USING THE FRUSTRATION AND AGGRESSION THEORY
EXPLAIN THE NIGER DELTA CONFLICT IN NIGERIA
Abstract
For
years, the people of the Niger Delta were at logger-head with the Nigerian
government. The objective of this study is to examine the reasons for this
situation. The study will specifically assess the failure of the Nigerian
government to address the grievances of the Niger Delta people which played a
major role in causing and escalating the crisis in the region. Data used here
is obtained from secondary sources and content analysis done. The analysis
revealed that the frustration of the people of the Niger Delta resulting from
the failure of the Nigerian government to satisfy their socio-economic needs
led them into and escalated the orgy of violence witnessed in the region.
Specifically, the frustration was caused by the devastation of the environment
of the region, pervasive poverty and underdevelopment, legislations of
disempowerment and subjugation, inability to control the crude oil resource and
suppression of the people by the machinery of the state. A conclusion was
reached to the effect that Nigerian government is largely responsible for the
orgy of violence in the region. In this sense, some recommendations were made
to find lasting solution to peace in the region and prevent future
re-occurrence.
Introduction
Oil is a unique
and invaluable natural and non renewable resource. Its discovery in Oloibiri,
present Bayelsa State in Nigeria in 1956 has been a mix blessing. It is a major
source of wealth with which the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), its
constituent state and local governments execute various developmental programs
and projects in their respective domains; and a curse to the communities and
region, Niger Delta where the oil was discovered. Oil Exploration and Production
(E&P) in the region has caused unquantifiable and inhuman devastation to
the people of the region, their lands, water and the air they breathe in.
Beginning from 1965, the people of the region began a peaceful agitation to
draw the attention of the government to their plight and sought remediation,
first through legal actions to compel the beneficiary Multinational Oil
Companies (MNOCs) to pay compensation to the host communities. The failure of
these legal actions led to several peaceful protests, which later metamorphosed
to widespread and violent militancy, including attacking of oil facilities and
installations, pipeline vandalism, hostage-taking of expatriates and local oil
workers, killing of their victims, oil bunkering and a host of other heinous
crime. The consequence was that the region became a hot bed of violence leading
to frequent disruptions in and stoppage of oil E&P by the MNOCs and loss of
billions of Naira in revenue by both MNOCs and the FGN.
The crisis in the
region was caused by a number of factors, which include environmental pollution
and despoliation in the region, pervasive poverty and underdevelopment in the
region, legislations of disempowerment and subjugation of the people of the
region, desire for resource control and self-determination by the people of the
region, and repression of the people and militarization of the region by the
government. In all these, the FGN has a larger share of the blame. For example,
several years of oil E&P in the region by the Shell Petroleum Development
Company (SPDC) and other MNOCs such as Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited
(MPNU), Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL), Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited
(NAOC), Elf Petroleum Nigeria Limited (EPNL), and Texaco Overseas Petroleum
Company of Nigeria Unlimited (TOPCON) have devastated the oil communities in the
region and led to environmental pollution and despoliation. The government
abdicated its constitutional responsibility to look after the welfare of the
people of the region by failing to stop the holocaust perpetrated by the MNOCs
under the guise of doing business. This is in contrast to the global best
practice; for example, the US government compelled the British Petroleum (BP)
to clean up the spill in the Gulf of Mexico (the exercise it supervised) and to
compensate its victims because it has the constitutional power to do so.
Similarly, pervasive poverty and underdevelopment in the region, in the midst
of plenty can also be attributed to the failure of governments, especially the
FGN to execute programs and projects that will empower the people and improve
their standard of living. Prior studies have estimated the colossal amount of
money the FGN has realized from the proceeds of oil sales since E&P of oil
began in the region, ranging from $300 to $600 billion in oil revenue after
more than a half century (Douglas et al., 2004; Gilbert, 2012; International
Crisis Group, 2006; Long, 2007; Ofehe, 2005). However, this colossal revenue
has been frittered away by a few, privilege Nigerian government officials, and
paradoxically led to the impoverishment of majority of people in the region. It
was reported that between 1960 and now as much as $300-400 billion of the
country’s oil revenue has either been stolen or misappropriated by Nigerian
officials (Bober, 2007).
