Oil-rich Niger Delta Region Research Articles

Fragilized Ecologies and Multilayer Violence in Two Oil Films About the Niger Delta

ABSTRACT: Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta region has continuously been conceived as a context of terror and political violence. However, this representation of the Niger Delta is deemed too schematic and misleading since it does not account for oil production's complicated local and human issues. In fact, violent mining geographies like the Niger Delta are always permeated by various forms of subtle and imperceptible violence that, if overlooked, may lead to misrepresentations. Rob Nixon has theorized such invisibilized forms of violence as "slow violence." Building on this concept of slow violence as long emergencies that are hard to harness and turn into dramatic stories, this article examines how Black November : Struggle for the Niger Delta (Jeta Amata, 2012) and Oloibiri (Curtis Graham and Samantha Iwowo, 2016), two films set in the vulnerable ecosystem of the Niger Delta oil-producing enclaves, take on the representational challenge posed by the slow violence of ecological destruction. It studies how the filmmakers conceptualize slow violence and explores their strategies to make visible subtle forms of harm that resist representation. More specifically, it analyzes how spatiotemporal relations, images, and narrative sequences are combined to witness the slow violence of oil production and ecological destruction.

Oil Spillage Monitoring in Nigeria and the Role of Remote Sensing - An Overview

Oil spillage poses a persistent challenge in Nigeria most especially in oil-rich Niger Delta region, necessitating effective monitoring and mitigation measures. This study provides an overview of oil spill monitoring in Nigeria, emphasizing the pivotal role of remote sensing technology. Leveraging data from the NOSDRA Oil Spill Monitoring website, spanning 2016 to 2020, variations in spill occurrences among oil companies are analyzed. In 2016, a total of 42,741.25 barrels were spilled across 689 incidents, with NPDC emerging as the top spillage contributor. Similarly, 2017 witnessed 35,076.62 barrels spilled across 604 incidents, with NPDC and SPDC maintaining dominance. The trend continued in 2018, with SPDC recording the highest volume of spills among the top six contributing companies. However, in 2019, spillage increased, led by SPDC, followed closely by Heritage Energy Operational Services Limited and Aiteo. Conversely, 2020 saw a decrease in spillage, albeit SPDC retained its lead. These findings underscore the critical need for enhanced monitoring and regulatory enforcement to mitigate the environmental and socio-economic impacts of oil spills in Nigeria. However, proactive measures are needed to strengthen regulatory oversight, improve spill response capabilities, and promote transparency and accountability within the petroleum industry.

An Econometric Assessment of the Impact of Crude Oil Production on Health in Nigeria

Health is a fundamental human right. It additionally implies the ability to live socially and economically productive lives. With rapid expansion of the Petroleum industry with oil accounting for seventy percent of the total export earnings during the 1970s, the Nigerian economy was re-structured from agriculture-driven to oil dependent. Expenditure on health depends on several factors. It is assumed that as natural resource grows, health expenditure will grow. However in case of Nigeria, this will depend on the oil revenue available to the government from the exportation of oil. The most significant environmental challenge facing the nation at present is that of pollution arising from oil exploration and production particularly in the oil-rich Niger-Delta region. Residents of these communities have suffered greatly from the effects of oil-spillage, exposure to oil-spills, gas flaring and other diminishing effects. The major objective of this study is to assess the impact of crude oil production on the health sector in Nigeria. This research paper uses the co-integration and Error Correction Methods (ECM) to analyze the relationship between Health, oil-sourced health revenue, gas flaring and domestic consumption of crude oil. After deriving the results of the error correction representation, we come to the conclusion that crude oil production has a significant impact on health in Nigeria. The study also makes one remarkable discovery and that is the negative impacts gas flaring has on health in Nigeria. It is therefore recommended that the Nigerian government should stop preference treatment of oil Multinationals and deal decisively with erring companies who deliberately distort the standard of health of Nigerians through oil spillage and gas flaring. Also, incentives should be given to oil companies to undertake best practices together with adequate reward for prompt adherence while more revenue from oil earning should be devoted to the health sector as this will surely impact significantly on the improvement of healthcare of Nigerians.

