History and Resurgence of Conflict in the Niger Delta

BELOVETH ODOCHI NWANKWOSchool of Humanities

Faculty of Acts

University of Derby

b.nwankwo1@derby.ac.uk

Introduction

• The Niger Delta region of Nigeria is a home for about 20million people within 300 communities contained in 9 states

• Abundant oil deposits- engine of Nigerian economy and the largest wetland in Africa

History of Niger Delta Conflict

• Akassa Raid of 1895

• Separatist movement led by chief Harold Depriye and the resultant NDDB

• Adaka Boro’s declaration of Ijo nation

What Development?

We can’t just stand and look…

• Watching Agip Spill flow by at Okoroba; December 2008

The 1990’s Resurgence of Conflict

• Ken Sarowiwa’s presentation of Ogoni Bill of Rights in 1990

Follow the Oil

• Artisanal refineries

• Militarization

• Shell’s 1978 spill caused by tank failure at Forcados Terminal in which 580,000 barrels were spewed

• Texaco’s Funima-5 offshore blow out in 1980 that released 400,000 barrels of oil

• Mobil’s spill at Idoho in 1998 with a reported release of 40,000 barrels of crude oil.

• The Shell Spill in 2008 at Ikot Ada Udoh where a capped well failed and spewed an unreported amount of crude oil for months before it was stopped

• Agip oil spills at Kalaba, Bayelsa State raged for over two months starting from February 2009 before it was stopped.

• Exxon oil spills at Ibeno, Akwa Ibom State in May & June 2010

• NOSDRA informs that there are about over 3400 oil spills in the past 4 years.

• Shell’s Bonga offshore spill – 20 Dec 2011. 40,000 barreld

• Chevron’s Apo North off shore gas fire. Raging since 16 January 2012

9-13 million barrels of oil spilled over 50 years: 1 Exxon Valdez per year

Chronic Spills in the Niger Delta

•Economic waste•Health hazard•About 2.5 billion standard cubic feet (scf) of natural gas is flared annually in Nigeria.This means a loss of over $2.5 billion revenue annually. Estimates have it that 68% of all associated gas is flared. This represents 12.5% of all globally flared gas

Gas Flaring

2. Social•Living costs•Social disruptions•Displacement of communities

3.EnvironmentalSeismic explorationDrillingInfrastructure and TrafficHealth impactsLivelihood pressures

4. Political– Change in development

priorities– Challenges to planning– Corruption (oil rents)– Militarization

5. Economic– Voodo Economics– Petroleum Price Volatility

Environmental Impacts contd

Umuechem...Ogoniland...Odi...Odiomo...Gbaramatu...Ayakoromo...etc

The UNEP The UNEP report on report on

Ogoniland: Ogoniland:

• Shell has not met the Environmental Guidelines and Standards for the Petroleum Industries in Nigeria (EGASPIN)

• Shell has also not met its own minimum standards

• Shell operated below internationally accepted standards

• Benzene, a known carcinogen, found in drinking water at a level 900 times above WHO standards. Benzene also found in some air samples

• Hydrocarbons found at levels 1000 times above Nigerian drinking water

UNEPUNEP’’s s VerdictVerdict

• Soils are polluted with hydrocarbons up to a depth of 5 metres in 49 observed places

• Fisheries destroyed• 30 years to clean water• 5 years to clean the land

• Hydrocarbon carbon Hydrocarbon carbon pollution has pollution has

reachedreached groundwater groundwater at 41 sites and at a at 41 sites and at a place the ground place the ground water that serves water that serves

local wells was found local wells was found to have up to 8 cm to have up to 8 cm layer of oil on it!layer of oil on it!

Theoretical perspective

• Frustration and Aggression

• Propounded by John Dollard Neal and E. Miller in 1939

The theory explains that frustration is the cause of aggression and if not tackled on time results to violent conflict as in the Niger Delta

• Community Environmental Defense Corps/committees

• Environmental Audit – Including communities vulnerability

audits

• Clean-up – Including halting artisanal refineries– Healthy land/rivers support livelihoods

• Replacement of aged pipelines• No double standards• Compensations

The Way Forward

4ward• EIAs That Work

– Participatory environmental and socio-economic impact assessments

– EIA as a document to determine if a project should go on or not

– EIAs should contain clear clauses on actions that must be taken in case of accidents

• Agreements not MoUs or GMoUs– Binding and actionable

agreements

• Community ownership

Cultural tools

Question the Language:

Everyone is RESTIVE. Why

is this term applied only

to ND youths?

• Redefine Resource Control

Resource Control does not mean a per centage . It means ownership. You cannot control what you do not own.

You don’t abuse what belongs to you

Cultivate TRUE Leadership

• Everything for everyone, nothing for “ourselves”

With an acute sense of history…True history must include the future