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Full Length Research Paper
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Oil politics and the
Niger Delta developmental conundrum
C. Samuel Ugoh1 and I. Wilfred Ukpere2*
1Department
of Political Science, University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos,
Nigeria.
2Faculty
of Business, Cape
Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town, Republic of South Africa.
*Corresponding author. E-mail:
ukperew@cput.ac.za.
Accepted 7
May, 2010 |
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Abstract |
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oil
has become a dominant element within the power capability
profile of any nation. Nations enter into war because of oil.
The Gulf War in 1991 is an example. In Nigeria the crisis is
between the federal government and oil producing communities in
the Niger Delta region. Despite the abundant oil wealth, there
has been unimaginable mass poverty and negligible development in
the region. Efforts by the federal government and oil companies
to improve the quality of human lives and to provide
infrastructural development, have been insufficient to
ameliorate the problems. Presently, the insensitivity of
government and oil companies have created more tensions and
crises which not only threaten the industry, but also national
security. In fact, youths within the area, by association of
various ethnic militia groups, have become restive in their bid
for greater control of their natural resources. The paper,
therefore, examines developmental issues in oil producing
communities against background of government establishing an
internal security task force to deal with the youths. The paper
concludes that the federal government and oil companies should
change their current hostile approaches in order to work towards
infrastructural development of the region.
Key words:
Economy, oil politics, policy. |