Resource curse, elitism and the development of the oil-rich Niger Delta Region of Nigeria

The concern of this research is that the political elites in the Niger Delta appears to be undermining the development of the region by utilizing the development funds in ways not appropriate. But the people of the Niger Delta claim that the underdevelopment ravaging the region is caused by the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN). So, who should we hold responsible? We set out using existing literature to investigate the matter. We found that the FGN is making good efforts by providing development intervention funds that can be utilized for the development of the region. These funds are directly transferred to the states in the region and the FGN also created special development institutions for the same purpose. Both means are managed by the elites from the region. We also found that the elites who manage the funds are not doing so properly. We also found that the intellectuals, writers and scholars from the region are not telling the elites the truth about how the elites are badly managing the development of the region. We therefore conclude that it is the political elites from the Niger Delta that are squarely responsible for the underdevelopment of the region.

A PRAGMA-STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF ISOKO APHORISMS

This paper is a study of Aphorisms in Isoko language. The Isoko language is one of the understudied minority languages facing threat of extinction from Nigerian Pidgin and the English language in the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Thus, in a bid to document and preserve aspects of the Isoko language, this paper undertakes a pragma-stylistic study of Isoko aphorisms. The data for the study consists of twelve (12) Isoko aphorisms collected from competent native speakers of Isoko through participant-observation method and recording and translated into English by a competent Isoko – English bilingual. They are then analysed using Lakoff and Johnson’s (1980 & 2003) Conceptual Metaphor theory as analytical tool to ascertain the conceptual mappings between the compositional meaning of an aphoristic expression (source domain) in Isoko and its actual pragma-stylistic content (target domain). The findings reveal that the correspondence between the source and target domains in Isoko aphorisms help in accounting for both pragma-stylistic and social meanings in the real world. It recommends that studies of this nature should be carried out in other areas as it has the potentials of not only preserving and developing the Isoko language but also increasing the phrasal stock of the emerging Nigerian English.

Nigeria’s Energy Crisis and the Sustainability Question

Nigeria’s deepening energy crisis will continue to pose a challenge to the attainment of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 despite being the largest producer of oil and gas resources in Africa. With an expanding population of over 200 million people and a rapidly growing economy, the demand for energy has significantly increased over the last decade. However, with a meagre electricity generation capacity of 3 500 to 5 000 MW, only about 53% of Nigeria’s population is connected to the national electric grid accounting for a per capita electricity consumption of 144 kWh, one of the lowest in Africa. To bridge the widening gap between energy demand and supply, millions of Nigerians have continued to rely on unsustainable alternatives such as petroleum-based electricity generating sets to meet domestic, commercial and industrial energy demands. It is against this backdrop that we, by relying on a critical analysis of secondary sources, examined the nature of Nigeria’s energy crisis, the emergent coping behaviour in response to the energy crisis and its impacts on sustainability. We submit that the perennial energy crisis in Nigeria undermines inclusive energy transition and stifles socio-economic growth in the country. Consequent upon this is the emergence of other forms of negative coping behaviour such as artisanal crude oil refining in the oil rich Niger Delta region in which the attendant economic, social, health and environmental implications are most manifest.

Socio-economic influences on the ease of doing business in the Niger Delta: Evidence from small business owners and managers

Doing business with ease depends on many factors. For Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta region, the ease of starting and running a small-scale business depends on so many factors. This paper aims to leverage the experiences of 103 small business owners and managers to examine the socio-economic factors influencing the ease of doing business in the Niger Delta region. Data collection was via the structured questionnaire administered via Google Form. Data analysis involved simple percentages, mean and ranking. The findings reveal that lack of power supply, getting credit and resolving insolvency are the major hindrances to the ease of doing business in the region. The study recommends setting up effective policies and programmes in the areas of attracting investment to the energy sector. The government should enlighten the masses about National Collateral Registry and its importance to business owners. Keywords: Business, National Collateral Registry, Niger Delta region, World Bank indices;

Socio-Economic Influences on the Ease of Doing Business in the Niger Delta: Evidence from Small Business Owners and Managers

