Open Access
American Research Journal of History and Culture
ISSN (Online): 2379-2914
DOI: 10.46568/arjhc
Internal Factors on Resource Control Saga in the Nigera Delta and Their Impact
Abstract
The quest for resource control by states in the Niger Delta region is one of the contentious issues in
Nigeria. The clamour for resource control followed the inability of the government to address the adverse social
and economic conditions under which the people of the Delta region have been forced to live since the discovery
of oil at Oloibiri in 1956. The exploration and production of oil and their concomitant negative effects have
continued to affect the people‟s agricultural and fishing activities. Pollution and gas flaring have continued to
wreak havoc on the people‟s means of livelihood while the love for money as well as the desire to live above
poverty line in the Niger Delta have forced many into all kinds of obnoxious practices such as illegal oil
bunkering cum illegal oil refining, militancy, distruption of the activities of oil companies operating in the area;
kidnapping of oil workers with demands for ransom and vandalization of petroleum facilities to cause spillage of
which communities would demand compensation. This study examines the quest for resource control by people in
the Niger Delta region, and the negative impact of this development on both Niger Delta people in particular and
Nigerian state in general. Finally, the work concludes by suggesting the possible ways for peace to reign in the
troubled region. The work adopts the descriptive and analytical method of historical discourse as the framework
of analysis.
