Resource control in the Niger Delta must be reconceptualised to recognize and give priority to its ‘local’ variant for the benefit of ordinary citizens while providing the basis to promote peaceful resolution of ‘resource control’ issues.
The rebellion in the Niger Delta is an attempt to address social injustice (a strategy) as well as a mode of production and a way of make a living (a tactic).
The twin events of the Boko Haram bombings and the Petrol Protest have put the presidency of Goodluck Jonathan on notice: the government needs to address the systemic problems that inhibit progress in Nigeria.
Nigerians will doubtless find ways to overcome this crisis, but the solution may not lie in counter-violence. It will take remarkable acts of statesmanship to achieve an honourable peace with Boko Haram – it was achieved in 1970 after Nigeria’s bloody civil (‘Biafran’) war. It can be done again.
Boko Haram has morphed from a local radical Muslim group to one that is more broadly Nigeria-focused. Its goals cannot be reconciled with the existence of the secular Nigerian state.
For centuries, the people of the Niger Delta were content to engage in farming, fishing and other endeavours, unaware that underneath their soil was one of nature’s most prized minerals, Petroleum. With the discovery of oil by Shell D’Archy, the forerunner of Shell Petroleum Development Corporation in 1956 at Oloibiri, Bayelsa State and its consequent exportation two years later, oil production has remained a mixed bag of fortune and misfortune
The Niger Delta featured perpetuated human insecurity, lack of infrastructure, wanton ecological damage, and perceived apathy on the part of government and the multinational oil companies in spite of the significant contribution of its crude oil to the Nigerian and global economy. The core thrust of this paper is to examine the amnesty policy as a peace building framework for addressing the lingering crisis
Many will exclaim: religious violence in Nigeria again! And the Western media has dubbed the current outbreaks as something new, with a label, “Taliban style” to connect it with its global narrative on terrorism. There was major religious violence in Jos last year, and indeed many cases before then. There will be new cases in the future. This brief piece will supply the context to understand the current, previous and future cases of violence.
Despite Nigeria’s transition to democracy there are trends towards identity-driven political agitation by well-armed youth militia or vigilante groups engaged in acts of violence as responses to alienation from the state, economic decline, unemployment, and the militarization of society by decades of military rule. This underscores the persistence of militarism within some sections of civil society in a ‘democracy-from-above’ which has in practice largely favoured vested interests, and all but closed the prospects for political participation, dialogue and grassroots democratization.
Although all oil companies operating in Nigeria have faced the same basic problems, Shell has acquired far and away the worst reputation, particular in the Niger Delta with minority ethnic groups. This stems from alleged exploitation of oil and gas resources and environmental pollution resulting partly from long term gas flaring. Indeed, the company’s activities have not only become central to the dysfunctional politics of the Niger Delta, but may be fuelling rising global oil prices.
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