Niger Delta People Research Articles

Ex-Militants as Traditional Rulers/Corporate Heads: Implication on Nigeria National Security

The assimilation of former militants into leadership roles as traditional rulers or corporate leaders in Nigeria presents significant challenges to national security and governance. This article explored these concerns through two case studies: His Royal Highness Ateke Tom, an ex-militant who became the Okochiri monarch, and Dokubo Asari who transitioned into a business leadership role with the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force (NDPVF). The primary objective of this study was to assess their effectiveness in contributing to regional stability, economic development, and governance while addressing issues of legitimacy, reconciliation, and ethical governance. Utilizing a comparative analysis, the study examined the dual roles of these ex-militants in post-conflict leadership and their impact on the Niger Delta region. The research was grounded in conflict resolution and governance theories, providing a theoretical framework to understand the complex dynamics of their leadership roles. The findings revealed that while integrating ex-militants into leadership can foster economic growth and stability, it also raises concerns about the legitimacy of their authority and the long-term sustainability of peace in the region. The study recommended harnessing the potential of ex-militants in leadership positions by promoting inclusive governance, enhancing community participation, and ensuring that their roles do not undermine national security. By retracing their paths from militancy to leadership, this research highlights the need for careful management of such transitions to achieve positive outcomes in post-conflict regions.

Environmental Racism in Nigeria’s Niger Delta: An Ethical Appraisal

Nigeria’s Niger Delta is plagued by serious environmental problems. These environmental problems include oil spillage, pollution, deforestation, biodiversity destruction, and so forth. Many of the environmental problems in the Niger Delta arise from the anthropogenic activities of multinational oil companies. While these environmental problems, which have caused widespread environmental degradation, are well discussed in light of environmental justice, the reality—that these problems are also precipitated by environmental racist attitudes and practices—is not receiving just attention. This article argues that the environmental problems in the Niger Delta should be seen from the perspective of environmental racism. Through critical hermeneutics and analytic methods, the article shows that what is taking place in the Niger Delta can be called environmental racism. The Niger Delta peoples and cultures have disproportionately suffered from the burden and effects of oil exploration and exploitation activities. Many practices taking place in the Niger Delta, such as gas flaring, use of obsolete oil equipment, and so forth, will not be tolerated in Western countries where the headquarters of multinational oil companies are located. The article finds that unacceptable levels of environmental racism are taking place in the Niger Delta. The article concludes that there is a need to promote environmental justice and mitigate the environmental problems in the Niger Delta.

A Systemic Functional Analysis of the Nominal Group in Selected Eco-Critical Poems of Ebi Yeibo and G’ebinyo Ogbowei

This paper examines the Nominal Group in the ecopoetry of Ebi Yeibo and G’ebinyo Ogbowei. Both poets are of the Niger Delta literary tradition of protest literature. This literature is a reaction to the brazen exploitation of petroleum resources in the Niger Delta without compensation and environmental impact assessment by the Nigerian government and the international oil companies. Three representative poems are selected from different collections of the two poets. They are analysed using Systemic Functional Grammar as theoretical framework. The systemic functional analysis of the Nominal Group brings out the eco-critical features of the poems. An analysis of the MHQ structures throws up the vexed issue of environmental injustice and brings to the fore the struggle of the Niger Delta people for resource control. Keywords: Niger Delta, Hydrocarbon, Environmental Injustice, Resource Control, Ecocriticism

Niger Delta Subaltern Agency and Resistance in Obari Gomba’s The Ascent Stone and Stephen Kekeghe’s Rumbling Sky

This article applies the theoretical positions of some scholars from the Subaltern Studies Collective to the reading of poetry by Niger Delta writers. I argue that the Niger Delta people are subaltern in the Nigerian national space due to their disadvantaged sociopolitical position as well as the resource conflict that has left the region at the mercy of the state and its agents. With insights from the writings of Ranajit Guha, Dipesh Chakrabarty, Gyan Prakash, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, and Partha Chatterjee, I read the subaltern themes of agency and resistance in Obari Gomba’s The Ascent Stone and Stephen Kekeghe’s Rumbling Sky. In adopting this framework, I draw from Guha’s original theorisation of peasant insurgency and the structure of power as well as later theorisations of relational power discourse and subaltern agency. My close reading of selected poems reveals the figure of the Niger Delta subaltern as the architect of their own destiny and whose resistance haunts the dominant discourse of the nation. The notions of insurgency, the nation and its fragments, failed revolutions, and relational power discourse are deployed as hermeneutical strategies. My adoption of this theoretical approach recovers its insights for the reading of literary works by writers from minority groups.

