CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.0 Background
of the study
The
importance of oil and its role as a major contributor to the economic growth
and development of Nigeria cannot be overemphasized. Nigeria had become
self-sufficient after her independence in the production of oil following its
discovery at Oloibiri in the Niger Delta in 1956 (Watts and Lubeck 1983: 106).
Since then, oil has effectively replaced agriculture in revenue yield for the
country. In fact, oil has turned the country into a mono-cultural economy; as
the country has since relied on oil for her overall economic growth and
development.
The oil in question is nature’s
endowment to the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. That means, the Niger Delta
region is blessed with oil. Revenues from oil have brought about significant
expansion to the Nigerian economy. However, due to oil policy and politics, the
Nigerian government has not been able to use a fair share of the oil money to
cause “adequate” structural development in the Niger Delta region; a situation
which successive administrations in Nigeria have worsened due to their
inconsistency, languid enforcement, and implementation of oil policy (Owolabi
and Okwechime, 2007). Today, the oil
industry and the people of host oil-bearing communities are enmeshed in serious
crisis arising from the actions and inactions of the oil multinational
corporations in the Niger Delta oil-producing region on the one hand and have
expressed, and continue to express their grievances against the Nigerian state
on the other hand.
The politics of land and the manner of
acquisition of land for use by the oil companies lie at the heart of the
unending crisis in the Niger Delta region. Land, from which the local
communities derive the means of livelihood, is very scarce. Yet, for over four
decades of oil industry activities in the region, the environment of the host
oil-producing communities have been degraded, with little or no regard to the
negative effects on the rural populations. Oil spillage and gas flaring
constitute the most serious forms of environmental degradation in the Niger
Delta, because they pose serious threat to the livelihood of the oil-bearing
communities. Oil spillage usually inflict human, environmental, and
socio-economic hardship on the affected communities with long term or permanent
damage to fish farms, farmlands, soil and water (Gbadegesin, 1998). In the end,
the people of the region are left impoverished. This is where the people of the
region are challenged to react to do or die.
The attendant crisis then makes severe
implications for the security of the Nigerian state, the inhabitants of the
region and their property as well as the transnational capitalist exploiters
(the multinationals that carry out oil-exploration activities in the region).
It is against this backdrop that this work sets out to discuss oil politics in
Nigeria and its implications for the uprising in the Niger Delta region, the
area that produces the oil in question and how the crisis poses security
challenge to both the Nigerian state and the inhabitants of the Niger Delta
region. Oil politics for this work is defined as the flexing of oil policy and
legislation in relation to acquisition of land and its use for oil exploration
activities as well as the conflict over who makes policies and determine who
participates in the oil business, the limit of participation and how the
revenue from oil is to be shared, when it is to be shared and to whom.
1.1
Statement
Of The Problem
The
relationship between oil multinational companies’ operations and their oil host
communities has elicited serious crisis in the region. The crisis has been
lingering and appears to defy the palliative put in place. Thus, it portends
serious security challenges to the Nigerian state. The issues involved in the
unending crisis in the Niger Delta are critical; and their effects, as events
have shown, usually reverberate beyond the territorial boundaries of the
oil-belt, with destabilizing consequences for Nigeria’s political economy. What
then constitute the critical issues and why have the issues defied lasting
solutions? Security in the Niger Delta region is fragile. What is the manner of
the Nigerian state’s response to the issue of security in the Niger Delta in
the face of emerging trends in the struggle by irate youths (militias) of the
oil communities? There have been attempts to oil multinational companies and
how their activities have constituted pains and agony to the oil producing
communities. The struggle and agitation of the people of the region have been
voluminously treated in the literature.
However,
there has not been much attempt to link the element of security contradiction
as one serious factor that has aroused and increased the intensity to resort to
approaches of violence in the struggle by the Nigerian state in the matter. It
is this gap that this work attempts to fill. This is essentially important in
the context of discussions on ways to finding a workable framework for
restoring peace and security to the oil-related and crisis ravage Niger Delta.
The Place Called the Niger Delta of
Nigeria
The
Niger Delta of Nigeria is situated in the central part of southern Nigeria. It
is located between Midwest and Eastern parts of Nigeria. The region is a
heterogeneous, multi-culturally divers area of 70,000 square kilometers
(Saro-Wiwa, 1995,165; Tamuno 1999:51) with over 20 different ethnic groups
including those of Ijaw, Itsekiri, Urhobo, Bini, Ukwuani, Ibibio, Efik, Anang,
Ogoni, Igbo, Yoruba and Ogba (Dike, 1965:25, Ikime 1972; Onosode 2003). The
Niger Delta is one of the largest wetland in the world comparable to the
Mekong, the Amazon and Ganges (Manby 1999a : 53, Onosode 2003:8). It is home
of the most oil – producing communities in Nigeria.
Apart from being richly endowed with oil and gas
deposits, the region is blessed with fertile agricultural land, abundant rivers
as well as creeks, fish, forest and human resources. The Niger Delta is also
supported by a complex bio-diversity and other biological and ecological
features. Three distinct ecological zones predominate in the Niger Delta
region. These are thick mangrove forests bordering the sandy coastal areas that
in turn border the Atlantic coast. There are fresh-water swaps and lastly, the
dry land (Owolabi and Okwechime 2007).
The
Niger Delta is spread across six states namely Bayelsa, Rivers, Delta Edo Akwa
Ibom and Onado. Over time, the region has enlisted Cross–River, Abia and Imo
states (for political reason). Of the major ethnic groups in the region, namely
the Ogoni, Urhuobo, and Itsekiri, the Ijaw (Izon) constitutes by far the
Delta’s largest ethnic group with over 500 communities spread across the
states. The Niger Delta has over 800 oil-bearing communities and has an
estimated population of about 13million people (Kemedi 2003: 7). Some issues at
the heart of reactions from the people of the region.
The
Niger Delta region stands out as the treasure base of the Nigerian state. The
Niger Delta provides over 80 percent of government’s revenues, 95 percent of
export receipts, and 90 percent of foreign exchange earnings (Owolabi and
Okwechime, 2007:1-40). For over four decades oil industry activities in terms
of building or construction of oil-related facilities such as refineries,
petro-chemical plants, pipelines, flow stations terminal, dual carriage ways
and staff-housing estates have been carried out in the region. All these
activities have put over-bearing stress on the available land in the region
(Owolabi and Okwechime, 2007, Turner and Oshare 1993, Etu-Efeotor 1997, Manby
1999a). This created serious land crisis in the region.
Apart from the usual land crisis, oil – related
activities have destroyed or degraded the environment, the land, the rivers and
there are no
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