Trade and Politics in the Niger Delta, 1830-1885

Trade and Politics in the Niger Delta, 1830-1885
Author: Kenneth Onwuka Dike
Publisher: Greenwood
Total Pages: 250
Release: 1956
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780313232978

Dr. Dike has made a contribution to the study of Nigeria's principal formative period by drawing on local as well as British sources for his material. He describes how the revolution in trade reacted upon the social and political systems and how the existing native governments were gradually supplanted by British sonsular power. His study ends with the recognition of the British claim to supremacy in the Niger territories at the Berlin West African Conference of 1885.

Oil and Insurgency in the Niger Delta

Oil and Insurgency in the Niger Delta
Author: Cyril Obi
Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.
Total Pages: 425
Release: 2011-02-10
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1848138105

The recent escalation in the violent conflict in the Niger Delta has brought the region to the forefront of international energy and security concerns. This book analyses the causes, dynamics and politics underpinning oil-related violence in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. It focuses on the drivers of the conflict, as well as the ways the crises spawned by the political economy of oil and contradictions within Nigeria's ethnic politics have contributed to the morphing of initially poorly coordinated, largely non-violent protests into a pan-Delta insurgency. Approaching the issue from a number of perspectives, the book offers the most up-to-date and comprehensive analysis available of the varied dimensions of the conflict. Combining empirically-based and analytic chapters, it attempts to explain the causes of the escalation in violence, the various actors, levels and dynamics involved, and the policy challenges faced with regard to conflict management/resolution and the options for peace. It also examines the role of oil as a commodity of global strategic significance, addressing the relationship between oil, energy security and development in the Niger Delta.

Delta in Distress

Delta in Distress
Author: Terry Bagia
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Total Pages: 178
Release: 2009
Genre: History
ISBN: 1449003737

The controversial role of the petrodollar in modern socio-political relations within the local, national and international settings evokes serious concerns. Oil has become a paramount source of political power in our energy-driven world. Nigeria is increasingly assuming the center stage within the global community when viewed from the global energy perspective. The Niger Delta region of Nigeria is the treasure base of the country. The region is naturally endowed with oil and gas resources which happen to be the mainstay of the Nigerian economy, accounting for more than 50 per cent of the nation's revenue. However, the availability of the enormous oil and gas resources does not appear to reflect in the infrastructural development and the living standard of the local community populace within the region. There is a steady tussle over the control of oil and gas resources. Fairly ingrained in the socio-political system in this part of the world, is an alleged desire to satisfy the unquenchable avarice of the privileged class. This development has exhumed the appalling realization that man has not truly become his brother's keeper. The excruciating experience of man's cruelty to man is a fact of life in most modern human societies. This reflects in the manner of distribution of national wealth. The Niger Delta region is on the trail with the vast majority of human societies marked by conflicts over natural resources distribution. The ethnic polarization of the delta region has not helped matters in this regard. An intense form of fractionalization within a state often drags along social, cultural, political and economic deprivations with the attendant social inequalities in material well-being. The Niger Delta region of Nigeria typifies the fact that man has not been able to solve his problems and help himself whereas the nugget of truth is sometimes hidden in the coarse grains of paradox. Within the region, the local population appears to be perpetually at the receiving end of a socio-political suspense game. There is a firmly established and unrestrained yearning to acquire wealth, which leads to a constant process of struggle. In this struggle, the more able gain and the less able lose. The ensuing regional distress and the passion for its cure breathe through this book.