‘Yellow’ Environment and Women as Allegorical Despoliation: A feminist Ecocritical Reading of Kaine Agary’s Yellow Yellow

Environmental degradation and preservation have become a topical issue in academic and non- academic discourse. African literary critics, especially Niger Delta writers have responded to the discourse by deploying their works towards exposing environmental damages in the region, and to seek intervention for the Niger Delta people. This study examines the dual aesthetics of environmental despoliation and sexual exploitation, and demonstrates the women’s responses to such anomalies. The representative novel of Kaine Agary’s Yellow Yellow is explored to discuss women’s experiences in the region, when the environment is degraded. The author utilizes the ecofeminist framework to elucidate the nexus between environmental exploitation and sexist oppression, and recommends ways to promote an egalitarian society for women, and respect for the natural environment. Keywords: Niger Delta, sexism, ecofeminism, environment

COMMERCIALIZATION OF THE NIGER DELTA AGITATIONS AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT

The Niger Delta reign is generally described as an underdeveloped area that has difficult terrain. This situation necessitates various forms of agitations from the people of the region largely because the survival of the Nigerian state is dependent on the oil exploited from the area. This paper deploys the desk study to examine the nature of the Niger Delta people agitations for development and posit that the agitations that started in a protest form have been hijacked by criminal-minded individuals and have become mighty commercialized. The work argues that the Niger Delta people are peace-loving and the now commercialized agitations of few persons in the area is not enough to classify the region as notorious. It is the position of the study that the development of the area will remain a mirage unless the challenges of commercial agitations one addressed. The work therefore recommends collaborative approach of the Niger Delta stakeholders in tackling the challenges.

The impact of fishing on the eastern niger delta people of Nigeria, 1885-1945

The impact of fishing on the eastern niger delta people of Nigeria, 1885-1945

State-corporate environmental crime and human security in the Niger Delta, Nigeria

This theoretical paper advanced the argument that all human acts such as oil spills, gas flaring and other forms of environmental degradation in contravention of existing environmental legislation amount to environmental violence; and constitute environmental crime within the context of this paper. Environmental crime in the Nigeria Delta is increasing unabated and huge implication of human security. The environment is life and sustainer of humanity both present and future. But man has become a destroyer instead of a protector and replenisher of the environment on account of the unsustainable drive for capital accumulation for industrialization and development. The outcomes have deepened the poverty and misery of the Niger Delta people instead of ameliorating them. The acts of ecocide and genocide committed by the Multinational Oil Corporations with the tacit connivance Nigerian state had continuously threatened human security, without commensurable commitments to halting the impending Armageddon. The argument of this paper is guided by resource curse, Dutch disease and state failure theories. Data used to advance this argument are purely qualitative and generated from secondary sources. They are subjected to content analysis. Admittedly, environmental crime or green criminology as sub-filed or a separate section of legal jurisprudence is struggling to evolve. Our finding is that the trouble with environmental governance in Nigeria is not the want of regulations, albeit weak, but the problem of enforcement. This implies that the bulk stops at the state. The state must assert its stateness, effectively perform it s regulatory roles, and place environment violation where they belong, as environmental crime.

