5- Nigeria’s Niger Delta: Understanding the Complex Drivers of Violent Oil-related Conflict
Corresponding Author(s) : Cyril Obi
Africa Development,
Vol. 34 No. 2 (2009): Africa Development: Special Issue on The Humanities
Abstract
This paper explores the complex roots and dimensions of the Niger Delta conflict which has escalated from ethnic minority protests against the federal Nigerian State-Oil Multinationals’ alliance in the 1990’s to the current insurgency that has attracted worldwide attention. It also raises some conceptual issues drawn from ‘snapshots’ taken from various perspectives in grappling with the complex roots of the oil- related conflict in the paradoxically oil-rich but impoverished region as an important step in a nuanced reading of the local, national and international ramifications of the conflict and its implications for Nigeria’s development. The conflict is then located both in the struggle of ethnic minority groups for local autonomy and the control of their natural resources (including oil), and the contradictions spawned by the transnational production of oil in the region. The transition from resistance – as-protest – to insurgency, as represented by attacks on state and oil company targets by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), is also critically analyzed.
Keywords
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- Abdullah, I., 2004, ‘Bush Path to destruction: The Origin and Character of the Revolutionary United
- Front (RUF/SL)’, in I. Abdullah, ed., Between Democracy and Terror: The Sierra Leone Civil War, Dakar: CODESRIA Books.
- Afeikhena, J., 2005, ‘Managing Oil Rent for Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction in Africa’, Paper presented at the UNU-WIDER Jubilee Conference: Thinking Ahead: The Future of Development Economics, Helsinki, www.wider.unu.edu/conference/conference-2005-3/conference.
- Auty, R., 1993, Sustaining Development in Mineral Economies: The Resource Curse Thesis, London: Routledge.
- Ballentine, K., 2003, ‘Beyond Greed and Grievance: Reconsidering the Economic Dynamics of Armed Conflict’, in K. Ballentine and J. Sherman, eds., The Political Economy of Armed Conflict: Beyond Greed and Grievance, Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner.
- Ballentine, K. and Sherman, J., 2003, eds., ‘Introduction’, The Political Economy of Armed Conflict: Beyond Greed and Grievance, Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner.
- Bayart, J., Ellis, S. and Hibou, B., 1998, The Criminalisation of the State in Africa, Oxford: James Currey.
- Berdal, M. and Malone, D., 2000, eds., Greed and Grievance: Economic Agendas in Civil Wars, Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner.
- Best, S. and Kemedi, D., 2005, ‘Armed Groups and Conflict in Rivers and Plateau states, Nigeria’, in N. Florquin and E. Berman, eds., Armed and Aimless: Armed Groups, Guns and Human Security in the ECOWAS Region, Geneva: Small Arms Survey.
- Billon, P., 2001, ‘The political ecology of war: natural resources and armed conflict’, Political Geography, 20.
- Bond, P., 2006, Looting Africa: The Economics of Exploitation, London and Pietermaritzburg: Zed Books and University of KwaZulu-Natal Press.
- Ch bal, P. and Dialoz, J., 1999, Africa Works: Disorder as a Political Instrument, Oxford: James Currey.
- Africa Development, Vol. XXXIV, No. 2, 2009
- Chabal, P. and Dialoz, J. 2006, Culture Troubles: Politics and the interpretation of meaning, London: Hurst & Company.
- Collier, P., 2000, ‘Doing Well out of War: An Economic Perspective’, in M. Berdal and D. Mahone, eds., Greed and Grievance: Economic Agendas in Civil Wars, London and Boulder: Lynne Rienner.
- Collier, P., 2003, Breaking the Conflict Trap: Civil War and Development Policy, Washington DC: The World Bank.
- Collier, P., 2007, The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Collier, P. and Hoeffler, A., 2001, ‘Greed and Grievance in Civil War’, http://www.worldbank.org/research/conflict/papers/greedgrievance.htm, The World Bank.
