NIGER DELTA CRISIS AND THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AMNESTY PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION IN NIGERIA

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-36

Abstract The Niger Delta since inception of oil exploration in 1956 has been witnessing series of environmental insecurities which culminated into long term sufferings of the people living in the region. The activities of oil companies paid less attention to the well-being of the region and consequently metamorphosed into youth’s militancy –in terms of kidnapping and armed struggles. The effects of militancy led to the proclamation of amnesty programme designed to ameliorate the crisis situation and pardon those who were involved in militancy by the President Yar’Adua led administration in 2009. However, the question of insincerity from the government, multinational oil companies, agencies and militants remains a burden undermining the amnesty implementation programme and its successes in post-amnesty Niger Delta. This seminar, therefore, examined the social impact of amnesty programme and its challenges on Niger Delta. Internet explorations, magazines, newspaper cut-outs, books and journals were the instruments of data collection. Suggestions for proper implementation of amnesty programme and developmental actualisation in the Niger Delta Region were proffered. Keywords: Niger Delta, Crisis, Amnesty Programme, Nigeria

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Obumneme Achunike

Oil was discovered in Nigeria in1956 at Oloibiri in the Niger Delta Region after almost 50 years of exploration. Shell-BP at that time, was the sole concessionaire because non-British companies were not given exploration license to operate in Nigeria. After Nigerian Independence in 1960, exploration rights were extended to other multinational oil companies. More than 16 multinational oil companies were in operation with little or no supervision from the Nigerian Government, which created significant environmental, political,and social impact in the region. A critical discourse analysis of documents from Shell, Amnesty International, THISDAY Newspaper revealed that the Nigerian government has failed to safeguard the environment and the lives of the people. On the basis of evidence presented on this research, in addition to literature, it can be argued that oil has turned out to be a curse to the Niger Delta Region and Nigeria in general.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-146
Author(s):  
Joseph M. Lucas ◽  
Fatima D. Vakkai ◽  
Tordue Simon Targema

This study examines the potentials of film in managing conflict in the oil rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria. This is against the backdrop that since the commencement of oil production in the region in the 1960s to date, it has continued to experience one form of armed conflict or the other. These manifest in several ways such as kidnapping of foreign oil workers, vandalization of oil facilities and confrontation with security operatives by militants, leaving adverse effects on the Nigerian economy which depends on crude oil as the major source of income. The paradox of plenty or resource curse that has come to characterize the region and how it can be addressed, therefore, is what prompts the current study. Using the Nollywood film- Black November, the study demonstrates that film is an instrument that can be used effectively to manage conflicts in the region. From the viewpoint of Singhal and Rogers’ Entertainment-Education approach, the study adopts thematic analysis to identify and discuss the various themes embedded in the film. Findings indicate that several forces are behind the intractable conflict in the region as contained in the film, such as exploitation of resident communities by multinational oil companies, environmental degradation occasioned by oil spillage and gas flaring, and gross injustice, insincerity and human rights abuse by security operatives that make the people lose faith and confidence in both them and the government which they represent. Other causes include betrayal and corruption on the part of community leaders and the burning fire of patriotism in the youth who are determined to fight for their rights. Given the rich thematic embodiment of the film, the study concludes that film has potentials which, if effectively harnessed, will go a long way in managing conflicts in the society.


