ABSTRACT
This work examined the Nigerian state and development in the Niger Delta region. The Niger Delta region of Nigeria exemplifies the contrast between enormous wealth and severe underdevelopment. The Nigerian government has made several attempts to stimulate development in the region by establishing special development agencies. However, none of the special development agencies established have been successful in improving the living conditions of the people of the Niger Delta. As a result, the purpose of this paper is to investigate some of the challenges confronting the Niger Delta region, as well as the Nigerian government's responses to them in order to achieve development. The Marxian Political Economy (MPE) theory was used as the theoretical framework of analysis. The paper relied on secondary sources of data collection. It was discovered that the Niger Delta region faces unemployment and poverty, as well as a lack of quality education and healthcare, as well as water and transportation issues. Furthermore, the several specific development agencies established by the Nigerian government to address these issues are failing to change the narrative, as the people of the region remain impoverished. As a result, the paper recommended a change in the mentality on the part of the Nigerian government, of those who supervise the activities of the NDDC and the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, as a way forward to assure speedy development of the Niger Delta region.The position argued for in this paper is that the use of social welfare in tackling the pangs of poverty, engendered by environmental degradation, is crucial to addressing and resolving the Niger Delta crisis. Although there have been various attempts to address the conflict by the Nigerian government, yet these attempts have not assuaged the belligerents in the region. Past attempts to resolve the conflict include: increased financial allocation to the region, creation of states, establishment of institutions that will attend to development issues peculiar to the area, and the use of the military to quash rebellion. However, as laudable as these approaches have been they have not prioritised tackling poverty. Arguments are thus presented in this article for the need to see chronic poverty as the root cause of the conflict. The provision of social welfare: affordable housing units, good health facilities, education and other social amenities will cushion the effect of poverty and will calm the aggrieved people of Niger Delta since a major cause of their agitation is the inability to 7 afford certain needs essential for enhancing personal dignity and making life meaningful. Achieving this will enable the government to justifiably separate between criminal activities in the region and just agitations for minimum conditions for survival.Nigeria has earned US$3.6 trillion from the sales of crude hydrocarbon (petroleum) since 1958 when crude oil was discovered in Bayelsa State in southern Nigeria. Records show that proceeds from crude oil sale have not translated into sustainable development in the oil-bearing communities. When peaceful and nonviolent protest failed, youths of the Niger Delta region took to violent protest resulting to militancy and subsequently its hindrance to socio-economic development and political stability. Thus, creating the conditions that altered existing social order in the area. In order to curb this menace, Presidential Amnesty Programme was initiated and established in 2008 to provide opportunity for genuine resolution of the contending issues and restoration of stability in the region. The primary objective of the study was to establish the nexus between Presidential Amnesty Programme and the increase in activities of the militants in Niger Delta. Political economy approach was utilized to explain capitalist relations, resource extraction and class conflict taking place in the area. The study used a sample population of 450 drawn from the study population comprising three states in the Niger Delta region, did focus group and used archival document. The study revealed the relationship between the amnesty programme and the increase of militancy in the Niger Delta region. The study recommends the need to engage those not covered in the initial phase of the programme and other stakeholders considering the Petroleum Industry Act and design a bottom-top development blueprint for the area.The findings indicated amongst other things that while the amnesty programme has succeeded in reducing youth restiveness in the Niger Delta Region, the general state of underdevelopment, environmental degradation, poor infrastructure, lack of sustainable employment still constitute visible features of the Niger Delta Region. The study further noted that the amnesty programme has been inundated by corruption, political manipulation/interference, poor monitoring and evaluation of the programme, delay in payment of stipends to ex combatants, lack of meaningful economic engagement activities for trained ex militants amongst others. Based on these findings, the following recommendations were outlined: there is need for transparency in the implementation of the programme, proper monitoring and evaluation of the programme, proper engagement in meaningful economic activities should also be made a priority. Furthermore, focus should be given to agricultural entrepreneurship and local communities should work with the Amnesty Programme to determine their unique development needs and objectives.This work introduces an alternative approach to conflict management in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The Niger Delta region, the 8 crude oil bearing region of Nigeria, has witnessed an unprecedented spate of violent conflicts in the recent past, and all efforts to quell the conflict seem to have failed to yield the desired results. The proposed approach is based on collaborative problemsolving methodology to conflict management. Not only does this approach obviate the inherent problems of the control and adversarial method that has hitherto been adopted by government and other stakeholders in the Niger Delta; it gives participants an equal chance to express their views, generate options and influence the final decision. The paper however recognises that the participatory approach is not completely flawless. It requires very careful planning, determination on the part of all stakeholders as well as highly skilled facilitators.
