ABSTRACT
Commencing in 1956, the Niger Delta crisis is a complicated and intricate problem that has had a significant influence on both the Nigerian state and the Niger Delta region. A number of historical, political, economic, and environmental variables that have fueled the region's persistent violence and instability are at the core of the dilemma. Numerous factors have been identified as contributing to the crisis, including historical marginalization, which is said to have its roots in the British Empire. Another factor contributing to the situation is thought to be environmental deterioration, which is demonstrated by the ongoing oil spills, withering vegetation, etc. Another factor contributing to the crisis is thought to be economic inequality. The cause for the anger of the people is that the region is being exploited of its resources without any development. Finally, one more reason why people are always calling for change is political exclusion. This is demonstrated by the people's isolation from regional governance.1.
The study described the region's physical geography as well as the interpersonal relationships among its residents. The Niger Delta, which is the largest wetland in Africa and among the largest in the world, supports a wide variety of biodiversity and is home to an estimated 31 million people. It is a vast coastal plain in the southernmost part of Nigeria, where one of Africa's longest rivers empties into the Atlantic ocean between the Bights of Benin and Biafra in the Gulf of Guinea. The fragile environment and marshy terrain present a number of difficulties, including supporting a high population density and a shortage of land. Additionally, they characterize the local population's means of subsistence as being provided by farmers, fishermen, traders, food processors, and local producers of goods connected to these main subsistence economies.2.
The region roughly bounded by latitudes 4.40 and 6.10 and longitudes 5 and 6.45 east is likewise occupied by the Delta province (Degree). The Ijaw, Itsekiri, and Abohdo are among the riverine people who live in what is loosely referred to as the western Delta of the Niger, hence the name Delta Province. The Isoko, Ukwuani, and Urhobo are other inhabitants of the province. While Itsekiri and Abohdo are comparable to Ijaw, this latter group of people might be characterized as "up country" people. The deltaic marshes extended to sections of the Urhobo region and a sizable portion of the Aboh and Isoko countries. Nonetheless, the province can generally be split into two Zones. The Isoko, Urhobo, and Ukwuani live in the upper Delta, while the Ijaw, Itsekiri, and Aboh are in the lower Delta. The mangrove vegetation, which is dense and flows through a network of creeks, is what sets the former apart. The latter zone is part of the belt of evergreen forests, which is dominated by oil palm trees. In the modern day, this area is divided into nine states, which make up nine of Nigeria's thirty-six states. Abia, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Imo, Ondo, and Edo are the states in question. Three states are crucial when it comes to oil output and petroleum-related violence: Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers.3
The way the province's two native vegetation types are divided has a significant impact on how the province's residents interact with one another. Insofar as their diverse natural environments have influenced their career choices. Therefore, the people living in the lower Delta still work as fishermen, producers of salt and clay boats, and middlemen traders when circumstances allow. Although some of them continued to fish, the hinterland's residents inevitably turned to agriculture and the cultivation of oil palm trees. Thus, one of the earliest factors influencing intergroup relations was the trade of the products of their different activities; the land people gave the water people salt, fish, and crayfish in exchange for the latter's offering of yams, plantains, pepper, and several other products of the cassava plant. Beginning in the sixteenth century, slaves from the "up country" also developed into a valuable product in the trade between the two groups.4
Despite sharing the same language, the Delta province is diverse; for example, Aboh and Ukwuani, Urhobo and Isoko are distinct groups that have chosen to remain independent of one another. It has been difficult to ascertain their state of origin because of their ethnicity's fractured nature and belief that each group is distinct from the others. Nevertheless, a little history of their genesis is found. According to legend, the Iginuwa, the son of Oluwa of the Benin kingdom, started the Itsekiri tradition when the people refused to crown him as the heir apparent to his father because of the poor counsel he had given his father. When his father learned of this, he put his son on trial and sent the chiefs' dons to accompany his son Iginuwa to the location, where several Ijaw men were waiting for their canoes to take them across the river. It is supposed that this migration established the Itsekiri kingdom. Additionally, it is reported and thought that the Benin king Iginuwa's father, Olua, is the source of the name Olua, which was given to their king. It is also said that upon Iginuwa's arrival in the area, he encountered a number of other tribes, some of which departed the area while others chose to remain. Moreover, tribes like the Urhobos and Ijaws were living in that region and around the area. The connections between the creeks on the Niger Delta map demonstrated the intergroup interactions that existed in the area prior to the arrival of the Iginuwa. The connections between the waterways also demonstrated the region's bilingual language spoken by its residents.5
