Niger Delta
The Niger Delta is the delta of the Niger River sitting directly on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean in Nigeria. It is located within nine coastal southern Nigerian states, which include: all six states from the , one state from South West geopolitical zone and two states from South East geopolitical zone.
The Niger Delta is a very densely populated region sometimes called the Oil Rivers because it was once a major producer of palm oil. The area was the British Oil Rivers Protectorate from 1885 until 1893, when it was expanded and became the Niger Coast Protectorate.
The delta is a petroleum-rich region and has been the center of international concern over extensive pollution which is often used as an example of ecocide. The principal cause is major oil spills by multinational corporations of the petroleum industry.
Geography
The Niger Delta, as now defined officially by the Nigerian government, extends over and makes up 7.5% of Nigeria's land mass. Historically and cartographically, it consists of present-day Bayelsa, Delta, and Rivers States. In 2000, however, Obasanjo's regime included Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Cross River State, Edo, Imo and Ondo States in the region.The Niger Delta and the are two different entities. The Niger Delta separates the Bight of Benin from the Bight of Bonny within the larger Gulf of Guinea.
Demographics
The political Niger Delta is home to approximately 31 million people from over 40 ethnic groups, including the Ibibio, Urhobo, Annang, Oron, Efik, Ogoni, Edo, Esan, Isoko, Okpe and Ijaws—such as the Kalabari, Okrika, Epie-Atissa, Ogbia, Abua, Obolo, Opobo, Ibani, Apoi, Arogbo, Olodiama, Biseni, Akinima, among others. These communities speak around 250 different dialects. The Ijaw are the largest ethnic group in the Niger Delta, with a widespread presence across six states in the region.The major language groups spoken in the Niger Delta include the Ijaw languages, Ibibio-Efik, Edoid languages.
History
Colonial period
The area was the British Oil Rivers Protectorate from 1885 until 1893 when it was expanded and became the Niger Coast Protectorate. The core Niger Delta later became a part of the eastern region of Nigeria, which came into being in 1951. The majority of the people were those from the colonial Calabar and Ogoja divisions, the present-day Ogoja, Annang, Ibibio, Oron, Efik, Ijaw and Ogoni people. The National Council of Nigeria and Cameroon was the ruling political party of the region. The NCNC later became the National Convention of Nigerian Citizens, after western Cameroon decided to separate from Nigeria. The ruling party of eastern Nigeria did not seek to preclude the separation and even encouraged it. The then Eastern Region had the third, fourth, and fifth largest indigenous ethnic groups in the country, which are the Igbo, Ibibio and Ijaw.In 1953, the Old Eastern region had a major crisis when professor Eyo Ita was expelled from office by the majority Igbo tribe of the Old Eastern region. Ita, an Efik man from Calabar, was one of the pioneer nationalists for Nigerian independence. The non-igbo of the then eastern region, the Ibibio, Annang, Efik, Ijaw and Ogoja, situated along the southeastern coast and in the delta region and demanded a state of their own, which they called the Calabar-Ogoja-Rivers state. The Ibibio people of the present Akwa Ibom State and Cross River State also championed for their stated theough the Ibibio State Union. The struggle for the creation of the COR state continued and was a major issue concerning the status of minorities in Nigeria during debates in Europe on Nigerian independence. As a result of this crisis, Professor Eyo Ita left the NCNC to form a new political party called the National Independence Party which was one of the five Nigerian political parties represented at the conferences on Nigerian Constitution and Independence.
Post-colonial period
In 1961, another major crisis occurred when the then-eastern region of Nigeria allowed present-day southwestern Cameroon to separate from Nigeria through a plebiscite while the leadership of the Northern Region took the necessary steps to keep northwestern Cameroon in Nigeria, in present-day Adamawa and Taraba states. The aftermath of the 1961 plebiscite has led to a dispute between Cameroon and Nigeria over the small territory of Bakassi.A new phase of the struggle saw the declaration of an Independent Niger Delta Republic by Isaac Adaka Boro during Nigerian president Ironsi's administration, just before the Nigerian Civil War. Also just before the Nigerian civil war, Southeastern State of Nigeria was created, which had the colonial Calabar division, and colonial Ogoja division. Rivers State was also created. Southeastern State and River State became two states for the minorities of the old eastern region, and the majority Igbo of the old eastern region had a state called East Central State. Southeastern State was renamed Cross River State and was later split into Cross River State and Akwa Ibom State. Rivers State was later divided into Rivers State and Bayelsa State.
