Governance and communal conflicts in a post-democratic Nigeria: A case of the oil-producing Niger Delta Region

Abstract

The Niger Delta Region of Nigeria is the store of Nigeria’s crude oil, which accounts for a substantial part of Nigeria’s revenue and exports. Despite this, the people remain poor, marginalized and restive. Resort to conflicts is the only way of expressing grievances in oil-rich communities in the Region. The conflict situation has been alarming since the present democratic dispensation in 1999. Most studies on conflicts in the region have not actually addressed the issue of inter and intra-communal clashes in relation to oil resources and Governance. The study sets out to address this through stakeholder meetings. In the result, various forms of communal conflicts were identified as inter or intra community conflicts or community against Governments and oil multinationals. The sources of these conflicts were mostly linked to struggles for sharing oil benefit, absence of standard practice among oil multinationals, Governments and competition for power. Implications of these were discussed with useful recommendations. Key words: Governance, oil exploration, communal conflicts, Niger Delta, Nigeria.