This paper will be
centered on explaining the insurgence of the Niger-Delta Militants, using the
frustration aggression theory to analysis the atrocities committed in that
region.
Conceptual
Framework
The three concepts
of militancy, Niger Delta and government failure are briefly explained below.
The Concept of
Militancy
Militancy involves
multi-pronged violent tendency and action. Militancy involves taking violent
and rebellious actions against the constituted authorities. According to
Abraham (2011) militancy and youth restiveness in Nigeria manifest in the forms
of disruption of activities of multinational oil corporations, vandalization of
oil pipelines, illegal bunkering and more recently, hostage taking of both
expatriates and Nigerians alike, and destruction of oil installations. In the
opinion of Ebienfa (2010) Nigeria is the Jewel in the African oil crown, but
oil and militancy in the Niger Delta has become a subject of discussion just
like the British weather. Previous studies indicated that whereas the oil
produced in the Niger Delta, is the life blood of the Nigerian economy, oil has
failed to translate to regional prosperity and development in the Niger Delta.
The area has become a hot bed of violence, insurgency, kidnapping,
hostage-taking, oil pipeline sabotage, crude oil theft, gang wars, internecine
struggles and so much else by way of anarchy and chaos (Afinotan &
Ojakorotu, 2009; Ogundiya, 2009; Watts, 2008). Obviously, the agitation by the
people of the Niger Delta for the fair share of the wealth generated in the
region and the deprivation and neglect of the region by the government had
caused and fuelled the militancy. The literature is littered with a long list
of the militant groups unleashing the orgy of violence in the region. Some of
the notable militant groups are: Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People
(MOSOP), the Ijaw National Congress (INC), the Niger Delta Force (NDF), the
Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF), and the Egbesu Boys of Africa
(EBA), the Niger Delta Liberation Army (NDLA), Coalition for Militant Action
(COMA), Joint Revolution Council (JRC) which is a coalition of three militant
groups namely; the Martyrs Brigade, MEND and NDPVF. Others are the Niger Delta
Vigilante Force (NDVF) led by Ateke Tom, the Movement for the Survival of the
Ijaw Ethnic Nationality in the Niger Delta (MOSIEND), the Ijaw Youth Council
(IYC), the Urhobo Union, etc. (Egwemi, 2009; International Crisis Group, 2006).
The violent activities of these groups have led to several shut-ins of oil
facilities by the MNOCs and caused disruption in the production of oil.
The Concept of
Niger Delta
The Niger Delta is
one of the world’s largest wetlands, and Africa’s largest delta, covering some
70 000 km2 (Badmus, 2010; Eyinla & Ukpo, 2006; Okaba, 2007; World Bank
1995). The region is rich in both renewable and non renewable natural resources
such as oil, gas, bitumen, non timber forest products and timber forest
products, wildlife, etc. 95 per cent of the total revenue for the Nigerian
government is generated from oil and gas exploration (Brisibe, 2001). A
geo-political definition of the region include those states of Nigeria that
border the coastal waters of the Atlantic. They are the oil producing states of
Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Ondo, Rivers, Cross Rivers, Abia and Imo. The region
is heterogeneous, multicultural, and ethnically diverse (Ogundiya, 2009). Some
of the ethnics in the region are the Izons (Ijaws), Isokos, Urhobos, Itsekiris,
Ilajes, Ogonis, Andonis, Ibibios, Orons, Efiks, Anangs, Bekwaras, Ejaghams,
Ekpeyes, Ikwerres, and many other splinter groups, spawning the eight littoral
states of Nigeria (Long, 2007). These ethnic nationalities are referred to as
minorities in relation to the three major ethnic groups in the Nigerian
Federation (Obi-Ani, 2004). The Ijaws are one of the largest ethnic minorities
in the Delta but stand at the heart of the oil fields (Watts, 2008). The region
is home to over 30 million people who live in about 13, 400 aboriginal
communities, mainly farmers and coastal fishermen, and belong to over 40 ethnic
groups (Egwemi, 2009). There is no doubt that the region is richly endowed and
blessed and remains the wealth basket of Nigeria. However, despite these
enormous natural resources available in the region, the good people of the
region have not benefited from these resources and are rather wallowing in
abject poverty and squalor. Following the failure of peaceful protests and
agitations, they eventually took to arms against the Nigerian state to redress
this ugly situation.
