American Research Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

The negative impact of oil exploration on the Niger Delta environment cannot be overemphasized. Majority of the damage to the environment are due to oil spill and gas flares. Oil spills are due to corrosive and expired pipelines, while others are due to third party involvement. Apart from oil spills, gas flares has also been very destructive to the environment as toxic gas are released into the atmosphere daily. This gas flares causes breathing problems to inhabitants of local communities of the Niger Delta area. This research examines the patterns, trends, drivers and dynamics of conflict over environmental degradation in the Niger Delta. The study also determines existing mechanism for management of conflict over oil spills and gas flares in two selected communities: Bodo and K-Dere in Rivers State. We adopted a qualitative research design, and relied on primary and secondary sources of data. We found that oil spills and gas flares were the cause of conflict between the oil prospective companies especially Shell and oil bearing communities.