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This paper discusses the interface between violence in the Niger Delta, global energy security and amnesty granted to armed groups by the Nigerian government. The author notes the impact of the violence on energy infrastructure and brings to the fore how the violence endangers energy security. Thus far, a major concern is that the amnesty program will fail because it was not preceded by negotiations between the government and combatants. The author questions this view and points outs that before the amnesty proclamation, several negotiations through committees and commissions involving stakeholders had been done. The paper thus argues that it cannot be entirely correct to conclude that there were no negotiations before the amnesty program was proclaimed. Further, it argues that the issue of negotiation cannot be as important as the failure of government to tackle the fundamental issues which triggered the conflict. The deepening of the country's democracy to ensure that votes count at elections is seen as the most likely option to guarantee the success of the amnesty program and secure the region and energy security.

This paper examines the contradictory realities that have thrown up the conflicting relationship between oil companies and oil producing communities in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. To achieve this objective, the paper, after the introduction which provides the background and framework of analysis, situated the conflict in its political setting. It established that the privatization and ethnicisation of politics in Nigeria, has resulted to a resource distribution system that alienates Oil Producing Communities from the oil wealth. State legislations on the oil industry and manipulations of the revenue allocation system have made this possible. The article demonstrates that although the causes of the conflicts are complex and interrelated, material deprivation is central to the conflicts. It highlights oil based environmental degradation induced productivity losses and occupational disorientation, inadequate compensation for damages caused by oil industry activities, poor channels of communication by the oil companies, failed community development programmes of the oil companies, among others as causes of the conflicting relationship. The paper notes that current policies have not addressed these factors that motivate conflict. In addition to compensation, the paper suggests the integration of the people into the oil economy, and the direction of public resources to public good as the likely solution.

The Niger Delta region of Nigeria has, since the 1970s, been engulfed by oil-related conflicts that have passed through different phases. The transformation of the conflict from one phase to another, despite development interventions by the Nigerian government, has elicited the concern of scholars and researchers who have engaged in an exciting debate on the challenges and opportunities for development in the region. The focus on development in conflict resolution is informed by the centrality of development to the conflict in the region. Thus, Niger Delta: Constraints and Pathways to Development explores the complex constraints and pathways to development in the region. Divided into eight chapters, and writing from the perspectives of the environment and sustainable development, good governance, public expenditure, public policy and participatory community development, the book attempts to explain and bring to the fore, the challenges to and options for development.

Although the literature on the Niger Delta has highlighted the impact of the violence raging in the region, the analysis appears to have under-emphasised the effects of violent conflicts on sustainable development in the region. This study sets out to fill this gap. To achieve this, an empirical investigation involving 30 communities was conducted. The study shows that violent conflicts have undermined environmental quality through pollution and unsustainable exploitation of resources. The destruction of lives and property, the stagnation of infrastructure and agricultural development, and the insecurity caused by violence are noted to have constrained productivity, wealth creation and poverty reduction. Governance based on accountability, transparency, and the pursuit of the public good or common interest is seen as the most likely means to end the violence and secure sustainable development in the state.

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the place of the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in the sustainable development of the Niger Delta.Design/methodology/approachTo achieve this objective, the paper takes an overview of the oil industry and the Niger Delta. The paper further evaluates the sustainable policy of the SPDC, and highlights the strengths and weaknesses.FindingsThe paper establishes that oil industry activities have undermined the sustainable development of the region. Although the SPDC has created wealth for Nigeria, the wealth does not benefit the Niger Delta people due to the culture of politics which promotes individual and parochial interests as against public good. SPDC's investments in the oil producing communities suffer a number of set backs which include faults in implementation strategy and structural deformities in the development process of the country. Also of note is the environment unfriendly operation of the SPDC that pollutes the environment and induces unsustainable exploitation of natural resources and collapse of local economies.Practical implicationsThe paper suggests political reforms and changes in oil legislations that will direct the oil wealth to the benefit of the people.Originality/valueThe paper demonstrates that SPDC's sustainable development strategy in the Niger Delta has gaps that constrain efficiency. This understanding can guide the company to reposition its sustainable development programmes and thus become more beneficial to the oil producing communities.

The Niger Delta Region has in the past two decades experienced protracted violent conflicts. At the roots of these violent conflicts are the genuine quests of the people for sustainable development that is based on social justice, equity, fairness and environmental protection. Although richly endowed, the region is hopelessly poor. This paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty has been attributed to a myriad of factors ranging from Nigeria, s centralized federalism, to ethno-regional domination, corruption, poor governance, and oil-related environmental degradation. Development in the Niger De.

This paper examined the linkage between traditional systems of environmental protection and climate change mitigation/adaptation in Bayelsa State. Based on a desk study, the paper interrogated some existing traditional/indigenous knowledge on environmental conservation and concluded that they contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation. The paper notes that although the environmental practices were not purposely designed to deal with climate change, practices that controlled timber lumbering and pollution of water bodies, and also promoted land conservation, are in sync with modern strategies and methods of climate change mitigation and adaptation.