The Concept of
Government Failure in the Niger Delta
Government failure
in the context of our discourse refers to the inability of Nigerian government,
who controls the vast resources abound in Nigeria, to provide for the
socio-economic needs of its citizenry, stop the further devastation of the
region by MNOCS and make them to provide remediation for the people of the
region. In all modern countries of the world, sovereignty belongs to the
people, who periodically grant a few elected groups of people, called
government the right to rule and govern them in such a way that their
socio-economic needs are satisfied by the government. Scholars have argued that
there is a social contract between a government and its people, and that this
contract collapses when government fails to meet the basic needs of the people,
which may lead to a situation of conflict between the government and the
governed (Badmus, 2010). The Nigerian government has failed woefully to keep
faith with the social contract between it and the people of the Niger Delta.
This is because the several billions of oil revenues the government has
generated from the backyard of the people for the past 55 years have not
impacted positively on the region and its people. Rather, the story has been
tales of woes. The people of the region had been vociferous in their complaints
to the government, and violent in their agitation against their continued
neglect and marginalization but every successive government has unfortunately,
done little or nothing to address these complaints and grievances. Rather their
violent agitation has been matched with the State repressive, superior military
force. This is corroborated by Ayoade (2011) who posits that the Niger Delta
has been complaining about environmental damages from oil exploration and
rising unemployment and poverty in the region, but the successive government
and the multi-national oil corporations have been insensitive to the plight of
the people. It has been reported that the State, with its monopoly, of force
has assumed repressive tendency in its attempt to control the oil resource and
subjugate the people of the area. Also, the political actors who have been
presiding over the affairs of the Nigerian state have succeeded in looting and
pilfering the collective wealth generated by the region thereby keeping the
people and indeed the entire masses of Nigeria in perpetual poverty while the
State itself bears the unmistakably the features of a failed state (Okafor,
2010). Scholars have attributed the government failure to meet the basic needs
of the people of the region to the structural nature of the Nigerian state and
the depredations of the political leaders (Obi, 2009). Some have attributed it
to the result of oppressive, exploitative and discriminative policies of the
FGN aimed at marginalizing and rendering irrelevant, the people of the Niger
Delta (Oloya & Ugbeyavwighren, 2009).
Theoretical
Framework
There are
different theories that have been developed by scholars in the fields of
psychology and social psychology to explain a conflict situation. Some of these
theories include: the frustration-aggression theory (Dollard, Miller, Doob,
Mowrer, & Sears, 1939); the theory of rebellion (Marxist, 1887); and
relative deprivation theory (Davies, 1962). The study adopts Frustration-Aggression
theory to explain the conflict in the region.
The
Frustration-Aggression Theory of Conflict
The
frustration-aggression theory has its root in the works of Dollard et al.
(1939). Dollard led a research group at the Yale Institute of Human Relations
and published a monograph that is useful in explaining human conflict behavior.
It is based on a simple and straight forward hypothesis that human frustration
may lead to aggressive behavior. Since the development of the theory, several
scholars have analyzed it. For example, it was observed that frustration
ultimately leads to aggression and aggression always implies that frustration
has occurred at some previous time (Lawson, 1965). The theory suggests that
individuals become aggressive when there are obstacles (perceived and real) to
their success in life (van de Goor et al., 1996). The theory indicates that
aggressive behavior is not motivated by genuine hostility, but by frustration
(Malici, 2007). All the discussions on the theory imply that “there is no smoke
without fire” and that “an angry man is a hungry man”. At this stage let us
look at the duo concepts of frustration and aggression. Frustration can be
defined as (a) an individual‟s perception of a hostile environment, coupled
with (b) his pessimism about the realization of goals and (c) the perception
that the fate of these goals is in the hands of others (Malici, 2007).
Aggression is any behavior intended to harm another person who does not want to
be harmed (Bushman & Huesmann, 2010). The frustration-aggression theory is
a perfect theory to explain why the youths of the Niger Delta took to arms
against the Nigerian state and unleashed unprecedented mayhem and violence in
the history of ethno-religious crisis in Nigeria. The frustration of the youth,
occasioned by the deprivation (by the government and MNOCs) from benefiting
from the natural endowment of crude oil, had led to the aggression and the
resultant orgy of violence in the region. This viewpoint is echoed by Afinotan
& Ojakorotu (2009) who stated that the quest for emancipation which lies at
the heart of the Niger Delta struggle, is not as yet directed towards secession
or excision from the Nigerian State but merely a protest against criminal
neglect, marginalization, oppression and environmental degradation as well as
economic and socio-political hopelessness, and in one word, frustration, in the
Niger Delta.