- Coventry Cathedral, 2009, The Potential for Peace and Reconciliation in the Niger Delta, Draft Report, International Centre for Reconciliation, Coventry. Davis, J., 2006, ‘“And then there were four…” A Thumbnail History of Oil Industry Restructuring 1971-2005’, in J. Davis, ed., The Changing World of Oil: An Analysis of Corporate Change and Adaptation, Hampshire: Ashgate.
- Energy Information Administration, 2009, ‘Nigeria Energy Data, Statistics and Analysis, Oil’,
- http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/Nigeria/Oil.html, accessed June 2, 2009.
- Homer-Dixon, T., 1994, ‘Environmental Scarcities and Violent Conflict: Evidence from Cases’, International Security, Vol. 19, No. 1, Summer.
- Human Rights Watch, 2005, ‘Rivers of Blood, Guns, Oil and Power in Nigeria’s River’s state’, A Human Right Watch Briefing Paper, New York: Human Rights Watch, February.
- Human Rights Watch, 2002, Niger Delta: No Democratic Dividend, New York: Human Rights Watch.
- Hutchful, E. and Aning, K., 2004, ‘The Political Economy of Conflict’, in A. Adebajo and I. Rashid,
- eds., West Africa’s Security Challenges: Building Peace in a Troubled Region, Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner.
- Ianaccone, A., 2007, Toward a Reform Agenda for the Niger Delta: A Report of the Africa Program Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Washington DC, April.
- Ikein, A. and Briggs-Anigboh, C., 1998, Oil and Fiscal Federalism: The Political Economy of Resource Allocation in a Developing Country, Aldershot: Ashgate.
- Ikelegbe, A., 2006, ‘The Economy of Conflicts in the Oil Rich Niger Delta Region of Nigeria’, African and Asian Studies, Vol. 5, No. 1.
- International Crisis Group, 2006, The Swamps of Insurgency: Nigeria’s Delta Unrest, Africa Report No. 115-3, August.
- IRIN news, 2007, ‘Nigeria: Sharp rise in hostage taking may be linked to upcoming elections’, www.irinnews.org.
- IRIN news, 2006, ‘Nigeria: Militants threaten to cripple oil exports if demands not met’, January 17, www.irinnews.org.
- Obi: Nigeria’s Niger Delta 127
- IRIN news, 2005, ‘Nigeria: Constitutional change conference deadlocks over oil dispute’, August 2,
- http://www.irinnews.org/report.
- Junger, S., 2007, ‘Crude Awakening’, The Observer Magazine, 15 April.
- Kaplan, R., 1994, ‘The Coming Anarchy: How Scarcity, Crime, Overpopulation, Tribalism, and Disease are Rapidly Destroying the Social Fabric of our Planet’, Atlantic Monthly, February.
- Lawal, Y., 2008, ‘Crude shut-in hits 1m barrels per day’, The Guardian (Lagos), February 18,
- www.guardiannewsngr.com.
- Lubeck, P., Watts, M. and Lipschutz, R., 2007, ‘Convergent Interests: US Energy Security and “Securing” of Nigeria’s Democracy’, Washington DC: Center for International Policy.
- Memorial Institute for Prevention of Terrorism (MIPT), 2006, Group Profile: Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), http:// www.tkb.org.
- Mustapha, A. R., 2003, ‘Ethnic Minority Groups in Nigeria: Current Situation and Major Problems’, Paper prepared Commission on Human Rights, Sub- Commission on Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, Working Group on Minorities, Ninth Session, May 12-16, Mimeograph.
- Myers, N., 1993, ‘Environmental Refugees in a Globally Warmed World’, BioScience, Vol. 43, No. 11, December.
- Obi, C., 2009, ‘Nigeria’s Oil in Global Energy Security: Critical Issues and Challenges’, in Ruchita Beri and Uttam Sinha, eds., Africa and Energy Security: Global Issues, Local Responses, New Delhi: Academic Foundation.
- Obi, C., 2008, ‘Reflections on West Africa’s Security in the Context of the Global War on Terror’, Legon Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 5, No. 1.