Doing business with ease depends on many factors. For Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta region, the ease of starting and running a small scale business depends on so many factors. This paper leverages the experiences of 103 small business owners and managers to examine the socio-economic factors influencing the ease of doing business in the Niger Delta region. Data collection was via the structure questionnaire administered via Google form. Data analysis involved simple percentage, mean and ranking. The findings reveal that lack of power supply; getting credit and starting a business are the major hindrance to the ease of doing business in the region. The study recommends setting up effective policies and programs in the areas of attracting investment to the energy sector. The government should enlighten the masses about National Collatery Registry and its importance to business owners. There is also the need to embark on reforms targeted at restructuring the various indicators in the region to ensure the ease of doing business

JURISDICTIONAL PROBLEM IN ENVIRONMENTAL LITIGATION IN NIGERIA: LESSONS FROM NEW SOUTH WALES

An increase in industrial activities, especially in the oil and gas sector in Nigeria comes with the attendant rise in environmental abuses by multinational companies. Income from oil exploration is the major source of revenue for the Nigerian government. However, over the years, the activities of major oil companies in the oil-rich Niger Delta region have caused and continue to cause monumental damage to the local communities and indeed, the environment. Efforts by successive administrations to address this issue have yielded few results. This development means that victims of environmental abuse and indeed environmental activists have only the court to approach for any remedy. In Nigeria, it is only the Federal High Court that has exclusive jurisdiction to entertain any dispute arising from mines and minerals, including oil and gas exploration. Apart from the significant delay occasioned by congestion of cases, the composition of the Federal High Court has no regard for expert personnel in environmental science who are capable of giving informed decisions that would improve access to environmental justice. This article examines the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court in relation to environmental matters and argues that the court as presently constituted is not better placed to ensure access to environmental justice. This article employs doctrinal legal research methodology and content analysis of both primary and secondary legal sources relating to the practice of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, and Land and Environment Court of New South Wales of Australia. The article argues in favour of establishing a specialised environmental court in Nigeria as a superior court with a comprehensive jurisdiction to dispose of environmental-related matters.

Leadership struggle and conflict in the Niger Delta, Nigeria: focus on warri south local government area of delta state, 2011-2018

The continued incidence of leadership struggle, brazen conflict, abject poverty, gross economic backwardness and total underdevelopment, as it is the case in the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria, remains a great source of worry and concern among scholars .The gravity of the above problematic situation has made many Nigerians to keep pondering whether the discovery and exploration of oil is a blessing or a curse to our country, Nigeria. It is against this backdrop that the study is poised to interrogate leadership struggle and conflict in the Niger Delta, Nigeria with particular focus on Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State, 2011-2018. In terms of methodology the study adopted the time-series research design within the explanatory framework of Resource Curse theory. For data collection, this research relied heavily on documentary method, while data collected were logically and textually analyzed using the textual (content) analysis method. The study reveals that conflict in the area stems more from the claim of original ownership of Warri land and ethnic divide among the people of the area. The Itsekiri people and the Ijaws have plunged themselves in intense leadership struggle cum power tussle over the territory as well as inordinate quest for resource control in the area. Also, the general untold hardship, hunger, poverty and lack of adequate socio-economic infrastructures, as the attendant consequences of oil exploration in the area, were implicated for the incessant conflicts. The study therefore recommends, among others, that leadership/power zoning strategy should be more practicable. On the other hand, the government at different levels and the oil companies operating in the area must be proactive and show greater concern/commitment to the environmental condition of the people in order to ensure real human and infrastructural development of the region.

Stylistic elements in the praise poetry of Chief Adolphus Munamuna, ọụbẹbẹ kẹnị Ịjọ ibe (the chief oral poet of the Ịjọ nation)

This article focuses on the language of the praise poetry of Chief Adolphus Munamuna of the Ịzọn ethnic group, located in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta region. It examines the extent to which the Ịjọ bard makes use of such stylistic devices as parallelism, ideophone, praise title, metaphor, simile, alliteration, assonance, and personification, amongst others. The article points out that the Otuan-born poet deliberately contrives elements of style to achieve balance, develop ideas and build up his chants. Moreover, the article highlights that some of the stylistic devices add drama and liveliness to the performances of the bard. In addition, the poetic qualities provide a musical element to the chants, as well as vividness to the events described.