The Niger Delta
Militancy and the Failure of the Nigerian Government
There is a
plethora of evidences in the literature that link the aggression and violence
in the Niger Delta to the series of unaddressed grievances by the people of the
region and the neglects of the region by the government. The literature
documented the disappointment and frustration of the people of the region,
which led them to take to violence. Several factors have been identified and
discussed in the extant literature as the causes of the frustration, thus
leading to the militancy in the region. Some of these factors are reviewed
below.
·
Environmental Pollution and Despoliation in
the Niger Delta
Several years of
oil E&P in the Niger Delta by the Shell Petroleum Development Company
(SPDC) and other MNOCs have devastated the oil communities in the region and
led to environmental pollution and despoliation. There is a large body of
evidence in the literature that documented the relationship between oil
exploration and environmental pollution (United Nation Environmental Program
[UNEP], 2011; World Bank, 1995). In all these it has been shown how several
years of oil E&P have caused environmental degradation and pollution in the
oil-bearing communities through oil spillage and gas flaring. For example,
Eyinla & Ukpo (2006) demonstrated that oil prospecting activities are
associated with the destruction of vegetation, farmlands and human settlements,
thus leading to the environmental hazards such as destruction of fish and some
other forms of aquatic life. There is also the problem of noise pollution and
vibration from seismographic blasting. Similarly, UNEP (2011) carried out an
independent environmental assessment of Ogoniland and found the extent of
environmental contamination and threats to human health resulting from several
years of E&P activities of SPDS in the place. Specifically, it found that
people at Nissioken Ogale community drink water from wells that are
contaminated with benzene. Can the Nigerian government prevent the holocaust in
the oil communities? Yes, it can but it has woefully failed to do so. Scholars
have blamed the FGN and MNOCs for the devastation of the oil communities.
According to a study, the major culprits in these ugly situations
(environmental pollution) are the oil multinationals and the insensitivity of
successive governments at the centre (Azigbo, 2008). Another study noted that
when the environmental impact of oil E&P occurs, as has become routine in
the Niger Delta, there is usually no attempt to rectify the damages done to the
environment, health and social well-being of the people and ecosystem. No
compensation whatsoever is considered (Eyinla & Ukpo, 2006). The Niger
Delta has been complaining about environmental damages from oil exploration and
rising unemployment and poverty in the region, but the successive government and
the multi-national oil corporations have been insensitive to the plight of the
people (Ayoade, 2011). This situation is further compounded by the
unwillingness of the FGN and its foreign joint venture partners to sincerely
integrate environmental concerns into national development projects (Aka,
2003). It is worrisome that in spite of the environmental impact of E&P,
there is no any extant law in the country that regulates oil pollution and that
imposes penalty for oil pollution and compensations for the victims of oil
contamination. Little wonder that Shell recently challenged the power of the
Nigerian government to fine it (Shell) a sum of $5 billion for oil spill in
Bonga, Niger Delta, claiming that it lacks such power. This is contrary to the
international best standard, where stiff penalty is awarded against oil
companies polluting the environment, involving huge compensations. A very good
example is the US Pollution Act of 1990 (Schoenbaum, 2012), under which BP
incurred a huge liability and made to provide compensations to the victims of
2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spillage, involving about 4.9 million barrel spills and
spanning over three months. The US government compelled the British Petroleum
(BP) to clean up the spill in the Gulf of Mexico (the exercise it supervised)
and to compensate its victims. Similarly, a court in Netherland ruled that
Shell was responsible for oil spillage and pollution in Akwa Ibom and ordered
Shell to pay undisclosed compensation to one of the farmer who instituted the
legal action. These two examples show that MNOCs can be held responsible for
their irresponsible and unethical business conduct in the country.
