THE NIGER DELTA CRISIS AND IT’S IMPACT ON NIGERIA FOREIGN POLICY

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THE NIGER DELTA CRISIS AND IT’S IMPACT ON NIGERIA FOREIGN POLICY

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation, with about 150 million people. She is the world’s seventh largest oil-producing nation. Nearly all of Nigeria’s oil comes from the Niger Delta. The abundance of oil has left a legacy of poverty, ecological devastation, and violence in the country. Despite the hundreds of billions of dollars in oil revenue that have flowed into the country, the vast majority of Nigerians live in extreme poverty. The environment, too, has suffered as oil spills have destroyed valuable ecosystems.

For more than 50 years, the Nigerian government has colluded with multinational companies such as the Royal Dutch Shell, Exxon-Mobil, Chevron-Texaco, Agip, etc. to allow unregulated oil production in the Niger Delta. These oil companies, in turn, provided financing, weapons, and transportation to the Nigerian military to keep local resistance in check. Such measures have resulted in unrestrained violence and egregious human rights violations. Why then is petroleum extraction such a violent endeavour? Why does it generate such explosive consequences among the oil producing communities? What has been the role of the Nigerian State in this delicate nexus? What has been the response of the international community to Nigeria’s internal contradictions?

Also the face-off between the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which emerged in 2006, and the Nigerian security force, has seriously impacted the price of oil in the international market. The Western power, arrow-headed by the United States and other international buyers of the commodity hold a stake in this crisis as their dependence on the Nigerian oil is expected to grow substantially over the next few years.

This paper is an attempt to answer the above questions against the backdrop of the foregoing. It starts with an introduction, followed by historical antecedent and a theoretical framework of analysis. It however continues with an analysis of the subject- matter and concludes by proffering the necessary solutions on the way forward.

In 2002, an international observation proclaimed the Niger Delta as one of the most volatile regions of the world. This observation came on the heels of incessant crisis which the region have been witnessing for decades but which took alarming dimension in loosing years of the 1990’s and the opening years of the new millennium. The region from one decade to another has witnessed unprecedented crisis which revolve round political and most importantly economic factors. Also from one decade to another the nature and dynamics of crisis in the region have changed, the transformations which the crisis took from the one period to another have paved way for its institutionalization in the history of the region and Nigeria in general.¹ If the institutionalization in the history of the Niger Delta crisis in the politics and economy of the country is something to discuss, the threat which it has been posing and still posing to domestic and interNigerian foreign policy of the Nigerian nation state is an aspect which requires critical academic enquiry.

A systematic analysis of the crisis is informed by my intention to identify the changing dynamics of what constitutes Nigerian foreign policy over the years and how the nation state of Nigeria have been contending with the threat which the Niger Delta crisis is posing to the so called Nigerian foreign policy. Nigerian foreign policy questions is a complex of political, legal, social, economic, ideological and military problems that arises in the course of a people struggling for political and economic independence and for the establishment of equal and friendly relations with other people in the bilateral and international affairs.

It is imperative to see how regional based crisis affect the survival of the entire country and how the political entity called Nigeria have been dealing with the changing dynamics of the crisis, the current study therefore understands that the concept of Nigerian foreign policy is fluid and dynamic. All nations of the world contend and will continue to contend with the challenges arising from the Nigerian foreign policy. To Nigeria, the complicated nature of the Niger Delta crisis poses serious and enduring threat to the fragile nature of Nigerian democracy and the ever volatile Nigerian foreign policy.

What this work explores is the complexity involved in the maintenance of Nigerian foreign policy which arose as a result of the crisis in the Niger Delta. For the purpose of this research, the concept of Nigerian foreign policy questions and the contributions of Niger Delta crisis are both international and domestic in nature.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEMS

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The objective of this study therefore are

To look at how the Niger Delta crisis affects Nigerian foreign policy
To locate the impact of the Niger Delta crisis within the framework of its implication of Nigerian foreign policy.
To see how regional based crisis affect the survival of the entire country.
To identify the changing dynamics and what constitutes Nigeria foreign policy over the years and how the nation state of Nigeria has been contending with the crisis.
The place of crude oil in the escalation and in the reduction of the Niger Delta crisis.
The significance of the other exigencies or factors in the crisis.
The contribution of the multination corporation and different political ferments in the regions.
1. JUSTIFICATION

The justification for this work can best be appreciated from two major perspectives namely, the need to carryout a critical academic analysis of he origin of the Nigeria Delta Crisis and an appraisal of the impact of the Niger Delta Crisis on Nigerian foreign policy, hence the changing dynamics of the crisis and the high degree of internationalization which its taken in recent years. The internationalization of the Niger Delta Crisis is as old as the history of the crisis itself; however, in recent years the concern of the international community is getting higher and higher.

SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

This work focuses on the threat which the Niger Delta Crisis is posing to Nigerian foreign policy of Nigeria, no aspect of Nigerian foreign policy question can be understood in isolation, this is because as earlier mentioned the concept of Nigerian foreign policy is a very fluid one and deeply rooted in the history of Nigeria, the nature and dynamics also change in accordance with the history of the national and that of Niger Delta Crisis, it is against this background that the study carries out comparative analysis of how Niger Delta related crisis and other regional and non regional crisis are affecting Nigerian foreign policy, comparative approach provides the necessary yardstick of measuring the vicissitude of our case study. Apart from enhancing our understanding of the vicissitudes of the Niger Delta crisis and Nigerian foreign policy, discourse of some related crisis will provide us with the necessary tool, concept, model and methodology of analysis.

One of the best ways of achieving the desired result in the discourse of Niger Delta crisis and Nigerian foreign policy is to look at it from the historical perspective hence history is prerequisite to a good understanding of contemporary phenomenon. The complexity of the Niger-Delta crisis and Nigerian foreign policy will make its analysis from a purely contemporary perspective to be inadequate, it is in the light of this, that the Niger Delta Crisis is traced from the 19^th century when the numerous cit-states in the region were at longer head with one another over the control of production and exchange of palm oil down to the period of British invasion, the contribution of colonial rule cannot be overemphasized, the changing dynamics in the relations between one Niger Delta community and the other have to be understood within the framework of pre-existing relations.² the discovery of crude oil at the tail end of the colonial rule is absolutely central to this discourse because it was the crisis and compromise connected with the exploitation of crude oil that gave the region it current stigmatization as one of the most volatile regions of the world.³

The impact of Niger Delta Crisis reflects in virtually all aspect of the socio-cultural economic and political life of the people for the purpose of this research and as I have mentioned above, I will focus on the impact which the crisis is having on Nigerian foreign policy and this cannot be understood without the knowledge of other impacts, so, occasional references will be made to other impacts of the crisis which have direct correlation on Nigerian foreign policy.

The limitations of this study is the volatile nature of the subject, materials used for academic research requires cross examination because they all have their limitations, the limitations of materials used for this work can best be appreciated against the stand point of the fact that subjects related to crisis most importantly in the Niger Delta is fluid, the fact that I address the aspect of Nigerian foreign policy as it relates to the crisis in Niger Delta makes our discourse the one which require expertise in the collection, selection, analysis and in fact interpretation of materials All the groups in the Niger Delta who were interviewed sometimes provides doctored information related to the problems under examination, government officials, private workers, militants and anti-Niger Delta groups also presented issues the ways it best known to them. ⁴ Similar trend could be noticed in several newspapers’ reports and even published works on Niger Delta Crisis and Nigerian foreign policy.⁵

This is why all materials for academic research have their own limitations and have to be subjected to critical evaluation and security. It is in the light if this that cross-examination of data ultimately brings about judicious interpretation of facts as it is since Nigerian foreign policy issues have profound influence in determining the future of the oneness of the country. This study adopts thematic and chronological approaches, chronologically, it is important that we understand how Niger Delta Crisis and Nigerian foreign policy has unfolded from one period to another and the numerous forms and dimensions which therefore, assist in providing a one by one or step by step analysis of the problems, aspect of this work which will be thematically discussed, are the ones related to the ways crisis have been affecting Nigerian foreign policy some of which are basically exposition.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

In this work, I adopted a multicultural and multidisciplinary approach, the need for multicultural approach stems from the fact that themes related to peace and conflicts studies in African can only be adequately researched by adopting a lot of models, concepts and methodology from different but related academic and intellectual persuasion. Also, multidisciplinary approach is the latest trend and one of the best ways of showing relevance of once discipline to several other disciplines, this is why I draw most of my evidence from history, political science, strategic studies, conflict studies and other related disciplines.

At this point, it is worthy of note to states that this work is basically a historical and contemporary analysis of Niger Delta Crisis and Nigerian foreign policy, the tradition methods of gathering information, i.e. primary and secondary sources is adopted. In the category of the primary sources that are pivotal to this work are: Archival materials, Newspapers on Nigerian foreign policy, Oral interview, MPA 1 and II classes’ discussions e.t.c. A sizeable percentage of secondary sources that is used came from published and unpublished works which include Books, Articles in journals e.t.c. that are related to Niger Delta and Nigerian foreign policy in the 19^th,20^th and 21^st centuries, however, a greater percentage of the materials used for this work came from extensive fieldwork in the region and newspaper cuttings on themes related to Nigerian foreign policy and the Niger Delta Crisis, this is significant going by the pan citing of published work on peace and conflict studies in Nigeria.