Niger Delta Crisis of Nigeria

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CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION The Niger Delta is reputed for its abundant crude oil and believed to form the pivot of the Nigerian economy. According to Emmanuel (2002), it is still uncertain if the oil wealth of Niger Delta is a blessing or a curse. Its numerous oil potentials have over the years resulted in series of violence in the region. The conflict in the Niger Delta arose in the early 1990s over tensions between the foreign oil corporations and a number of the Niger Delta's minority ethnic groups who felt they were being exploited, particularly the Ogoni and the Ijaw. Ethnic and political unrest has continued throughout the 1990s and persists as of 2007 despite the change to democracy and the election of the Obasanjo government in 1999. Competition for oil wealth has fuelled violence between innumerable ethnic groups. Victims of crimes are fearful of seeking justice for crimes committed against them because of growing "impunity from prosecution for individuals responsible for serious human rights abuses, which has created a devastating cycle of increasing conflict and violence. (Solomon. T 1999) According to collier and Hoeffer (2009), explosive conflicts is not peculiar to the Niger Delta but all other regions and states with rich oil and gas potentials. The people tend more to experience and suffer cases of ethnic cleansing, militant struggles for resource control and the ugly effects of either civil wars or oppressive-repressive regime response patterns. The regional and ethnic conflicts are so numerous that fully detailing each is rather impossible and impractical. However, the oil and ethnic crisis are major confrontations that deserve elaboration. The creek and coastal nature of the Niger Delta bestow it a uniqueness that expresses great tourism potentials. These tourist attractions cut across the six states that make up the Niger Delta
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