·
Pervasive Poverty and Underdevelopment in the
Niger Delta
In spite of the
several billions of dollars of revenue the FGN has accumulated from oil
prospecting in the Niger Delta, it has not translated into good meals, decent
accommodation and development for the people of oil-bearing communities. The
availability of oil in these communities has virtually been a curse rather than
a blessing, causing impoverishment of the people and gross underdevelopment of
these communities in the region. The literature is awash with the evidence of
the negative impact of the oil on the host communities. For example, a scholar
indicated that irrespective of Nigeria’s huge oil wealth, the country has
remained one of the poorest in the world (Ekeatte, 2009). Specifically, it is
believed that in spite of the abundant wealth that the region is blessed with,
the people live in a state of chronic squalor and abject poverty. Despite the
huge foreign exchange earnings, poverty, unemployment, decay infrastructure,
corruption at high level, misery, lack of basic human needs etc, seems to be
the lot of the people (Ejibunu, 2007). Oil rather than being a blessing to the
people is now being regarded as a curse (Paki & Ebienfa, 2011).
Egwemi (2010)
considered Niger Delta as the proverbial goose that lays the golden egg,
arguing that the grouse of the people of the region seems to be that the goose
is treated with disdain and may even be faced with the risk of death. Ayoade
(2011) opined that in spite of the belief held by the Niger Delta communities
that the regions are producing abundant oil wealth for the entire federation;
ironically, there is unimaginable mass poverty and negligible development and
most importantly environmental concern in their region. Ekpu (2004) explained
that the story of the Niger delta is the story of a paradox, grinding poverty
in the midst of vulgar opulence. It is the case of a man who lives on the bank
of a river and washes his hands with spittle. It is the case of people who live
on the farm and die of hunger. Okonta (2005) painted a graphic and gloomy
situation in the region, noting that in the oil rich states of Bayelsa and
Delta there is one doctor for every 150,000 inhabitants. Oil has wrought only
poverty, state violence and a dying ecosystem. Finally, United Nation
Development Program [UNDP] (2006) noted that Niger Delta has suffered decades
of neglect, characterized not only by marginalization in relation to oil
revenues, but also with regard to quality of infrastructure, rising
unemployment rates (among its predominantly youthful population), high levels
of HIV/AIDS infection rates and high levels of poverty estimated at an average
of 69 percent.
From the above,
the failure of the FGN to provide jobs that could economically empower the
people; to provide basic infrastructure such as paved road and amenities such
as electricity and clean water that could enhance their wellbeing has caused
pervasive poverty, hunger and underdevelopment in the region. Scholars and
researchers have also fingered the FGN in the impoverishment and
underdevelopment of the people and the communities in the region. For example,
Amaraegbu (2010) vehemently believed that the poverty and hopelessness in the
Niger Delta are direct consequences of government’s monumental acts of neglect
of the region (Amaraegbu, 2010). The failure of successive Nigerian governments
to protect the land and people of the Niger Delta from the hazards of
hydrocarbon activities such as oil spillages and seepages, human rights
violations and poverty seemed to have convinced the people that the
oil-military-governmental troika is not good for them and the Country (Douglas,
et al., 2004). It is paradoxical that rather than guarantee social and economic
security, oil has become a source of insecurity to the aborigines, and rather
than a guarantor of human security in the delta, the state has become its major
violator (Sampson, n.d.). The nature of Nigerian federalism as defined by
ethnic based political domination, which is used to expropriate the resources
of the oil communities for the dominant groups and which restricts the
minorities access to the modern and more rewarding sectors of the economy
(Ibaba, 2001) is also responsible for the squalor state of the communities in
the Niger Delta. The Niger-Delta conflicts are mainly as a result of poverty
rooted in continued criminal neglect of the region over the years by the FGN and
the MNOCs (Oviasuyi & Uwadiae, 2010). Obviously, the FGN has done little to
put food on the table of the people of the region through economic empowerment
and developmental projects. For example, in the area of job provision (economic
empowerment), the petrol chemical components of the crude oil refinery presents
a huge opportunity for companies producing petrol chemical products (e.g.
rubber, paints, plastics, fertilizers, adhesive, cosmetics, fabrics, carpets,
and so forth) to thrive in the region and provide employment for a large number
of jobless and qualified Niger Deltans. Unfortunately, successive Nigerian
governments have lacked the vision to provide policy direction that could
attract different investors in the colossal petrol chemical industry. Similarly,
in the area of developmental projects, the people have not felt the impact of
the establishment of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and Ministry
of Niger Delta Affairs. The annual huge budgetary allocations to these agencies
are frittered away with impunity by their senior officials. For example, the
construction of the popular, major and controversial East-West road in the
region, stared in 1999 by the Obasanjo’s regime, has been abandoned with
billions of Naira allocated to it unaccounted for.
