Niger Delta Conflict and the Challenge of Oil Security in Nigeria

This paper is concerned with the current unrest bedeviling Nigeria’s oil industry which is very instructive in terms of the threat it poses to the entire nation and the world. There is a sign that the crisis is still in its infancy in terms of its potentials to intensify leading to a full scale civil war in the region and possibly the whole country. This creates a great problem for Nigerian government, since disturbances in the oil flow is affecting the fragile but growing economy, and for the world since the general oil supply to the world may be disrupted to a disturbing proportion. In the face of this now monumental problem, there is still a lack of understanding of the interplay between geography and politics and between resources and conflict on the part of the Nigerian government such that their posturing and interventions will necessarily further the conflict and threaten security further rather than ameliorate it. This paper using the philosophical methods of analysis, criticism and theorizing, is submitting that in the present situation, there is a need for a clearer understanding of the conflict to better deal with the problem. It is the position of this paper that the current crisis requires a deep reassessment of government’s understanding of the region to better secure oil flows and also avoid full scale civil war.