Beyond Oil Spill Cleanup, Abandoned Infrastructures Affect the Environment Too – A case study of the Lived Experiences of the Niger Delta People

Spills by multinational petroleum corporations have scarred the Niger Delta and as a result, many residents are relocating, hence, the rise of abandoned idled, and neglected infrastructures. The purpose of this study is to understand how neglected infrastructures have shaped the living conditions of people in the Niger Delta communities. Employing a phenomenological case study approach, this paper focuses on the lived experiences of the Niger Delta people of Nigeria to explain the correlation between oil exploration activities and abandoned or neglected infrastructures. Contributing to the theoretical perspective on sustainability, development, and infrastructural issues, this study finds that corruption, poor governance, lack of accountability, laws, finances, resources, and education are also factors promoting the rise of abandoned infrastructures in the Niger Delta. The findings of this study provide crucial insights to government, policymakers, and environmental justice advocates who may consider using the discussions to address socio-economic issues in developing countries.

Environmental Effect of KPO-Fire in Niger Delta and Future Health Implication

Crude oil discovery and exploration in the Niger Delta of Nigeria which includes Delta, Bayelsa, Abia, Rivers, Cross River, Akwa-Ibom, Imo, Edo and Ondo States of Nigeria, has led to significant economic growth of the nation especially in the creation of job opportunities also the generation of revenue. Unfortunately, Oil thefts have become the idea that replaced the most crisis and agitations in the Niger Delta communities against the perceived neglect of the areas. This had resulted to widespread operation of illegal oil bunkering activities called Kpofire. Kpofire, as described by the Niger deltans, is a process of burning crude oil by illegal oil operatives or thieves at isolated locations called bunkering sites or dumpsites in order to extract refined petroleum products. The design for the extraction of the petroleum products involves the sections of steaming and collection. These sections are connected by a very long pipe. Heat is applied to the steaming section using wood from the mangroves that is called ‘Ngala’ or ‘Agala’, thereafter, crude oil is used. The products extracted are fuel, kerosene and diesel. One of the major problems of Kpofire is the introduction of soot into the environment. Soot is a product is uncontrolled and incomplete combustion or pyrolisis of materials that contain carbon. The highest constituent of soot is the Polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH). The Niger Delta people are faced with daily environmental challenges such as inadequate housing facilities, contaminated drinking water sources, barren lands for agriculture, dead rivers for fishing activities and poor health conditions, soot, which has become a gradual but huge challenge in many Niger Delta communities, has been shown to play a huge role in respiratory, skin, and reproductive health conditions. However, vulnerability is seen more in babies and children (particularly because their respiratory organs are not matured enough), the elderly, and people with preexisting health conditions, also heart or lung diseases (such as asthma). High exposure to PAH at prenatal stages is linked to a low IQ and lead to increased behavioral problems in the early-age child and childhood asthma. A collective effort is needed to put a stop this menace called kpofire in order to avoid environmental pollution thereby endangering the health of the people of Niger Delta.

Ways of the Rivers: Arts and Environment of the Niger Delta

Ways of the Rivers: Arts and Environment of the Niger Delta

Effect of Environmental Pollution on Rural Women in the Niger Delta

United Nations Development Program – Niger Delta Human Development Report (2006) assert that ‘’the environment is very important for the Niger Delta people where 60% of the population depends on the Natural environment living and non-living for livelihood’ In sum, the environment is the independent web of sources of livelihoods for rural women in the Niger Delta. However, the continuous viability and sustainability of the environment to render this eco-services and remain primarily the source of water supply, energy, food/protein supply, material for housing and pharmaceutical supply in this part of the unequal world remain a dilemma, following the continuous environmental pollution of the region due to various activities of man in his quest to explore the earth for crude oil and gas reserve for wealth accumulation. This has led to high negative impact on the inhabitants of the Niger delta region particularly rural women. This study therefore was carried out to investigate the attendant effect of environmental pollution on rural women in the Niger delta. Survey design was used for the study focusing on rural women. Secondary and primary data were obtained and used forthe study. Non parametric analytic tool and descriptive statistics were employed to analyse the data. The results of the analyzed data show a strong negative relationship between environmental pollution and rural women. The study therefore concludes that environmental pollution affect Niger delta rural women negatively leading to their lack of access to sources of water supply, shortage in fish/fisheries, fuelwood and farm produce as well as reproductive health imbalance. The study recommends that the management of oil companies in the Niger delta should put in place measures that will make their operations environmentally friendly to guard against further environmental pollution, make provision for sustainable source of water supply for their host communities, carry out empowerment scheme to enable the rural women have alternative source of income since they can no longer depend on the mangrove ecosystem and farmland which hitherto was their major means of livelihood and also built and equip cottage hospitals in the host communities to carter for those already affected and potential victims of reproductive health challenge.