·
Legislations of Disempowerment and
Subjugation of the People of the Niger Delta
The promulgation
of laws by the FGN, which dispossessed the people of the Niger Delta of their
God-given black gold, was seen by the people of the region as a deliberate
attempt by the government to alienate and subjugate them and this further
incensed them and made them to take to violence. It is believed that state
legislation on the oil industry is seen as the legal and fundamental basis for
the disempowerment of the Niger Delta (Nna, 2001). A study expatiated further
stating that at the centre of most of these conflicts is what the agitators
consider as the obnoxious, archaic laws/Decrees which put the oil producing
communities at a disadvantaged position. Such laws prevent the oil communities
from total control of the resource generated from their land (Ogundiya, 2009).
Three prominent legislations by which the government dispossessed the people of
the region of the ownership and control of crude oil, according to (Ogundiya,
2009; Ojakorotu & Gilbert, 2010) are: (1) Decree No. 51 of 1969, which was
used to transfer the ownership of the totality of petroleum products in the
region to the FGN; (2) Offshore Oil Revenue Act (9), 1971, which vests the FGN
exclusive rights over the continental shelf of the coastal areas; and (3) the
Land Use Decree of 1978, which also vested land ownership in Nigeria in the FGN
and its accredited agents.
Expectedly, the
people were not satisfied with what we refer to as “the day light robbery” by
the same government who was supposed to be the custodian of these resources and
this also combined to trigger the violence that was eventually unleashed by the
militants. They fought almost endlessly against the above mentioned obnoxious,
repressive and anti-people legislations that are designed to exclude the people
from the ownership and control of their resources. In a true and ideal
federalism, the constitution guarantees the federating units access to, ownership
and control of their resources and the freedom to grow at a desired pace. We
witnessed this in Nigeria during the first republic when the late sage, Chief
Awolowo developed the western region from the proceeds of the sales of cocoa,
which was the major export crop in the region then. In realization of its
failure in the region and to apply some corrective measures capable of
pacifying the militant people of the region, the FGN during Obasanjo regime
initiated and passed the NDDC Bill into law in 2000 and established the
Ministry of Niger Delta. The NDDC Act debuted with a mission to right the
wrongs of the past and to facilitate the swift, equal and sustainable
development of the Niger Delta into a region that is prosperous, stable,
regenerative and peaceful. Again, it is disturbing and paradoxical that FGN
could promulgate laws that dispossessed people of their lands and resources but
failed to enact laws that would protect same people from the damaging
environmental impact of oil E&P, and that would guarantee them appropriate
compensations.
·
Desire for Resource Control and
Self-determination by the People of the Niger Delta
The resultant
frustration and disappointment of the people of the region from the combined
effects of the factors discussed above has led the youths and women in the
region to begin to clamor and agitate for resource control and
self-determination. They demand for the adoption of true federalism in Nigeria,
where each of the federating units will have control of the resources found and
located in its boundary and use them for the benefits of its people. This
endless agitation for resource control and self-determination by the people of
the region has also been responsible for the violent face-off with the Nigerian
state in the region. This is perhaps the earliest demand of the people of the
Niger Delta, dating back to the London Constitutional Conference of 1958
convened as part of the preparation for Nigerian independence in 1960. The long
and endless struggle for resource control by the Delta people is poignantly
captured by Ako & Okonmah (2009) who noted that the history of the Niger
Delta is characterized by agitation for resource control. Iduh (2011) believed
that agitation for resource control by the people of the region has given birth
to various militia groups. There is a number scholarly perspective on how the
clamor for resource control has caused and aggravated the crisis in the region.