Female Genital Cutting in Ịjọland: Context, Performance, and Songs

Female genital cutting is a vexed issue which has generated a considerable body of scholarship in both the humanities and the sciences. In this study, I focus on the ritual among the Ịjọ of Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta region. The paper is purely a cultural analysis of the practice and not one where an argument is put forth, as it were. As such, it gives detailed attention to the performance of the tradition. It also examines some of the reasons why the practice was held in high esteem. The paper further considers some of the subjects of the songs associated with the ritual, including love, sorrow, education, identity, and the supernatural, among others. Data for the study was gathered through observation and interviews.

Assessing climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies and agricultural innovation systems in the Niger Delta.

Climate change and its impacts on agriculture have been widely discussed at national and global levels. An important aspect of the discussion has been adaptation/mitigation approaches. Consequently, several strategies have been suggested as measures to ensure agriculture remains productively profitable. However, food security especially in critical times, such as the lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic proved to be a challenge even for regions naturally endowed for agriculture. The study evaluated research recommended strategies, and further examined the innovativeness of the strategies in fostering sustainable agricultural innovation system (AIS) in the Niger Delta. The study relied on both secondary and primary data; analysed 129 previous studies and gathered responses from 282 extension agents. The study introduces a method for assessing the innovativeness of strategies by calculating their rated values on five traits. Findings revealed the issues and implications of adopting most recommended strategies and the place of most strategies in fostering AIS. The study highlights the possible reasons why farmers fail to adopt most strategies as suggested by studies on climate change in the region. Based on the findings, recommendations were made on the way forward. The study adds to the scanty discussion of climate change and AIS at regional levels, particularly in the climate change prone and oil rich Niger Delta region. The study offers a novel approach for scoring innovations in agriculture.

Preliminary Study of Groundwater Quality Using Hierarchical Classification Approaches for Contaminated Sites in Indigenous Communities Associated with Crude Oil Exploration Facilities in Rivers State, Nigeria

Background: Groundwater is an important source of water. Since the control and removal of pollution are expensive, it is essential to identify the possible sources of contamination and to correctly classify groundwater on the basis of its intrinsic and integrated vulnerability. Objectives: To group ground water chemical ions and heavy metals parameters into similar groups. Method: The investigation made use of standard analytical procedures. All sampling, conservation, transportation and analysis followed standard procedures described in APHA (2012). To prevent degradation of the organic substances, all obtained samples were transferred to the laboratory, while kept in an icebox. Results: Sampling records from the same area are generally assigned to the same cluster during hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA). The cluster diagram shows the grouping of the heavy metal in the study area during wet and dry seasons. It reveals that 5 distinct clusters were identified for wet season and 4 clusters were identified during dry season. Also, it reveals that 5 distinct clusters were identified for wet season and for dry season, 4 distinct clusters were identified. Conclusion: The findings of this study are significant for policymakers and agencies in terms of dealing with the issues identified to enhance sustainable livelihood practices in the oil rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Therefore, decision-makers should take proper initiatives to get local people aware of the endangered zones before use, as drinking water is key to good health. Similarly, multinational oil companies will find it useful in their quest for viable social corporate responsibility and remediation plans in their respective host communities. The method proved to be a useful and objective tool for environmental planning.

Agitacja na rzecz kontroli zasobów w delcie Nigru. Rozumienie zasad dotyczących własności rzeczy na gruncie common law w zakresie zarządzania i kontroli zasobami ropy naftowej w Nigerii

The agitation for resource control in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region has frequently snowballed into violence and militancy. Although the demand for resource control borders on the transfer of ownership and management and control of the processes of exploitation of crude oil found abundantly in the region, the exact parametres of the demand are not defined by the agitators. This paper examined the various variants of resource control demanded by the different groups of agitators in the Niger Delta. It particularly argued that the common law private property ownership principles of Cuius est solum, eius est usque ad coelum et ad inferos , and Quic quid plantatur solo, solo cedit be adopted to transfer ownership of natural resources, including crude oil to the indigenous inhabitants of the oil rich Niger Delta region in line with the principles of true federalism. The paper recommended the restructure of the Nigerian federal system to devolve more powers to the states and repeal of certain existing laws that inhibit the rights of the people to own land and natural resources beneath those lands, which belong to them, their ancestors and children yet unborn.

