Suchergebnisse

Nigeria's petroleum industry is the lynchpin of its economy. While oil has been the source of immense wealth for the nation, that wealth has come at a cost. Nigeria's main oil-producing region of the Niger River Delta has experienced tremendous environmental degradation as a result of decades of oil exploration and production. Although there have been numerous historical works on Nigeria's oil industry, there have been no in-depth analyses of the historical roots of environmental degradation over the full range of time from the colonial period to the present. This thesis contends that the environmental degradation of Nigeria's oil producing region of the Niger Delta is the direct result of the persistent non-implementation of regulatory policies by post-independence Nigerian governments working in collusion with oil multinationals. Additionally, the environmental neglect of Nigeria's primary oil-producing region is directly traceable back to the time of colonial rule. Vital to this argument is the view that the British colonial state created the economic institutions which promoted Nigerian economic dependency after independence was achieved in 1960. The weakness of Nigeria's post-colonial dependent system is exposed presently through the continued neglect of regulatory policies by successive post-colonial Nigerian governments. ; 2012-12-01 ; M.A. ; Arts and Humanities, History ; Masters ; This record was generated from author submitted information.

The Niger River Basin (RNB) is and has been important to the cultural and socio-economic development of the West African region. However, the basin, which is home to some of the poorest countries in the world, might be experiencing a new landscape of conflict with water resources being a key factor. A combination of climate change, human population growth and unsustainable resource use is threatening the RNB. The purpose of this article is to determine, through the Homer-Dixon Environmental Scarcity Theory, the impact and effects of environmental scarcity in contributing to a nascent conflict in the RNB. The article conceptualises Homer-Dixon's Environmental Scarcity Theory as a theory that argues for the potential of conflict in transboundary river basins as a result of environmental scarcity. Furthermore, the article conceptualises Regime Theory, particularly in the RNB, as treaties on international rivers that hold essential norms and encourage rule-based cooperation to politically resolve problems and conflict in the field of international river basin management. The article will therefore use Regime Theory to examine the existence and formation, role and progress (i.e. successes and challenges) of the regimes and/or institutional mechanisms that aim to deal with environmental scarcity in the RNB.