Resource control is the term used to describe the desire and determination of
the communities and people - whose resources and or sources of survival have
been taken away violently and undemocratically and therefore unjustly – to have
control over these resources (Douglas et al., 2004). The crisis has been
exacerbated by emergent issues of a gross distortion of Nigerian federalism in
respect to resource control; citizenship rights and environmental degradation
(Ejibunu, 2007). The rise of the resource control movement over the last
fifteen years, the rise of the oil minority, and the complex mix of ethno-nationalism
and insurgent politics across the Delta are the reactive to Imperial Oil
(Watts, 2008). Also critical is a long-festering sense of grievance and
marginalization by the ethnic minorities of the Niger Delta region which has
continued to fuel agitation for self-determination and control of the resources
of the region (Obi, 2009). The youths of the Niger Delta began an armed
campaign and demand for greater control of the oil resources from their land
(Adeyemo & Olu-Adeyemi, 2010). Iduh (2011) concluded that poverty,
unemployment, and underdevelopment had increased the struggle for resource
control in the states of the Niger Delta, accelerating the activities of youth
gangs and numerous pressures groups. In this regard, the people of the region have
been agitating for fair share of the country‟s wealth (Ebegbulem, 2011). At
this point, it becomes pertinent to highlight the failure of the FGN in
festering the crisis over the agitation for control of resources by the people
of the region. The expropriation of the Niger Delta lands and the resources
beneath them via legislations in a federation that is supposed to promote
fiscal federalism is a manifestation of the inadequacy of the government. Iduh
(2011) extended this thesis further by stating that in the developed countries
resources are meant for the common good of all. But such will not be said of
Nigeria where misguided state policies, gross abuse of office, privileges and
misapplication of public funds at all tiers of government has impoverished
Nigerians in the midst of plenty. The communities complain about government
attitude of treating the region as a colonial enclave, whose resources they
plunder with impunity. They decry the use by political elites, of their oil
resources to develop other regions of the country, to the total exclusion of
the lands of the oil producing ethnic minorities (Afinotan & Ojakorotu,
2009).
·
Repression of the People and Militarization
of the Niger Delta by the Government
Frustration of the
people of the Niger Delta from the above factors eventually led them to
aggression against the state, oil facilities and the multinational oil
companies’ employees, especially expatriates. Prior to the violent aggression
against the state, the earlier agitation that dates back to Issac Adaka Boro‟s
declaration of the Republic of Niger Delta in 1965 and the non-violent posture
of Ken Saro Wiwa in early 1990s was largely peaceful. However, things turned a
dangerous dimension with the repressive response of the FGN to this peaceful protest,
litigation and agitation. In the opinion of Douglas and Okonta (2003) the shift
from non-violent protest to militancy, and ultimately to armed struggle, was in
many respects the inevitable result of the Nigerian government‟s brutal
repression of the Ogoni movement and the murder of its influential and
charismatic leader Ken Saro-Wiwa in November 1995. Protests and agitations that
were hitherto peaceful degenerated to militancy, violence and hostage taking,
due to violent state repression and the militarization of the Niger Delta
(Ibaba, 2001). As the deprived people of area protested against the massive
environmental degradation occasioned by the exploitation of the oil resource
and total near exclusion from the control of the resources in their domain, the
state has always responded in a repressive and brutalizing manner (Okafor,
2010). Different sources in the literature have widely documented this violent
State repression and the militarization of the Niger Delta (Adeola, 2001; Aaron
2005; Douglas & Okonta, 2003; Ejibulu, 2007; Frynas, 2006; Human Rights
watch, 1999; Ikelegbe, 2005; Nte, 2008; Okaba & Okafor, 2010; Osaghe,
1995). These scholars have cited various examples of the wicked and heinous
State repression against the people of the Niger Delta. The killing of the
Playwright and leader of MOSOP, Ken Saro Wiwa and others in 1995 by the Abacha
Junta on the trumped-up charge of inciting his members to kill four Ogoni
elders (Ebegbulem, 2011; Ejibulu, 2007). The Odi community was ravaged by the
notorious Rivers State Internal Security Force in November 1999, leading to the
death and maiming of over 1000 inhabitants, and displacement of several people
from the community (Human Rights watch, 1999; Civil Liberties Organization
[CLO], 2002; Ebegbulem, 2011). Olugbobiri, Liama and Gbarantoru communities in
the Niger Delta were also raided by the Security Forces (Human Rights Watch,
2002). For example, the Federal High Court in Nigeria found the FGN guilty of
genocide in Odi community and awarded N37.8 billion damages against it. The use
of military and other forces by the Nigerian government to quell what was
originally a peaceful protest, agitation and youth restiveness had angered the
youth of the Niger Delta and driven them into insurgency and militancy. As has
been noted earlier in the research, “there is no smoke without fire”. The
government should have recognized the importance and necessity of dialogue to
douse the glowing violent action among the youths that have been deliberately
impoverished by the same government. Expectedly, the recently implemented
Amnesty Programme by the late President Yar’adua in 2009 has proven that
dialogue and not matching force with force is the best way to initiate peaceful
settlement of the youth militancy in the region. Although, the Amnesty has its
own limitation because of its major focus on the militants who had sheath their
swords. What is needed to achieve and maintain lasting peace in the region is a
genuine initiative by the government that is people- and region-oriented.