Nigerian Civil War
Niger Delta people suffered heavily with the great loss of lives and properties, hunger and starvation, and sustained many deaths during 1967–1970 Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Biafran War, in which the eastern region declared an independent state named Biafra that was eventually defeated. During this period, schools were shut down completely, and gunfire became a daily occurrence.Non-violent resistance
Following the civil war, local communities increasingly demanded social and environmental justice from the federal government, with Ken Saro Wiwa and the Ogoni tribe as the lead figures for this phase of the struggle. Cohesive oil protests became most pronounced in 1990 with the publication of the Ogoni Bill of Rights. Indigenous people protested against the lack of economic development, e.g. schools, good roads, and hospitals, in the region, despite all the oil wealth created. They also complained about environmental pollution and the destruction of their land and rivers by foreign oil companies. Ken Saro Wiwa and nine other oil activists from Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People were arrested and killed under Sani Abacha in 1995.Recent armed conflict
When long-held concerns about loss of control over resources to the oil companies were voiced by the Ijaw people in the Kaiama Declaration in 1998, the Nigerian government sent troops to occupy the Bayelsa and Delta states. Soldiers opened fire with rifles, machine guns, and tear gas, killing at least three protesters and arresting twenty-five more. Since then, local Indigenous activity against commercial oil refineries and pipelines in the region has increased in frequency and militancy. Recently foreign employees of Shell, the primary corporation operating in the region, were taken hostage by local people. Such activities have also resulted in greater governmental intervention in the area and the mobilization of the Nigerian Army and State Security Service into the region, resulting in violence and human rights abuses. In April 2006, a bomb exploded near an oil refinery in the Niger Delta region, a warning against Chinese expansion in the region. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta stated: "We wish to warn the Chinese government and its oil companies to steer well clear of the Niger Delta. The Chinese government, by investing in stolen crude, places its citizens in our line of fire."Government and private initiatives to develop the Niger Delta region have been introduced recently. These include the Niger Delta Development Commission, a government initiative, and the Development Initiative, a community development non-governmental organization based in Port Harcourt. Uz and Uz Transnational, a company with a strong commitment to the Niger Delta, has introduced ways of developing the poor in the Niger Delta, especially in Rivers State. In September 2008, MEND released a statement proclaiming that their militants had launched an "oil war" throughout the Niger Delta against both, pipelines and oil-production facilities, and the Nigerian soldiers that protect them. Both MEND and the Nigerian Government claim to have inflicted heavy casualties on one another. In August 2009, the Nigerian government granted amnesty to the militants; many militants subsequently surrendered their weapons in exchange for a presidential pardon, rehabilitation programme, and education.
Sub-regions
Western Niger Delta consists of the western section of coastal South-South Nigeria which includes Delta, and the southernmost parts of Edo, and Ondo States. The western Niger Delta is a heterogeneous society with several ethnic groups including the Urhobo, The Western Igbos; Ika people, Aniocha People, Isoko, Ijaw and Ukwuani, Itsekiri the Bini, Esan, Auchi, Esako, oral, and Afenmai in Edo State; and the Ilaje Yoruba in Ondo State. Their livelihoods are primarily based on fishing and farming. History has it that the Western Niger was controlled by Kings of the four primary ethnic groups the Urhobo, Isoko, Ijaw, and, Itsekiri with whom the British government had to sign separate "Treaties of Protection" in their formation of "Protectorates" that later became southern Nigeria.Central Niger Delta consists of the central section of coastal South-South Nigeria which includes Bayelsa, Rivers, Abia, and Imo States. The Central Niger Delta region has the Ijaw, the Ogoni people, The Igbos in Rivers State.
Eastern Niger Delta consists of Cross River State and Akwa Ibom State. It has the homogeneous Annang, Efik, Ibibio and Oron people, Ogoja.