- Obi, C., 2007a, ‘Oil and Development in Africa: Some Lessons from the Oil Factor in Nigeria for the Sudan’, in Luke Patey, ed., Oil Development in Africa: Lessons for Sudan after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, Copenhagen: Danish Institute for International Studies Report No. 8.
- Obi, C., 2007b, ‘The Struggle for Resource Control in a Petro-State: A Perspective from Nigeria’, in Paul Bowles, Henry Veltmeyer, Scarlett Cornilissen, Noela Invernizzi and Kwong-leung Tang, eds., National Perspectives on Globalisation, Hampshire and New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Obi, C., 2001, ‘Global, State and Local intersections: power, authority and conflict in the Niger delta oil communities’, in T. Callaghy, R. Kassimir and R. Latham, eds., Intervention and Transnationalism in Africa: Global-Local Networks of Power, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Obi, C., 2000, ‘Globalised Images of Environmental Security in Africa’, Review of African Political Economy, No. 83.
- Okonta, I., 2008, When Citizens Revolt: Nigerian Elites, Big Oil and the Ogoni Struggle for
- Self-Determination, Trenton, NJ and Asmara: Africa World Press. Okonta, I., 2007, ‘NIGER DELTA: BEHIND THE MASK, Ijaw Militia Fight the Oil Cartel’, in WORLD WAR 4 REPORT, http://ww4report.com.
- Okonta, I., 2005, ‘Nigeria: Chronicle of Dying State’, Current History, May.
- Africa Development, Vol. XXXIV, No. 2, 2009
- Olukoshi, A., 2005, ‘Changing Patterns of Politics in Africa’, in A. Boron and G. Lechini, eds.,
- Politics and Social Movements in an Hegemonic World: Lessons from Africa, Asia and Latin America, Buenos Aires: CLACSO Books.
- Omeje, K., 2006, High Stakes and Stakeholders: Oil Conflict and Security in Nigeria, Hampshire: Ashgate.
- Omeje, K., 2005, ‘Oil Conflict in Nigeria: Contending Issues and Perspectives of the Local Niger
- Delta People’, New Political Economy, Vol. 10, No. 3.
- Ostby, G., 2008, ‘Polarization, Horizontal Inequalities and Violent Civil Conflict’,
- Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 45, No. 2.
- Paris, R., 2002, ‘International peacebuilding and the “mission civilisatrice”’, Review of
- International Studies, 28.
- Petras, J. and Veltmeyer, H., 2001, Globalisation Unmasked, Halifax and London: Fernwood Publishing
- and Zed Press.
- Reno, W., 2003, ‘Political Networks in a Failing State: The Roots and Future of Violent Conflict in
- Sierra Leone’, Internationale Politik und Gesellschaft, No. 2. Reno, W., 2000, ‘Shadow States and
- the Political Economy of Civil Wars’, in M. Berdal and D. Malone, eds., Greed and Grievance: Economic Agendas in
- Civil Wars, Boulder and Colorado: Lynne Rienner.
- Ross, B., 2007, ‘News Exclusive: Online Interview with a Terrorist’, ABC News, January 3, http://abcnews.co.com.
- Ross, M., 2004a, ‘What Do We Know About Natural Resources and Civil War’,Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 41, Issue 3, May.
- Ross, M., 2004b, ‘How Do Natural Resources Influence Civil War? Evidence from Thirteen Cases’, International Organizations, 58, Winter.
- Ross, M., 2001, ‘Does Oil Hinder Democracy’, World Politics, 53, April.
- Ross, M., 1999, ‘The Political Economy of the Resource Curse’, World Politics, 51, January.
- Saro-Wiwa, K., 1995, A Month and a Day: A Detention Dairy, London: Penguin Books.
- Simmons, A., 2007, ‘Violence besets Niger elections’, ALJAZZERA, April 14, http://english.aljazeera.net.
- Soysa, D., 2001, ‘Paradise is a Bazaar? Greed, Creed, Grievance and Governance’,Discussion Paper, WIDER, No. 42.
