Oil wars in the Niger Delta 1849-2009.

Date
2011-12-31
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Publisher
Ibadan, Oyo State: Gaaf Building, 110-112 Oyo Road, Orogun, Off University of Ibadan, Second Gate, Stirling-Horden Publishers Limited,
Abstract

Origins and main features of the transition from an oil Rivers protectorate to Nigeria’s new protectorate of oil; Restiveness in the Niger Delta: A case-study in micro- nationalism; Oil over troubled waters in the Niger Delta: Roles of King Koko & Co. (part one); Oil over troubled waters in the Niger Delta: Roles of King Koko & Co. (Part Two); Resource control, derivation and re-structuring: Primary evidence on the roles and interests of combatants in Nigeria’s oil wars: 1999-2003 (part one) resource control, derivation and re-structuring: Primary evidence on the roles and interests of combatants in Nigeria’s oil wars: 1999-2003 (part two);Resource control, derivation and re-structuring: A humanitarian exegesis of Nigeria’s oil wars in the Niger Delta (part one); Resource control, derivation and re-structuring: A humanitarian exegesis of Nigeria’s oil wars in the Niger Delta (part two); Nigeria’s long trek to amnesty: 1999-2009 (part one); Nigeria’s long trek to amnesty: 1999-2009 (part two); Nigeria’s long trek to amnesty: 1999-2009 (part three); Nigeria’s long trek to amnesty: 1999-2009 (part four); What prospects of lasting peace exist in the Niger Delta and Nigeria?

Description
Part of the notorious “Slave Coast” of West Africa, from the 16lh century to the Abolition of the Slave Trade in 1807, was a long coast-line which later comprised the Niger Delta. The inhuman trade in slaves featured largely in the ancient economy of the communities along the Bights of Benin and Biafra (later Bonny). Throughout this study, this is the territory I have simply called “The Bights”. Not many then saw that trans-Atlantic traffic in human beings, with sources in the hinterland and end-users in the Americas, in strict moral terms rather than profit. In that process, some city-states suffered immense socio-political dislocation through ill-understood demographic changes and their complex impacts. Some of the slaves brought from the hinterland got mixed up with the coastal communities while others ended up in the American parts of the New World. The Old World, particularly, the City-states of the coastal communities, dealt with serious matters arising. These weighty matters included the following. First, traffic in the hinterland had begun; but a vacuum there was not considered to be in the best interest of traders anxious for profits at any cost. An alternative and profitable product was long awaited for purposes of exchange along the coasts of “The Bights”. Second, in the cause of the Slave Trade, vested European interests had not only seen the strength and weakness of the coastal communities but were also anxious to explore and exploit of her resources there. Third, when the so-called “darkness” of the African continent was subsequently removed, through a concert of other forces, the first contact-points indicated by centuries of the Slave Trade became available as entry-points into the interior where once, slaves were the main products of attraction.
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