Precarious Geography: Landscape, Memory, Identity and Ethno-regional Nationalism in Niger Delta Poetry

Abstract Like most conflicts across the world, the Niger Delta crisis has generated a body of works now labelled Niger Delta literature. These cultural art forms, which are not only programmatic in thrust but also carry a dissenting temper that is laden with counter hegemonic rhetoric, are primarily geared towards underpinning a brutish kind of colonization and corporate greed which has become the stamp of toxic dreaming and dubious progress in Nigeria. This literature draws attention to the debility of the Niger Delta people and to the fact that they are trapped under double hegemons – the Nigerian government and transnational oil firms – that have strategically transformed or reduced this precarious geography and its inhabitants to mere commodities. A close reading of texts on the Niger Delta makes one aware of the politics and structure of the Nigerian economy and the corporate cost of petroculture; moreover, issues of ethno-regional identity, the inequity in the distribution of resources, the near absence of government presence in the Niger Delta and the continuous decay of state infrastructures provide a fertile ground for explaining the resentment expressed by these heavily marginalized people. By protesting their marginality, these poets frame a kind of identity that “others” the Niger Delta people, thereby holding the state accountable for its deplorable conditions and the abysmal underdevelopment of the region considering the quantity of wealth it generates for the Nigerian federation. Paying significant attention to the relationship between the representations of landscape and processes of political and economic transformation and how the landscape becomes the defining index for identity formation in the poetry of Tanure Ojaide and Ibiware Ikiriko, I argue that these poets point to the way in which colonialism and environmental devastation are interlocking systems of domination within the Nigerian nation.

The Resource Curse Syndrome and Legitimate Expectations of the Niger Delta People of Nigeria

Nigeria is one of the world's petroleum regions, endowed with an abundance of natural resources necessary for the nation's development. There should be an effective utilization of the resources for the greater good of the country. Each Government endowed with petroleum resources should take action to ensure that those resources are transformed for the benefit of its citizens. The article, reviewing the resource curse theory and scholarship, argues that Nigeria's Niger Delta has significant petroleum resources, but these resources have not been harnessed efficiently for the effective growth of the nation. This has had a considerable impact on the regional distribution of economic advantages, creating a case of the paradox of plenty. It demonstrated the resource curse syndrome in Nigeria and the effort to address the situation. The article presents a proposal on how Nigeria should use and manage its petroleum resources through proactive measures aimed at addressing the resource curse. Keywords: Resource curse; Petroleum resources; Dutch diseases; Niger Delta DOI: 10.7176/JRDM/79-04 Publication date: October 31 st 2021

Consolidating Peace in the Niger Delta for National Development in Nigeria: Rising Beyond Tokenism

This study attempts an investigation into oil politics and other related issues that have generated security crisis in the Niger Delta region, which made peace to elude the people over the years. For decades, peace in the Niger Delta remains a mirage because of the violence and counter violence unleashed by the different stakeholders in oil production in the Niger Delta. While the militants in the Niger Delta resorted to kidnapping of expatriates, oil theft, and the destruction of oil installations of the international oil companies to register their grievances against the Nigerian state and international oil companies over the debilitating development conditions in oil producing communities, the Nigerian state had militarized the region to maintain law and order in the oil producing areas in order to secure oil installations of the international oil companies which were targeted for destruction by the militants who felt the federal government and oil companies have not done enough to improve the living conditions of the people. To pacify the Niger Delta people and to ensure seamless oil production in the region, the federal government introduced some initiatives and created different Commissions such as the Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission, increased derivation formula in revenue allocation to 13 percent and the establishment of the Niger Delta Development Commission to engender peace and development in the region. In recent times however, the federal government in furtherance of its commitment to resolve the Niger Delta crisis created the Ministry of Niger Delta and equally granted Amnesty for repentant militants with a view to re-integrating them back to the society in the interest of national peace and development. Except for Amnesty Programme which introduced relative peace in the Niger Delta, which itself failed to address the root causes of underdevelopment, all other initiatives have not engendered development and lasting peace in the oil-rich Niger Delta region. These initiatives and Commissions were simply tokenism as they failed to fundamentally, reposition the region on the path of sustainable growth and development. However, in generating data for this research, both primary and secondary data were used for analysis. The primary data were obtained from questionnaires, interviews and focus group discussions carried out in Bayelsa and River states. The study concluded that peace and development is possible in the Niger Delta if conscious and deliberate efforts are made by the government and international oil companies to improve the lots of the people who bear the devastating consequences of oil production in Nigeria.

