The impacts of the Oil Industry and Civil Unrest in the Niger-Delta region of Nigeria

Abstract

This paper establishes that there is a close relationship between the oil industry production activities and the spate of civil unrest in the Niger-Delta. Since the oil was discovered in the Niger-Delta and commercialized in large quantity, it has resulted to several unhealthy situations for Nigeria like kidnapping, oil bunkering and environmental pollution. These implications were found to be responsible for the incessant violence in the Niger-Delta. Similarly, it was found that, much of the environmental hazards and health implications in the area were as a result of oil production. In the conclusion it is argued that if Nigeria keeps depending on the oil, its problem of civil unrest in the Niger-Delta will remain unresolved. One of the major recommendations is for the federal government to radically improve the condition of social amenities in the Niger-Delta. The method that was used to gather data for this analysis was through the secondary method.