Resource Governance and Protracted Conflict in Nigerias Niger Delta: Understand [Hardcover]

Since the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other activists in 1995, Nigerias Niger Delta has witnessed conflicts associated with oil production and agitations against oil companies operating in the region. Why did the initial peaceful protests of the oil-bearing communities turn violent? What are the recurring complaints of the people? What roles do the government and the oil corporations play in the perpetuation of the conflicts? In answering these and related questions, John B. Idamkue explores the deep-seated perceptions and grievances of the oil-producing communities by tracing the history of struggle in the region and eliciting the candid views and perspectives of key community actors and stakeholders using their words and responses in a study that is revealing and insightful. By isolating the six pillars of resource governance, Idamkue shines a bright light on the change in the actors, political institutions, and impact of oil production on the livelihood of the people to explain why conflicts linger.John B. Idamkue is independent scholar.

Resource Governance and Protracted Conflict in Nigerias Niger Delta offers a breathtaking analysis of the enigma that is contemporary Nigeria. In this timely study, Idamkue offers readers more than a glimpse of what he had witnessed as a young community organizer and activist who worked alongside the venerable Ken Saro Wiwa to put environmental justice, good governance and resource control at the top of Nigerias national agenda in the 1990s. His argument, driven largely by data, that resource governance is both at the heart of the resource conflicts in the Niger Delta and the ideal place to find solutions deserves the attention of scholars, activists and policy makers in this time of tremendous flux. Clement Eme Adibe, DePaul University

Idamkues book is a searchlight into the labyrinthine intricacies of Nigerias political economy that reveals how a resource presents itself as boom in a section of the po