The Rights of Indigenous People in Oil Producing Communities: A Case Study of the Niger-Delta People of Nigeria

The notion that human rights are to be enjoyed on individual basis no longer holds sway in both international, regional and domestic laws. Human rights jurisprudence has evolved to recognize the existence of rights to be enjoyed by a group of people. This recognition is indeed necessary noting the massive human rights violation of ethnic and national groups in various climes and neglect of these groups in the scheme of development. A result of the aforementioned is the growing advocacy for what is termed Rights of Indigenous People. Globally, human rights advocates, observers and even groups identifying as indigenous people have embraced the task of carving out these rights within an existent human rights framework and seeking the special recognition of these rights in novel legal instruments. However, this growing advocacy has not successfully resolved the agitations of the indigenous Niger Delta people in Nigeria, who are plagued by abject poverty and environmental hazards despite being the Nigerian resource hub. The re-echoing question has been whether the Niger Delta people can be considered as indigenous people, thus entitling them to benefit from the rights enjoyable by such a group. This paper advocate for the recognition of the Niger Delta people as indigenous people, drawing inspiration from international law and Canadian jurisprudence.

Church and Politics of Resource Control in Niger Delta, Nigeria

Niger Delta is a region in Nigeria that produces oil which is the Federal Government’s main source of income. The oil boom in 1970 marked the beginning of an intensive mining of oil in the Niger Delta that is responsible for the constant pollution of water, land and air that endanger the Niger Delta people’s source of drinking water, aquatic life, farm crops and more importantly the life of the people. The people of Niger Delta lack good roads, electricity, food, water and shelter. The incessant agitations in Niger Delta are borne out of the Federal Government’s neglect of the area to suffer without considering the disaster caused by continuous mining of oil in the area. However, the Niger Delta has been characterized by militancy in a bid to drive their agitation of resource control home. There is no doubt that the church is suspected of playing politics with resource control in the Niger Delta, rather than addressing the injustice in the area that resulted in the clamour for resource control. The paper examined the role played by the church in addressing the agitation by the Niger Delta people over resource control. In this paper, contextual hermeneutical approach was used in describing and analyzing the data. It was discovered that the church through its teaching has indirectly sensitized the Niger Delta people to fight for their right of controlling the resources (oil) endowed by God which they will give account at the end of the age. The paper recommended that the church should be on the side of the Niger Delta by using non – violent approach in fighting for resource control for justice to prevail. It is expected of the church to caution its members not to own oil wells at the detriment of the Niger Delta people. DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/11-13-02 Publication date: June 30 th 2021

Socio-Economic Conspiracy and Ecological Devastation: A Contextual Reading of Tanure Ojaide’s The Activist

The persistent crisis in the Niger Delta, bordering on the effects of oil exploration among other socio-economic issues, left the confines of politics and found expression in literary works. Tanure Ojaide, a prolific poet and writer from the Niger Delta, and other eco-critics explore these devastating realities in their creative enterprise. This study, therefore, sets out to examine Ojaide’s conceptualization of the tensions and struggles of the Niger Delta people against forces of exploitation and oppression and the often tragic consequences of the collusion in his novel, The Activist. While adopting an experimental form of analysis – a reportorial- the novel’s message adequately structures its form and makes an explicit comment on the need for educational activism. The paper concludes that the author positions education as a major tool of liberation and a constructive way of subverting both socio-economic and environmental deprivation. This therefore goes to show The Activist as an intellectual work whose agitations offer the dais for a positive change in the Niger Delta.