Conclusion and
Recommendations
The study argues
that in spite of the strategic importance of the Niger Delta (being the wealth
basket) to Nigeria, the people of and the communities in the region have not
had a fair share of the huge revenues the Nigerian government has generated
over the years. This is obviously a big contradiction that is difficult to
explain. The people, especially the youths of the region have been agitating
for control of the gas and oil found beneath their soil (resource control
agitation), abrogation of the obnoxious laws that have robbed them of their
lands and resources. They have also agitated against the brazen devastation of
their environment through oil spillage and gas flaring and the brutalization
and repression of their people and communities. In all these, the Nigerian
government has been found culpable and blamed for the cause and escalation of
the massive violence that erupted in the region. In addition, the study also
finds that the FGN has failed to develop the region by economically empowering
the youths and providing social amenities to improve their quality of life; the
government has failed to make the MNOCs to clean up the environment of the
region of oil spills and to stop further gas flaring and hold them responsible
for this heinous crime against the humanity (for example, one year after UNEP
Report on Ogoni-land was released the FGN has done little to make Shell release
the needed funds for the necessary remediation); and it had failed, until
recently, to engage the aggrieved and agitated youths in a dialogue; instead it
had brutalized them through military action. It is therefore, pertinent to
conclude that the failure of the successive Nigerian government, military as
well as civilian, to redress the long time grievances of the people of the
region had led to and escalated the militancy in the region. In light of the
conclusion reached above, the following recommendations become imperative.
1. Nigerian government should compel all the MNOCs prospecting and
producing crude oil in the Niger Delta to immediately conduct an Environmental
Impact Assessment (EIA) of their continued operation in the region. This is the
best industry standard in other oil producing countries.
2. In order to have maximum control over the MNOCs, the National Assembly
should accelerate the process of passing the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) into
law and also initiate a Bill on Pollution Prevention & Control. These will
empower the government to hold erring MNOCs responsible for any oil spill or
gas flare and their effects on the environment and punish them.
3. There is need for the Nigerian Constitution to be amended to
accommodate increase in the present 13 per cent derivative given to the oil producing
states to a minimum of 50 per cent. This will pacify the people clamoring for
100 per cent resource control. This recommendation is consistent with the moral
principle of from who much is taken much should be given.
4. The government should promote the culture of dialogue to resolve any
ethno-religious insurgency and militancy in the country instead of using the
machinery of the state to suppress and subjugate the people whose tax and
resources fund the weapons of destruction deployed by the Security Forces. It
should recognize that violence begets violence. The government has the moral
and legal responsibility to manage crisis in any part of the country.
5. To reduce the incidence of the pervasive poverty in the region and
empower the youths, the governments (Federal, State and Local) and MNOCs should
provide functional education at all levels to make the people of the region
acquire requisite knowledge and skills necessary to get good job placement in
oil and other industries in the region and other parts of the country.
6. Though the
ongoing Amnesty Programme of the government is laudable, consideration should
be given to the initiatives that will benefit the generality of the people of
and communities in the region, and not limited to Amnesty that is
militant-centered. This will prevent the children of today from becoming
militants tomorrow. For example, some youths in the region have been protesting
their exclusion from the Amnesty programme. This protest is bound to continue
unless the government initiates a holistic economic empowerment, welfare and
development programs with far reaching effect on the generality of the people
and communities in the region.
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