Author(s):  
C.O Okwelum

The reactions of the ethnic communities which have morphed into violent militant groups and ganglands in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria to State and industry control of land and mineral resources require a very close study. A comparative analysis of the current situation in Nigeria with what is obtained in the early days of the European civilization when the challenges of governance and economic crimes were emerging from the womb of the industrial revolution is equally of importance. If sovereignty resides ultimately with the people and the State governs with the consent of the citizens and the ultimate responsibility of the State and business is the welfare of the citizens, a fundamental breach of the social contract leaves the people with the right not only to abolish the State but to sabotage business in social banditry. This paper tries to apply the general principles of the theories of social banditry and social contract to the phenomenon of oil theft and illegal refineries in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. It employs the comparative, historical and analytical methodology in presentation while relying on secondary materials and doctrinal research method. It argues that the crimes of oil theft and illegal refineries have arisen from the lack of the development of the Niger Delta by both the State and the multinational oil companies and that they are an expression of the rights to resource control by indigenous communities after 50 years of State and industry control of same have failed to yield development on the ticket of the United Nation’s Resolution 1803 of 1962 guaranteeing national sovereignty over natural resources. It finds that they fall within Hobsbawm’s social banditry thesis and that the basic conditions for the abolition of the State under the social contract thesis have been largely met by the economic and socio-legal contexts prevailing in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.


Author(s):  
Edokpayi Justina N.

The Niger delta of Nigeria has been besieged by a lot of crises, which have posed serious security risks to the region. This has adversely and seriously affected not only the region, but Nigeria in general. The processes of crude oil extraction in the Niger delta have resulted in ecological degradation and oil pollutions, thereby doing a lot of damages to the farmlands and fishing waters of the people, whose major occupations are farming and fishing. Petroleum, the main source of Nigeria’s revenue is obtained in the Niger delta. Yet, Deltans are confronted with a lot of problems; they are impoverished, exploited, neglected and marginalized despite the economic value of the region to the Nigerian economy. No serious or commensurate efforts are made by the government or the multinational oil companies operating in the region to compensate the people for the losses they suffer through oil pollutions. This has resulted in a lot of protests and violence, culminating in the social unrest in the region. To this effect, there have been reactions to the crises in diverse ways. Though such efforts have yielded little dividends, the crises have persisted. Niger delta deserves priority attention in terms of human and infrastructural developments. In the literary circle, some Nigerian literary artists have expressed concern over the issue with a view to creating awareness on the seriousness of the crises, and advancing suggestions that will proffer permanent solutions to the problems. This paper examines and expounds how Helon Habila deploys the mood system as a language tool in his novel, Oil on Water, to address the Niger Delta crises. He advances suggestions to put an end to the crises in order to restore peace, and enhance sustainable development in Nigeria.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 68-86
Author(s):  
Kelly Bryan Ovie Ejumudo ◽  
Ogochukwu Harrison Amede

Abstract This study examines the problematic of oil production and water pollution in selected oil-bearing communities in Bayelsa State. The design of the study was descriptive survey. The instrument used for data collection was questionnaire. The data were analyzed using chi-square. The findings of the study revealed that there is a significant relationship between the role of the Nigerian State, multinational oil companies as well as the community leadership and the negative effects of water pollution on the health, occupation/economic and the livelihood standard/poverty level of the people of the oil-bearing communities in Bayelsa State. The study recommended among others that the multi-layered levels of government should formulate and genuinely implement policies that will mitigate the effects of water pollution on the health, economic and livelihood status of the people and the multinational oil conglomerates should be truly committed to integrated policies and strategies that will close the developmental gaps in the Niger Delta Region.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
‘Gbade Ikuejube ◽  
O.A. Funmilayo

Coastal Yorubaland is one of the richest parts of Nigeria in terms of natural resource endowment. The area is blessed with extensive forests, good agricultural land and abundant water resources such as fish. It is also blessed with reserves of crude oil. This natural resource has attracted the attention of oil companies, whose activities often result in economic and social problems such as environmental pollution, occupational dislocation, cultural extinction and rural urban drift. However, the attitude of the people in this region, especially the militant youths, has also contributed to environmental degradation: oil pipe vandalization has become a constant occurrence, and it has a debilitating effect on the environment. Environmental devastation, economic poverty and constant conflict constitute a lived reality. Oil exploitation activities have also left much of the area desolate, poor and uninhabitable. This article argues that the effects of oil exploitation on Ilaje Ugbo communities are comparable to what occurs in other oil communities of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (29) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tombari Bodo ◽  
Batombari Gbidum Gimah ◽  
Kemetonye Joy Seomoni

