OIL CAPITAL, ETHNIC NATIONALISM AND CIVIL CONFLICTS IN THE NIGER DELTA OF NIGERIA

This study investigated the background to, and the various dimensions of the violent conflicts that have engulfed the oil-rich Niger Delta of Nigeria in recent times by exploring the interface between the historical experiences of the region and contemporary factors responsible for the spread and exacerbation of the violent ,conflicts. The central research question of the study was that foreign ( oil) capital exacerbated militant ethnic nationalisms and violent civil conflicts in the Niger Delta, and ultimately, accelerated the collapse oflaw and order in that region of the country.
Primary data were collected using Interview Survey, In-depth Interviews, Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and Direct Observation. Two oil communities each were selected from three of the nine oil-producing States in Nigeria: lbeno and Eket (Akwa Thom State), Obunagha and Elebele (Bayelsa State), and Ughelli and Uzere (Delta State). A total of 284 respondents completed the interview survey, while 30 participated in the indepth interviews. The respondents for the interview survey and in-depth interviews were selected from a cross-sectiol). of the stakeholders in the Niger Delta: government officials,  staff of multinational oil companies and representative groups within the host communities- traditional rulers, opinion leaders, officials of town unions, youth groups, farmers and fishermen, artisans, and so on. A total of 36 focus group discussions were conducted separately with male and female community leaders, adults and youths in each of the six study communities. Basic information about the target oil communities was documented using direct observation forms. Secondary data were drawn mainly from existing literature, newspapers, newsmagazines, and institutional publications by relevant governmental and non-governmental agencies, oil companies,. as well as archival materials at the Public Record Office in London.

A major finding of the study !was that multinational oil companies and the Nigerian State played pivotal roles in the exacerbation of violent conflicts in the Niger Delta. The study found that the historical raison d'etre and mandate of the post-colonial Nigerian State, as defined by its role as a pliable and subservient agent for international capital, foreclosed any genuine effort by successive governments to address and resolve the oil-induced crises and conflicts in the Niger Delta. The study revealed that the complexities of formal and informal networks between the Nigerian State and multinational oil companies
continued to facilitate the acquisition, monopolization and dispensation of violence by the State as demonstrated by the large-scale militarization of the Niger Delta. Also, the mutuality of interests between the State and multinational oil companies continued to determine how they related and reacted to one another, and how they perceived and responded to other actors in the region, especially the local oil communities.

The work found that relying solely on contemporary factors and events to account for the prolongation of violent conflicts in the Niger Delta is theoretically and methodologically limited, hence the need to investigate in detail, the complementary role(s) played by history in this process of collapse of public order in the region. The study further established that the process of incorporating the Niger Delta into the global political economy, from the era of slave trade to oil palm trading, was marked by chaos and instabilities- a trend that has continued and intensified in contemporary times; and that there is also strong continuity in the mismanagement and manipulation of ethuic issues and relations dating back from the colonial period.

The work revealed that the eventual exclusion and immiseration of the non-elite segments of the Niger Delta society from the material benefits accruing from increased crude oil earnings, at the same time that oil communities were left to bear the adverse externalities of crude oil-induced economic marginalization, political domination and environmental degradation, was a central factor fuelling the logic of violent conflicts in the delta region. This situation has also continued to push and pitch different ethuic groups in the region against each other in intense and protracted violent conflicts. Finally, the study found that the narrow notions of security, law and order in public policy circles, as demonstrated by government's preference for military rather than political solutions to the crises in the oil region, have continued to make the search for durable peace and meaningful development an elusive task in the Niger Delta.

The study concluded that the conditions and circumstances precipitating conflicts in Nigeria's Delta region might not change significantly to pave the way for dialogue, reconciliation and partnership among the stakeholders; and that existing initiatives to address the plight of oil communities, especially the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, would be a catalyst for development in the region only if government and multinational oil companies allowed oil communities to have a meaningful and free voice in, and effective representation on matters affecting them.