- Stewart, F., 2002, ‘Horizontal Inequalities: A Neglected Dimension of Development’, WIDER Annual
- Lectures 5 (Helsinki: UNU/World Institute for Development Economics Research).
- Stewart, F., 2000, ‘Crisis Prevention: Tackling Horizontal Inequalities’, Oxford Development Studies, Vol. 28, No. 3.
- UNDP Nigeria, 2006, Niger Delta Human Development Report, Abuja: UNDP. Zack Williams, A.B., 1999, ‘Sierra Leone: The Political Economy of Civil War, 1991-98’, Third World Quarterly, Vol. 20, No. 1.
References
Abdullah, I., 2004, ‘Bush Path to destruction: The Origin and Character of the Revolutionary United
Front (RUF/SL)’, in I. Abdullah, ed., Between Democracy and Terror: The Sierra Leone Civil War, Dakar: CODESRIA Books.
Afeikhena, J., 2005, ‘Managing Oil Rent for Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction in Africa’, Paper presented at the UNU-WIDER Jubilee Conference: Thinking Ahead: The Future of Development Economics, Helsinki, www.wider.unu.edu/conference/conference-2005-3/conference.
Auty, R., 1993, Sustaining Development in Mineral Economies: The Resource Curse Thesis, London: Routledge.
Ballentine, K., 2003, ‘Beyond Greed and Grievance: Reconsidering the Economic Dynamics of Armed Conflict’, in K. Ballentine and J. Sherman, eds., The Political Economy of Armed Conflict: Beyond Greed and Grievance, Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner.
Ballentine, K. and Sherman, J., 2003, eds., ‘Introduction’, The Political Economy of Armed Conflict: Beyond Greed and Grievance, Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner.
Bayart, J., Ellis, S. and Hibou, B., 1998, The Criminalisation of the State in Africa, Oxford: James Currey.
Berdal, M. and Malone, D., 2000, eds., Greed and Grievance: Economic Agendas in Civil Wars, Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner.
Best, S. and Kemedi, D., 2005, ‘Armed Groups and Conflict in Rivers and Plateau states, Nigeria’, in N. Florquin and E. Berman, eds., Armed and Aimless: Armed Groups, Guns and Human Security in the ECOWAS Region, Geneva: Small Arms Survey.
Billon, P., 2001, ‘The political ecology of war: natural resources and armed conflict’, Political Geography, 20.
Bond, P., 2006, Looting Africa: The Economics of Exploitation, London and Pietermaritzburg: Zed Books and University of KwaZulu-Natal Press.
Ch bal, P. and Dialoz, J., 1999, Africa Works: Disorder as a Political Instrument, Oxford: James Currey.
Africa Development, Vol. XXXIV, No. 2, 2009
Chabal, P. and Dialoz, J. 2006, Culture Troubles: Politics and the interpretation of meaning, London: Hurst & Company.
Collier, P., 2000, ‘Doing Well out of War: An Economic Perspective’, in M. Berdal and D. Mahone, eds., Greed and Grievance: Economic Agendas in Civil Wars, London and Boulder: Lynne Rienner.
Collier, P., 2003, Breaking the Conflict Trap: Civil War and Development Policy, Washington DC: The World Bank.
Collier, P., 2007, The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Collier, P. and Hoeffler, A., 2001, ‘Greed and Grievance in Civil War’, http://www.worldbank.org/research/conflict/papers/greedgrievance.htm, The World Bank.
Coventry Cathedral, 2009, The Potential for Peace and Reconciliation in the Niger Delta, Draft Report, International Centre for Reconciliation, Coventry. Davis, J., 2006, ‘“And then there were four…” A Thumbnail History of Oil Industry Restructuring 1971-2005’, in J. Davis, ed., The Changing World of Oil: An Analysis of Corporate Change and Adaptation, Hampshire: Ashgate.
Energy Information Administration, 2009, ‘Nigeria Energy Data, Statistics and Analysis, Oil’,
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/Nigeria/Oil.html, accessed June 2, 2009.
