Niger delta struggle: Assessment of selected Nigerians’ perceptions

Abstract

This study was meant to evaluate happenings in the Niger Delta region arising from agitations for physical development for the region in terms of provision of long-lasting infrastructural facilities, dependable social amenities, control of environmental pollution ravaging the area and physical transformation of some selected locations in the region into mega cities. It is also the desire of the Niger Delta people to be involved in resource control and political representation and participation. Similarly, the region wants genuine employment generation for their teeming unemployed youths who are university graduates, polytechnic graduates, colleges of Education’s products, school certificate holders and some other categories of unemployed youths. Essentially, the study was directed at some selected Nigerians from different ethnic affiliation in order to know their feelings and perceptions about the struggles of the Niger Delta people in terms of the on-going oppression and marginalization they have been going through. A total of 211 participants were selected within Ibadan metropolis and in some other adjoining locations around the metropolis. The participants were made up of 117 (55.5%) males and 94 (44.5%) females from different age brackets. Questionnaire format was designated for data collected from the participants. Only descriptive statistics was employed for data analysis. The results vividly showed that 88.2% of the participants agreed that “Niger Delta region has suffered some setback in terms of development compared to other regions in the country while only 11.8% disagreed to that. Similarly, the result revealed that 64.5% of the participants did agree that real attention has not been paid to the Niger Delta region while 35.5% of the participants did not agree to that. In another vein, 91.9% of the study participants agreed that ‘the people in the region deserve commensurable physical development going by the region while only 8.1% did not agree to that. Also, 83.9% of the participants agreed that ‘the sources of livelihood of the people in the Niger Delta region have been adversely affected by oil exploration while only 16.7% did not agree to this. The results were discussed and it was clearly pointed out that, in actual fact, the Niger Delta region deserves urgent attention from the government in terms of rapid physical transformation of the region. The region should be provided with dependable and long-lasting social amenities and infrastructural facilities. Key words: Niger Delta Region, development, militias, Nigerians, Ibadan metropolis, expectations.