The Olusegun Obasanjo Administration and the Niger Delta Question, 1999-2007

Abstract

This paper examines the response of the Olusegun Obasajo's administration to the festering crisis in the oil bearing belt of the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria. This is done against the backdrop of the ray of hope that was embedded in body language, actions and inactions of the Obasanjo administration as the birth of democracy in 1999 had raised fresh hopes for the effective and democratic resolution of the issues in contention in the oil bearing enclave. The research methodology entails content analysis of literature relevant to the issues in contention. Our analysis of the intervention efforts of the Olusegun Obasanjo's administration is done against their adequacy or otherwise. From the evidence adduced from this study, it is plausible that the intervention efforts of the regime were not far reaching enough and were done without political commitment and sincerity. This, as it were, must have contributed in part to the escalation of the Niger Delta crisis.