Niger Delta: Resource Control Agitation Takes New Twist

In the Niger Delta, Nigeria’s vastly polluted oil and gas region, some concerned Ijaw leaders are currently pursuing the resource control quest of the region through a non-violent approach.

Nigeria’s Constitution regulates the relationship between the federating units and the federal government as well as the legal framework regulating its oil industry, is the fundamental cause of resource control-oriented restiveness in the region.

The law suit is seeking to restrain the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva..

The history of the oil region is characterised by agitation for resource control. After the abolition of slave trade in 1807, local traders engaged in ‘resource control’ struggles to participate actively in the trade in oil palm.

Resource control was one of the highlights of the Ijaws’ representation to the Willink Commission to Enquire into the Fears of the Minorities and the Means of Allaying Them in 1957.  Resource control struggles in the post-crude oil era that began with the botched Isaac Boro-led attempt to create the Niger Delta Republic in 1966 has culminated in contemporary oil-related restiveness in the region.

Since the Ijaw representatives failed to achieve their desired results to be left out of independent Nigeria, or, alternatively have a state created, subsequent ‘resource control’ struggles have suffered a similar fate.

However, the argument by the Ijaw people is that the peculiar problems of those living in the creeks, and the swamps of the delta were not understood, and indeed were deliberately neglected by both the regional government and Abuja remains true till date and feeds into the resource control struggle.

while the Constitution maintains unequivocally that oil resources belong to Abuja, the Land Use Act that generally vests ownership of land in the state permits land to be appropriated for any oil-related activities subject to the payment of miserly compensation. These culminate in the Niger Delta people becoming antagonistic and prone to conflict at the slightest misunderstanding.

The contemporary notions of resource control have been characterised by both peaceful and violent activities. While the period when the Ogoni people were at the forefront of the struggle was largely peaceful, the recent shift of focus to the Ijaw witnessed an escalation in militancy and violence. The response of the federal government has typically included the creation of development boards, state creation, pacification and more recently, the amnesty initiative.

The relative peace in the region and consequent increase in oil production figures is touted as evidence of the success of the amnesty initiative by Abuja. Basking in the euphoria of allegedly curbing the consequences of the malaise, the federal government has neglected to resolve the underlying issues that instigated and/or exacerbated the agitation for resource control and resultant restiveness in the region.

Thus, while the government is spending billions of Naira in stipend payments as well as educational and vocational training for repentant militants, it has not invested any meaningful resources to remedy the root causes of the agitation for resource control though the agitation has not yet recorded any meaningful success.

The tree Ijaw leaders have approached the Federal High Court in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, to stop President Buhari as oil minister, from calling for bids for marginal oilfields in their domain.

The Suit, PHC/YEN/CS/81/2020, that was slated for hearing on Tuesday is filed by Chief Brown Agu (Opu Agu VIII), Mrs Rosemary John-Oduone President Ijaw Women Connect and Mr Femowei Friend. Hearing was stalled because of the absence of the presiding judge, Justice Abimbola Awogboro.

They are praying the court for an order restraining the defendants/respondents from further advertising or receiving bids in respect of Marginal Fields pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit. They also want the court to restrain the defendants/ Respondents from issuing or approving any licence in respect of of the Marginal fields listed, pending the hearing and determination of the suit.

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) on April 6, 2020 announced the revocation of 11 of the 13 marginal fields licenses it issued to indigenous oil firms.

Oil Mining Lease (OML) 46 held by Bayelsa government, and located within onshore swamps in Bayelsa, won in 2013 through a bidding process conducted by the DPR was among the licences revoked for being dormant for over five years.