Consequence of oil and Waste Spills on the Environment of Ogoniland, Rivers State, Nigeria

environmental degradation of the oil-rich niger delta region has been wanton and continuous with dire health, social and economic consequences for its peoples, for over three decades. Oil exploration and exploitation is very lucrative, and a major revenue earner in nigeria. But, like most industrial activities, it produces environmental hazards that are “slow poisons,” in that they often take months and years to cause disease and death. This is unlike the contamination of water, food, and the environment with micro-organisms, which immediately results in ill health. The covert and slow action of the hazards created by oil exploration and exploitation make it difficult to fully appreciate their contribution to the disease burden in nigeria, especially in the oil-bearing communities, even with the emergence of non-communicable diseases as major causes of ill health in nigeria. This paper addresses questions like: what challenges and impact will ogoniland face concerning spillage of oil and other wastes on its environment (water, vegetation, aquatic lifes, people and socio-economic lifes? Which are the spillage control measures to be adopted in ogoniland to obtain best production culture and consideration? It discusses the trend of oil spillage problem and possible antidote to it in the niger delta part of nigeria.

Consequence of oil and Waste Spills on the Environment of Ogoniland, Rivers State, Nigeria

environmental degradation of the oil-rich niger delta region has been wanton and continuous with dire health, social and economic consequences for its peoples, for over three decades. Oil exploration and exploitation is very lucrative, and a major revenue earner in nigeria. But, like most industrial activities, it produces environmental hazards that are “slow poisons,” in that they often take months and years to cause disease and death. This is unlike the contamination of water, food, and the environment with micro-organisms, which immediately results in ill health. The covert and slow action of the hazards created by oil exploration and exploitation make it difficult to fully appreciate their contribution to the disease burden in nigeria, especially in the oil-bearing communities, even with the emergence of non-communicable diseases as major causes of ill health in nigeria. This paper addresses questions like: what challenges and impact will ogoniland face concerning spillage of oil and other wastes on its environment (water, vegetation, aquatic lifes, people and socio-economic lifes? Which are the spillage control measures to be adopted in ogoniland to obtain best production culture and consideration? It discusses the trend of oil spillage problem and possible antidote to it in the niger delta part of nigeria.

Predication of Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Gas Flaring Activities in the Niger-Delta Area of Nigeria

Because of crude-oil exploration activities in the Niger Delta Region, Nigeria as a Country flares about 17.2 billion m3 of natural gas per capita year. An assessment of the historical data on the gas flared between 1965 to 2019 in the Oil-rich Niger-Delta region of Nigeria was carried out. A linear regression model was used to estimate the cumulative volume of gas flared up till the year 2030 using R. The findings show the total CH4 and N2O emission between 1965 to 1974 was 2281324 and 1229722 respectively. There was a steady increase in the estimated CH4 and N2O emissions until 2004. The prediction of cumulative gas flared showed an exponential increase in the cumulative greenhouse gases flared to about 8.8 x 109 metric tons by the year 2030. Overall, the study revealed a striking cause for concern due to the predicted continuous increasing amount of gas flaring and release of greenhouse gas emissions which could have significant effects on the environment.

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.

Of Barrenness and Witchcraft: The Songs of the Legi Women’s Association

Abstract Witchcraft and barrenness are two critical issues that African women have had to grapple with since precolonial times. Therefore, the focus of attention in this paper is the songs of the Legi voluntary association among the Ịjọ of Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta region. The Legi women’s group is made up of adult women who are barren and/or have been tagged witches by their community. The women of the association compose songs about their experiences in society and sing them at burials. For the women of the Legi Association, art is a means of showing support for or solidarity with a member of the group whose father or mother has died. Moreover, the members of the association perform their songs at burials that are unconnected with them to celebrate with those who invite them.