scholarly journals Weeping in the Face of Fortune: Eco-Alienation in the Niger-Delta Ecopoetics

Humanities ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abba A. Abba ◽  
Nkiru D. Onyemachi
Keyword(s):  
Niger Delta ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Delta Region ◽  
Niger Delta Region ◽  
Cultural Implications ◽  
The Face ◽  
Oil Wealth ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Universe

Scholarship on Niger Delta ecopoetry has concentrated on the economic, socio-political and cultural implications of eco-degradation in the oil-rich Niger Delta region of the South-South in Nigeria, but falls short of addressing the trope of eco-alienation, the sense of separation between people and nature, which seems to be a significant idea in Niger Delta ecopoetics. For sure, literary studies in particular and the Humanities at large have shown considerable interest in the concept of the Anthropocene and the resultant eco-alienation which has dominated contemporary global ecopoetics since the 18th century. In the age of the Anthropocene, human beings deploy their exceptional capabilities to alter nature and its essence, including the ecosystem, which invariably leads to eco-alienation, a sense of breach in the relationship between people and nature. For the Humanities, if this Anthropocentric positioning of humans has brought socio-economic advancement to humans, it has equally eroded human values. This paper thus attempts to show that the anthropocentric positioning of humans at the center of the universe, with its resultant hyper-capitalist greed, is the premise in the discussion of eco-alienation in Tanure Ojaide’s Delta Blues and Home Songs (1998) and Nnimmo Bassey’s We Thought It Was Oil but It Was Blood (2002). Arguing that both poetry collections articulate the feeling of disconnect between the inhabitants of the Niger Delta region and the oil wealth in their community, the paper strives to demonstrate that the Niger Delta indigenes, as a result, have been compelled to perceive the oil environment no longer as a source of improved life but as a metaphor for death. Relying on ecocritical discursive strategies, and seeking to further foreground the implication of the Anthropocene in the conception of eco-alienation, the paper demonstrates how poetry, as a humanistic discipline, lives up to its promise as a powerful medium for interrogating the trope of eco-estrangement both in contemporary Niger Delta ecopoetry and in global eco-discourse.

scholarly journals Aflatoxin B1Contamination of Some Edible Grains Marketed in Nigeria

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 308-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. A. Odoemelam ◽  
C. I. Osu
Keyword(s):  
Niger Delta ◽  
Health Hazard ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Delta Region ◽  
Food Grains ◽  
Niger Delta Region ◽  
Carcinogenic Property ◽  
Aflatoxin B

This paper presents an assessment of the aflatoxin B1contamination of some food grains (wheat, millet, Guinea corn, breadfruit and groundnut) from major markets in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The concentrations of aflatoxin B1obtained in the ranges from 17.01-20.53 µg kg–1for wheat, 34.00– 40.30 µg kg–1for millet, 27.22-36.13 µg kg–1for guinea corn, 40.06-48.59 µg kg–1for breadfruit and 74.03-82.12 µg kg–1for groundnut. Aflatoxin B1was detected in all the samples. There were significant differences (p<0.01) in the levels of aflatoxin B1determined in all the samples and the toxin contamination was not restricted to any particular section of the region. The presence of aflatoxins in grains constitutes a serious health hazard to both human beings and animals because of their toxic and carcinogenic property.

scholarly journals Amnesty programme and skills training among ex-militants in Nigeria

2020 ◽  
pp. 14-26
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Niger Delta ◽  
Skills Training ◽  
Technology Skills ◽  
Delta Region ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Professional Advice ◽  
Niger Delta Region ◽  
The Relationship

Sequel to the realisation that youths champion violence and militancy in the Niger Delta Region, and the resolution of Umar Musa Yar’Aduas’ government to end insecurity, militancy, and youth restiveness in the region, the amnesty programme was declared, with skills training as itsmajor component.This study examined the relationship between amnesty programmes and skills training among ex-militants in the Niger Delta Region, Nigeria. The study used a cross-sectional survey research design. Questionnaires were distributed to 1152 participants purposively selected from communities in Rivers, Delta, and Bayelsa states. Elicited data were analysed using a simple linear statistical tool.The findings of the study revealthat amnesty programmes significantly enabled ex-militant to acquired skills in pipeline installation and repairs. It also showsthat amnesty programmes have apositive impact on the ex-militant acquisition of information technology skills. Further resultindicatesthat there is a significant relationship between amnesty programmes and ex-militant acquisition of automobile servicing skills.The study,therefore,concluded on the need for beneficiaries of the amnesty skills training to be supervised by experts in their field and should be provided with professional advice that would help build their confidence in their chosen career.

scholarly journals Oil Wealth, Corruption, and the Multiple F(Ph)aces of Internal Colonialism in Ahmed Yerima’s Hard Ground

Anafora ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 165-188
Author(s):  
Nurudeen Adeshina Lawal
Keyword(s):  
Niger Delta ◽  
African State ◽  
Delta Region ◽  
Internal Colonialism ◽  
Political Crises ◽  
Niger Delta Region ◽  
The People ◽  
Oil Crisis ◽  
Oil Wealth ◽  
Crisis Call

