Liberation Movements and Violence in the Niger Delta: The New Contentious Site of Oil and Environmental Politics

J. Shola Omotola, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Redeemer’s University, Mowe, Ogun State, Nigeria. E-mail: sholaomotola@yahoo.com

This paper seeks to critically examine the latest wave of violence in the Niger Delta [Nigeria], which has its origins in post-colonial conflict over oil revenue allocations. The turmoil is epitomized by the unprecedented escalation of kidnappings, attacks and seizures of oil wells and installations, and the courage with which perpetrators accept responsibility for such actions under the guise of liberation struggle. The Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force (NDPVF) and the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) remain the most recent and radical of these movements. This development has become the new contentious site in oil and environmental politics, resulting in accusations and counter-accusations among contending forces and actors: the state, multinational oil corporations and militias (ostensibly representing oil-bearing communities). In the ensuing conflict, the state and the oil majors are simultaneously united and divided. Both refuse to see the militias as liberation movements. The oil majors, however, appear to prefer a much more violent response from the state in the form of a military action and, in that regard, are willing to offer assistance. Perhaps based on insights from the enduring consequences of such a strategy in the past, the state does not seem favorably disposed to the military option, which may have contributed to the new wave and form of violence in the region. For their part the militias claim to have no aim other than that of liberating the oil-bearing communities from "colonization" (hegemony) of the state and oil majors, a rationalization that has been contested by a segment of the supposed object of the struggle.