Before oil was struck in commercial quantity in Nigeria, the native of Oloibiri, the community where oil was first discovered and the natives of the entire region known as Niger Delta, comprising the following States in Nigeria: Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo and Rivers were hard working and highly skilled farmers, fishermen and hunters.
The geographical area is blessed with a serene and conducive environment and falls predominantly within the rain forest of the Atlantic Coast. This stands out unique from the other forests along the coast of the Atlantic. While others are mostly mangrove forests, this one is a rain forest which is rich in all sorts of plants, animal and marine life. In every hectare of the forest is an abundant supply of timber, such as Iroko, Opepe, Obeche, Mahogany, raffia palm, oil palm, iron wood etc. wild vegetables and also medicinal plants are found everywhere in the environment.
The ancient region had a good network of streams and rivers, which provided good fishing grounds for the people. Its rich forest provided hunting grounds for games which was basically their main source of animal protein. Some parts of the land were used for farming as well. Although the economy was simple and rural, there was enough food for all, which made everybody happy and contented.
However, the exploration, exploitation and refinement of the abundant natural resources particularly crude oil have led to environmental devastation and pollution of the region through leaked and burst pipes, dumping of dangerous chemicals and industrial wastes, uncontrollable gas flaring and deforestation.
Issues of Environmental Degradation in the Niger Delta Region are as follows:
Land resources Degradation: This affects farm crops, Buildings/Structures, Economic Trees, animals and man. Factors responsible for this are: Oil spills, flooding, deforestation and land excavation.
Water Resources Degradation: This degradation affects sea foods like crabs, shrimps and fishes. Factors responsible for it include oils spills, sand filling and sand mining.
Swamp Resources Degradation: This degradation affects such resources aas timber, mangrove, animals etc. factors responsible for this degradation include: oil spills, sand filling, and mining etc.
Environmental Pollution: This affects air quality, land quality, water quality, man and animal. Causal factors are oil blow-out, gas flaring, acid rain etc.
The Struggle for Survival
The history of the oil rich region is replete with struggles for survival. A lot has been written about the efforts of some kings of the region like those made by King Jaja of Opobo Town, Nana of Itsekiri Land, Pepple of Bonny, William Koko of Nembe, Oba Overamwen of Benin made constant and sustained efforts to see to the restoration of the region in its natural state.
In 1966, Isaac Jasper Adaka Boro, a former cadet inspector of the Nigerian Police Force, Graduate of Industrial Chemistry from the University of Nigeria Nsukka, revolutionary youth from Oloibiri teamed up with the like Timipre Owonaru and Bennet Mendi to form the Delta Volunteer Service. In the course of time, the group recruited many young men and eventually became strong enough to declare the succession of the Niger Delta Peoples Republic from Nigeria. Boro and members of his team were subsequently apprehended, tried and convicted for treason. Boro was later conscripted into the Nigerian Army in the wake of the Nigerian civil war. He did not return alive.
The struggle and agitation did not stop with the death of Isaac Boro, there were four phases of the struggle that emerged: the First began in the middle of 1970 and extended into the early 1990s. This was the period of the oil boom and the agitation was for infrastructural development and demands for compensation, damages and employment opportunities.
The second started from the middle of 1980 and lasted till the middle of 1990. This period was characterized was demands for compensation with respect to oil spillages which destroyed the farmlands, disruption of exploration activities, harassment of the oil companies by the youths of the region. This youth restiveness led to the invitation f the security agencies to deal with the youths.
The third phase which covered the period between 1990 and 1995 witnessed the struggle in the Niger Delta taking a totally new turn. It gave rise to what has come to be known as the Ogoni Wars. Ken Saro Wiwa, the Ogoni leader and President of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) mobilized the people of Ogoni land especially the highly educated ones to declare, The Ogoni Bill of Rights condemning what they termed as, the ethnic politics of successive Federal Governments. The bill proposed solutions to the problems of the Ogoni land which included political autonomy and the right to control resources.
The fourth and last phase is the phase that many ethnic nationalities joined the struggle. They include: the Ijaw Youth Coucil (IYC), which on the 11th December, 1998 issued The Kaiama Declaration. Spurred up by the Ogoni and Ijaw efforts, other nationalities came up with their Bills of Rights incorporating demands for resource control. Itsekiri Protection Bill of Rights led the rest: Oron, Ilaje, Andoni, Urhobo, Isoko to also come up with theirs.
The Federal Government of Nigeria, in order to develop the Niger Delta began by establishing Niger Delta Basin Authorities between 1979 and 1983. The next interventionist agency was the Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC) between 1992 and 1996 when OMPADEC functioned in Niger Delta. The failure of OMPADEC led to the establishment of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) which has not fared any better.