Illegal oil bunkering is a regular activity in the Niger Delta region in Nigeria. Despite the huge financial cost on the part of the government and the multinational oil companies, the perpetrators of this business continue to expand their operations in the creeks. Illegal oil bunkering is now a booming business in the Niger Delta. It is believed to involve the different local militant groups in creeks, commodity traders, military personnel, international businessmen, and some indigenous oil servicing companies. The successes of illegal oil bunkering in Nigeria have been ascribed to both local and national interest as a result of the profits from this illegal oil business. This study critically examines the key actors of illegal oil bunkering; the root causes and consequences of illegal oil bunkering, and the solutions to the identified challenges.


2017 ◽  
Vol 53 (5) ◽  
pp. 749-763 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adeoye O Akinola

Nigeria remains Africa’s largest energy producer and at the same time possesses one of the highest gas flaring rates in the continent. Gas flaring in the Niger Delta region, estimated at 75% of the entire gas produced in Nigeria, highlights the environmental abuse posed by resource extraction, and exposes the failure of successive governments to eliminate the threat it portends to human survival in the oil region. The federal government formally declared gas flaring illegal since 1984, but multinational oil companies continue to treat compliance as a matter of convenience and not of necessity. Despite persistent protests against environmental degradation by the oil-producing communities, the refusal of the oil companies to end gas flaring and complicity of the government remained sources of concern. In the light of these, the study examines the crux of the gas flaring imbroglio, assesses the cost–benefits of gas flaring, and explores how gas emissions to the atmosphere have threatened human existence and ecological sustainability in the Niger Delta oil region. The study reiterates the urgency to enforce a zero-gas-flaring policy in Nigerian oil communities.


2011 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 3-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edlyne Anugwom

This contribution examines the role of occult imaginations in the struggle against perceived socio-economic marginalization by youth militias from the Ijaw ethnic group in the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria. It argues that the asymmetric power between the federal government/transnational oil corporations (TNOCs) and the militias may have privileged the invocation of the supernatural as a critical agency of strength and courage by the youth militias. The conflict in the region embodies a cultural revision which has been necessitated by both the uncertainty of the oil environment and the prevailing narratives of social injustice. Hence the Egbesu deity, seen historically as embodying justice, has been reinvented by the youth militias and imbued with the powers of invincibility and justice in the conflict with the government and oil companies. The low intensity of the conflict has limited both the extent of operations and scale of force used by the military task force in the area and thus reinforced the perception of invincibility of the militias attributed to the Egbesu.


Author(s):  
Charles Feghabo ◽  
Blessing Omoregie

Language use is central to Tanure Ojaide’s The Activist, negotiating a better living environment for the people of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Most literary essays on this text, however, overlook Ojaide’s deployment of language to achieve his subversive vision. The text has been interpreted as environmentalism colored by an ideology or artistic documentation of the despoiled ecosystem, its effects on humans, the flora and fauna of the Niger Delta, and the consequential eco-activism. Another read of the text, however, reveals a binary relationship of dominance and subversion in which language is significant to both sides of the intercourse. The existence of dominance and resistance, therefore, necessitates the analysis of the text drawing from the Subaltern theory, an aspect of the Postcolonial theory to which dominance and resistance are central. This essay examines the deployment of language as a hegemonic and subversive tool in the oil politics in the Niger Delta. The binary relationship is couched in bi-partite motifs captured in epithets and contrasting images. In the binary, the multinational oil companies operating in the Niger Delta yoked with the Nigerian military government, are juxtaposed with the people and the Niger Delta as oppressors and the oppressed. Through bipartite motifs that abound in the text, Ojaide concretizes the duality in the Nigerian society vis-a-vis the oil politics in the Niger Delta.  In the duality, language is reinvented and mobilized significantly by both sides as a tool for demonizing and excluding each other to enable the subjugation or subversion of the other.


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