Homer-Dixon, T., 1994, ‘Environmental Scarcities and Violent Conflict: Evidence from Cases’, International Security, Vol. 19, No. 1, Summer.
Human Rights Watch, 2005, ‘Rivers of Blood, Guns, Oil and Power in Nigeria’s River’s state’, A Human Right Watch Briefing Paper, New York: Human Rights Watch, February.
Human Rights Watch, 2002, Niger Delta: No Democratic Dividend, New York: Human Rights Watch.
Hutchful, E. and Aning, K., 2004, ‘The Political Economy of Conflict’, in A. Adebajo and I. Rashid,
eds., West Africa’s Security Challenges: Building Peace in a Troubled Region, Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner.
Ianaccone, A., 2007, Toward a Reform Agenda for the Niger Delta: A Report of the Africa Program Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Washington DC, April.
Ikein, A. and Briggs-Anigboh, C., 1998, Oil and Fiscal Federalism: The Political Economy of Resource Allocation in a Developing Country, Aldershot: Ashgate.
Ikelegbe, A., 2006, ‘The Economy of Conflicts in the Oil Rich Niger Delta Region of Nigeria’, African and Asian Studies, Vol. 5, No. 1.
International Crisis Group, 2006, The Swamps of Insurgency: Nigeria’s Delta Unrest, Africa Report No. 115-3, August.
IRIN news, 2007, ‘Nigeria: Sharp rise in hostage taking may be linked to upcoming elections’, www.irinnews.org.
IRIN news, 2006, ‘Nigeria: Militants threaten to cripple oil exports if demands not met’, January 17, www.irinnews.org.
Obi: Nigeria’s Niger Delta 127
IRIN news, 2005, ‘Nigeria: Constitutional change conference deadlocks over oil dispute’, August 2,
http://www.irinnews.org/report.
Junger, S., 2007, ‘Crude Awakening’, The Observer Magazine, 15 April.
Kaplan, R., 1994, ‘The Coming Anarchy: How Scarcity, Crime, Overpopulation, Tribalism, and Disease are Rapidly Destroying the Social Fabric of our Planet’, Atlantic Monthly, February.
Lawal, Y., 2008, ‘Crude shut-in hits 1m barrels per day’, The Guardian (Lagos), February 18,
www.guardiannewsngr.com.
Lubeck, P., Watts, M. and Lipschutz, R., 2007, ‘Convergent Interests: US Energy Security and “Securing” of Nigeria’s Democracy’, Washington DC: Center for International Policy.
Memorial Institute for Prevention of Terrorism (MIPT), 2006, Group Profile: Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), http:// www.tkb.org.
Mustapha, A. R., 2003, ‘Ethnic Minority Groups in Nigeria: Current Situation and Major Problems’, Paper prepared Commission on Human Rights, Sub- Commission on Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, Working Group on Minorities, Ninth Session, May 12-16, Mimeograph.
Myers, N., 1993, ‘Environmental Refugees in a Globally Warmed World’, BioScience, Vol. 43, No. 11, December.
Obi, C., 2009, ‘Nigeria’s Oil in Global Energy Security: Critical Issues and Challenges’, in Ruchita Beri and Uttam Sinha, eds., Africa and Energy Security: Global Issues, Local Responses, New Delhi: Academic Foundation.
Obi, C., 2008, ‘Reflections on West Africa’s Security in the Context of the Global War on Terror’, Legon Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 5, No. 1.
Obi, C., 2007a, ‘Oil and Development in Africa: Some Lessons from the Oil Factor in Nigeria for the Sudan’, in Luke Patey, ed., Oil Development in Africa: Lessons for Sudan after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, Copenhagen: Danish Institute for International Studies Report No. 8.