This paper explores Ahmed Yerima’s play Hard Ground (2011) to show how Yerima employs dramatic elements to interrogate manifestations of corruption and internal colonialism engendered by violent struggles for oil wealth in the Niger Delta region. Some scholars from the Niger Delta region have alleged that Yerima’s Hard Ground falls short of being a “realistic” portrayal of the oil crisis in the Niger Delta. Their claim suggests that the play is an exercise in the service of the establishment. However, this study contends that Yerima’s representations of corruption and internal colonialism in the crisis are meant neither to underestimate the role of the establishment nor to overlook the suffering of the people in the region. The playwright’s portrayals of corruption and various forms of internal colonialism generating the oil crisis are informed by postcolonial, multiple, contradictory, and complementary realities/truths, which often reveal the complexities of socio-economic and political crises in the postcolonial African state. The study reveals that leadership egoism and failure are among the key factors that aggravate violent crises which recur in the region. In its conclusion, the paper asserts that the multiple insights that Yerima’s Hard Ground offers on the oil crisis call for collective efforts within the Niger Delta region in particular and Nigeria as whole at finding lasting solutions to the region’s crises orchestrated by the violent struggle for oil wealth.

Gender and Economy in the Niger Delta: An Examination of the Role of Women in Sustaining a Region in Conflict

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ikechukwu Umejesi
Keyword(s):  
Niger Delta ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Delta Region ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
Mining Companies ◽  
Niger Delta Region ◽  
Economic Survival ◽  
Role Of Women ◽  
Oil Wealth

The discourse on the structure of the economy and the drivers of growth in different African societies is underlined by patriarchy. The dominant view is often that men are at the heart of the productive and profitable sectors of the society, hence the skewed power relations and visibility of men in all organs of the society. While this framework seems to typify patriarchal societies in different African nations, it overshadows the tenacity of women in conflict-ridden societies where men focus mainly on the execution of war and combat roles rather than on the economic survival of their families and society. In the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria, years of grassroots struggle against the state and mining companies over oil wealth and the environment have shifted economic relations hitherto dominated by men, and created a platform where women have become visible participants in the economy. This paper looks at the role of women in the economy of local communities of the Niger Delta. Analyses of the decades-old conflict have often been limited to male-led military, political and environmental struggles between major actors in the conflict, with little attention paid to the role of women in the economic survival of the region. The paper uses both ethnographic and secondary data collected from Egbema community and its neighbours in the northern Niger Delta region.

scholarly journals Understanding Niger Delta’s violence from a World-Ecology perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-43
Author(s):  
Oscar Mateos
Keyword(s):  
Niger Delta ◽  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
Resource Curse ◽  
Delta Region ◽  
Resistance Movements ◽  
Niger Delta Region ◽  
Oil Corporations ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Commons ◽  
The 1960S

The conflict in the Niger Delta region (Nigeria) has become one of the most environmentally and humanly devastating contexts on the African continent since the 1960s. The network of different actors involved in this context forms a complex web in which multiple and asymmetrical dynamics and interactions can be identified. From Jason Moore’s World-Ecology perspective (2015), the article suggests that this complex interaction should not be understood as a mere postcolonial episode in the context of globalisation, but as a historical network of relations. This network, in which human and extra-human natures are intertwined, is key to understanding the process of capital accumulation in the region and the resulting capitalogenic violence since the 16th century. Against this background, the article also attempts to counter the tendency to interpret violence and social resistance in the Niger Delta region as mere criminal phenomena or from narratives such as the “resource curse” that has simplified the multidimensionality of violence. In this sense, the paper analyses the different forms, strategies and meanings through which local resistance movements have tried to safeguard and re-appropriate their livelihoods and the commons in recent decades in the face of the growing presence of multinational oil corporations.

Theatre and Leadership Crises

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Hussaini Umaru Tsaku
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Environmental Degradation ◽  
Niger Delta ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Delta Region ◽  
Economic Problems ◽  
Niger Delta Region ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Face

One major crisis that has hit this country in the face for a long time is the Niger Delta crisis. The environmental degradation in the Niger Delta, poverty, unemployment, among others have become recurrent decimals and issues of serious concern to scholars, organizations, interest groups, and spirited individuals over the years. These issues have led to the emergence of violent crises with their attendant consequences on human life and the environment. Hence, the chapter focuses on the Niger Delta crises. It tries to analyze the socio-political and economic problems that have characterized the region over the years. It discusses the challenges and paradoxes of leadership in Nigeria's democratic space and how they have contributed negatively in fueling the crisis in the Niger Delta region of the country.

Nigeria's National Content Bill: The Hype, the Hope and the Reality

2011 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 128-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Nna Emeka Nwaokoro
Keyword(s):  
Niger Delta ◽  
International Agreements ◽  
Bilateral Investment Treaties ◽  
Delta Region ◽  
Ongoing Debate ◽  
High Unemployment ◽  
Local Content ◽  
Niger Delta Region ◽  
The Face ◽  
Investment Treaties

AbstractNigeria's recent efforts to pass local content legislation with stringent targets and stiff penalties have drawn widespread attention, spurred ongoing debate and prompted numerous international workshops and seminars. Lack of local content has been blamed for high unemployment and lack of capacity, and even been linked to militancy in the Niger Delta region. After much debate and delay, the bill has become law. This article reviews the bill's history and tracks the hype surrounding Nigeria's moves towards a legislative mandate. It discusses the provisions of the bill, observing that it is poorly drafted, vague and therefore difficult to comply with. The bill could also violate international agreements, such as bilateral investment treaties and GATT, and is unnecessary in the face of contractual alternatives that could be successfully utilized to enhance local content. Contract models contain ample provisions for enabling local content and have been successfully employed by other resource-rich nations.

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