The Niger Delta conflict is the result of a complex mixture of grievance, greed, marginalization, deprivation, political repression and the quest for social equity and justice. Thus, while it may be true that grievance and greed may cause conflict in resource abundant countries, these factors are mixed up with historical factors, external actors and local political dynamics. In Nigeria the indigenes and ethnic minorities of Niger Delta oil producing communities have anchored their resistance on their exclusion from the benefits of the oil industry, resulting in the lack of social development, good governance, widespread poverty and high levels of unemployment in the region in spite of more than fifty years of oil production. The problems are further compounded by the pollution of their lands and waters, with its attendant adverse implications for the health and livelihoods of local people. Resistance has been radicalized both by a generational shift towards a youth “vanguard” and the brutal methods employed in the repression of the people by the government and its security agencies working to protect the international oil companies in the region. Over the years, different groups/ethnic nationalities have emerged with diverse nomenclatures but their demands have remained constant: “resource control and self-determination”........By..ELIAS COURSON (MOVEMENT EMANCIPATION OF THE NIGER DELTA)
Posted on: Fri, 04 Jul 2014 10:10:27 +0000