Arms Proliferation and Militancy in Rivers State, Nigeria: A Comparative Study of Amaechi and Wike’s Administrations

This research examined the nature of arms proliferation and militancy in the administrations of Governors Chibiuke Rotimi Amaechi and Ezenwo Nyesom Wike in Rivers State, Nigeria. The objectives were to determine the nature of arms proliferation and militancy in Rivers State in the two administrations. This research became necessary owing to the increasing rate of insecurity in Rivers State. The inability of security agencies to mitigate the security challenges confronting the State and the politicisation of the security of the State makes this research inevitable. Two key areas of concerns were discernable. First, the proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) in the State has led to militancy of destructive proportion. Second, arms proliferation and militancy have undermined socio-economic and political development of the people of the State. The security challenges arising, therefore, have created an inhabitable state triggered by fear, intimidation, armed robbery, assassinations, cultism, kidnapping for ransom, arms smuggling, political thuggery, electoral violence, intimidation and destruction of lives and property across the 23 local government areas of the State. The Frustration-Aggression theory and the Realist Theory were used to establish a correlation between arms proliferation and militancy, on one hand, and deprivation, marginalisation, environmental degradation and lack of physical and human capital development for sustainable livelihood of the people of Rivers State which triggered arms proliferation and militancy in the state, on the other hand. This study used descriptive research design to examine the nature and justification, through psychological approach of comparison, of arms proliferation and militancy in both Amaechi and Wike’s administrations. A trend analysis, through historical investigation, was also used to determine the nature of arms proliferation and militancy prior to Amaechi’s administration in 2007. Secondary data were mostly used. Through content analysis and review of relevant literature, this research observed that the upsurge of arms proliferation and militancy in Rivers State started as part of the agitation for resource control and self-determination of the Niger Delta people. Redistribution of arms to political thugs and cultists after the 2009 Federal Government’s Amnesty which has made elections in Rivers State nasty, bloody and brutal, and lives useless and short, instigated the new waves of arms proliferation and militancy in Rivers State under Amaechi and Wike’s administrations. This research concluded that unless there are conscious efforts by the State Actors to comprehensively mop-up of arms and ammunition in Rivers State and bring pepertrators of these heinous crimes to book, the search for peace, stability, and security of lives and property of Rivers State people and residents alike would be too far to realise.

The Moving Image as a Panacea for Concise Analysis and Means of Ensuring Good Governance and Ameliorating Youth Restiveness in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria

The world is plagued with plethora of social issues generated from the complexity of modern existence. The control of sources of raw materials, exploitation, production, and trade has polarised our world. This paper looked at the Niger Delta situation from an audio-visual angle as reflected in the film ‘Krakraye’ by Gentle Jack. The Niger Delta region and her people have been neglected in terms of developmental needs in the Nigerian state, hence, the youths resort to self-identification and resource control which is the problem being stated. The aim of this paper is to present this issue bare in an audio-visual manner. The objectives are to concisely chronicle the real situation from the emergence of the military in the Nigerian scene to the present. Theoretical framework was the analytical approach to cultural studies, while the research methodology would entail the qualitative approach enmeshed with visual impressions, still photographs from the film ‘Krakraye’, and from other graphic and audio-visual sources. Findings of this study show that it is deliberate to underdevelop the Niger Delta region, keep the people poor so they will be loyal and could easily be overcome by the majority tribes, Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo who have never spoken against injustice meted to the Niger Delta communities. Contributions to knowledge is that visual presentation has shown the true plight of the Niger Delta people in visual images. Recommendations are that a naturally endowed, rich industrial environment should not be neglected for peace and development to thrive; stealing of the people’s commonwealth brings about capital flight as those in government are afraid to show their wealth in Nigeria rather, they launder and invest these monies abroad. This paper critically assessed the reach of film in exposing social anomaly as the case of the Niger Delta people, allegorically.
 Key Words: Film, Niger Delta, youth, democracy, development