Obi, C., 2007b, ‘The Struggle for Resource Control in a Petro-State: A Perspective from Nigeria’, in Paul Bowles, Henry Veltmeyer, Scarlett Cornilissen, Noela Invernizzi and Kwong-leung Tang, eds., National Perspectives on Globalisation, Hampshire and New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Obi, C., 2001, ‘Global, State and Local intersections: power, authority and conflict in the Niger delta oil communities’, in T. Callaghy, R. Kassimir and R. Latham, eds., Intervention and Transnationalism in Africa: Global-Local Networks of Power, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Obi, C., 2000, ‘Globalised Images of Environmental Security in Africa’, Review of African Political Economy, No. 83.
Okonta, I., 2008, When Citizens Revolt: Nigerian Elites, Big Oil and the Ogoni Struggle for
Self-Determination, Trenton, NJ and Asmara: Africa World Press. Okonta, I., 2007, ‘NIGER DELTA: BEHIND THE MASK, Ijaw Militia Fight the Oil Cartel’, in WORLD WAR 4 REPORT, http://ww4report.com.
Okonta, I., 2005, ‘Nigeria: Chronicle of Dying State’, Current History, May.
Africa Development, Vol. XXXIV, No. 2, 2009
Olukoshi, A., 2005, ‘Changing Patterns of Politics in Africa’, in A. Boron and G. Lechini, eds.,
Politics and Social Movements in an Hegemonic World: Lessons from Africa, Asia and Latin America, Buenos Aires: CLACSO Books.
Omeje, K., 2006, High Stakes and Stakeholders: Oil Conflict and Security in Nigeria, Hampshire: Ashgate.
Omeje, K., 2005, ‘Oil Conflict in Nigeria: Contending Issues and Perspectives of the Local Niger
Delta People’, New Political Economy, Vol. 10, No. 3.
Ostby, G., 2008, ‘Polarization, Horizontal Inequalities and Violent Civil Conflict’,
Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 45, No. 2.
Paris, R., 2002, ‘International peacebuilding and the “mission civilisatrice”’, Review of
International Studies, 28.
Petras, J. and Veltmeyer, H., 2001, Globalisation Unmasked, Halifax and London: Fernwood Publishing
and Zed Press.
Reno, W., 2003, ‘Political Networks in a Failing State: The Roots and Future of Violent Conflict in
Sierra Leone’, Internationale Politik und Gesellschaft, No. 2. Reno, W., 2000, ‘Shadow States and
the Political Economy of Civil Wars’, in M. Berdal and D. Malone, eds., Greed and Grievance: Economic Agendas in
Civil Wars, Boulder and Colorado: Lynne Rienner.
Ross, B., 2007, ‘News Exclusive: Online Interview with a Terrorist’, ABC News, January 3, http://abcnews.co.com.
Ross, M., 2004a, ‘What Do We Know About Natural Resources and Civil War’,Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 41, Issue 3, May.
Ross, M., 2004b, ‘How Do Natural Resources Influence Civil War? Evidence from Thirteen Cases’, International Organizations, 58, Winter.
Ross, M., 2001, ‘Does Oil Hinder Democracy’, World Politics, 53, April.
Ross, M., 1999, ‘The Political Economy of the Resource Curse’, World Politics, 51, January.
Saro-Wiwa, K., 1995, A Month and a Day: A Detention Dairy, London: Penguin Books.
Simmons, A., 2007, ‘Violence besets Niger elections’, ALJAZZERA, April 14, http://english.aljazeera.net.
Soysa, D., 2001, ‘Paradise is a Bazaar? Greed, Creed, Grievance and Governance’,Discussion Paper, WIDER, No. 42.
Stewart, F., 2002, ‘Horizontal Inequalities: A Neglected Dimension of Development’, WIDER Annual
Lectures 5 (Helsinki: UNU/World Institute for Development Economics Research).
Stewart, F., 2000, ‘Crisis Prevention: Tackling Horizontal Inequalities’, Oxford Development Studies, Vol. 28, No. 3.
UNDP Nigeria, 2006, Niger Delta Human Development Report, Abuja: UNDP. Zack Williams, A.B., 1999, ‘Sierra Leone: The Political Economy of Civil War, 1991-98’, Third World Quarterly, Vol. 20, No. 1.