The Conflict Of The Niger Delta

In order for Chad’s economy to succeed in the future, major reforms on oil revenue transparency are necessary. As a result of social and political conflicts, Chad has historically been characterized by division and warfare. Since the discovery of oil during the 1960s, these conflicts have only been exacerbated. The oil pipeline that began construction in 1999 as a result of this discovery inadvertently fueled the tension that had been created. The revenues that were generated from the pipeline were not allocated with transparency, which caused dissent on a global scale. This project was supposed to be an example for all oil-dependent developing countries that agreement and control of revenues could help grow a country’s economy. Ultimately, the methods used to control the revenues in Chad have been inefficient, and are in need of further reforms such as improved national dialogue and access to information.

Situated along the coast of the Gulf of Guinea is a region about the size of South Carolina that offers a land full of sweet, light crude oil, known as the Niger Delta (Delta). The Delta sits within the country of Nigeria in West Africa and is in a constant state of crisis, underpinned by a multitude of key issues. Those issues include severe poverty, soil and water contamination, high infant mortality rates, low life expectancy, depletion of natural resources, corruption, and armed militia groups. These issues have one thing in common: oil.

Oil has often been referred to as any economy’s lifeblood. Although this is an overemphasis, oil has been the key, nonhuman resource of the economy throughout the largest part of the 20th century. In the book “The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, And Power” by Daniel Yergin, the author illustrates the political, societal, economic, and geo-strategic importance of this product.

Niger Delta region, placing the Nigerian oil output down to a third of its capacity” (Klare 3).

Fighting between the Muslim government in Khartoumand Christian rebel forces located in southern Sudan has long been ignored.This struggle has caused nothing but devastation and depravation for in theregion. More than two millionpeople have died as a result of the conflict, including many innocent civilians. In addition, extremely valuableresources that would surely benefit the entire global economy, are beingneglected and the with the minimized benefits only helping a few . As is the case in most if not all civilwars power is what each side is struggling over. .The north and south werejoined for no good

The Chad oil pipeline was started in October 2000 and was a project consisting of over 300 oil wells in Chad which was planned to extract over one billion barrels of oil. The idea was to run a 640 mile long underground pipe from Chad through Cameroon to an off shore factory where it would be loaded, funded by big companies like Exxon/Mobil, and Chevron with a sizable lone from the World Bank the project seemed like a no brainer. Chad was granted it's independence from France in 1960 and has been plagued by civil wars since mostly notably the Chadian Civil War of 2005 to 2010 which lasted just over four years due to the strained relationship with the Muslim population of the North and the non-Muslim population of the south.

Oil has repeatedly been referred to as any economy’s lifeblood. Whereas this is an overemphasis, oil has been the utmost key, nonhuman resource of economy throughout the largest part of the 20th century. In the book “The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, And Power” by Daniel Yergin, the author illustrates the political, societal, economic, and geo-strategic prominence of this product. The book was published by Simon and Schuster in 2011 in New York, and contains 928 pages, as its ISBN is 1439134839. This research paper aims to provide a book review on Daniel Yergin’s “The Prize.”

Ethnicity is how individuals perceive themselves, and unlike race it can be changed. There are countries in which there are several different types of ethnic groups, and in some cases that could lead to conflict within a country, but as research will show it is not the only cause, and in some cases the conflict was purposely organized. In such cases it is usually in a developing country, which is “defined according to their Gross National Income (GNI) per capita per year. Countries with GNI of US$ 11,905 and less and less are defined as developing (specified by the World Bank, 2012).” (CITATION) Developing countries that have established themselves as democracies tend to have weak institutions, where elections are more about connections

In Oil on Water, Helon Habila, the author, uses his characters’ backgrounds and experiences to illustrate how corruption affects individuals and communities. The novel is set in the Niger delta. The two main characters are journalists who have personalities which strongly contrast with each other. Rufus is an idealist and Zaq is a jaded veteran reporter. Rufus, unlike Zaq, grew up in the delta and is personally connected to the communities. The story follows Rufus and Zaq on an assignment to find “the White Woman,” but ultimately, Habila uses his characters to tell a much more complex tale of environmental devastation and destruction of communities as a result of oil company corruption and greed.

particularly in the Niger Delta region. The people in this region are dissatisfied for many

Nigeria is an Agricultural and oil rich nation but characterised by Political instability, corruption, poor

The Chad Cameroon Petroleum Development and Pipeline Project is one of the largest investments in the private sector in Africa that costs approximately US$3.7 billion. The project is being funded by the World Bank and the International Financial Corporation. The involvement of these two major financial institutions is a demonstration of the rationale that the project will generate revenue that will enable the Chad and Cameroonian governments to invest more in programs that focus on reducing poverty like rural employment, education, and health. The involvement of the International Financial Corporation will be geared towards accomplishing three major roles. These are long-term financing, stabilizing role, and uplifting the quality and standard of mitigation plans and environmental assessments.

     Nigeria has been a country in political turmoil for a long time. The country was created in 1914 under British colonial rule and at that time it was considered a protectorate. It was not until 1960 that Nigeria received independence from the United Kingdom. One of Nigeria's problems politically is that it has over three hundred different ethnic groups. The three largest of these are the Hausa-Fulani, Igbo, and Yoruba. At the time of the independence of Nigeria it was split up into three states with each state being under the control of one of the major ethnic groups. The natural resources of the other 297 ethnic groups were exploited for the major three groups,

Most children in the Niger delta have little or no education, due to lack of funds from their parents who have lost their lands and have no jobs because of limited opportunities. The Niger delta government and the oil companies have refused to look into the situation; instead they favor their close relations neglecting the masses. Corruption in the Niger delta has led some youths in taking drastic measure in order to put food on their table. For example, Ikechukwu Efe an indigene of the Niger delta said that some of his friends created their own “oil refinery”, which is made up of crude oil in metal barrels with controlled heat from fire woods. This is a dangerous process in refining crude oil but the degree of poverty in the state left his friends with no choice. If only the government of the Niger delta have created jobs with the wealth of the state Ikechukwu’s friend would not have to put their lives in danger. Until corruption is put to an abrupt the people of the Niger delta will continue to live in poverty.

The petroleum sector began to add significant role and shape to the Nigerian economy and the political arena and destiny of the country in the early 1060s. However, when Nigeria became an independent nation in 1st October 1960, Shell – BP began to give out its acreage and its exploration licenses were converted in to prospecting licenses that allowed development and production ( Bamberg, 2000; Vassilion, 2009). Following the increase dominance of the Nigerian