CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of Study                                     

Contemporary military history of the Niger Delta of Nigeria shows that the Nigerian military has been actively involved in counterinsurgency. A background of the geopolitics[1] of the Niger Delta becomes necessary to explain why the Nigerian military assumed such responsibility for a role that would have passed for a police job. The geopolitics of the Niger Delta projects it as the single richest geographical region in Africa.[2]It wasas navigable waterways that the rivers of the Niger Delta became so important in the economic history of modern Nigeria.3Historically known as the Slave Coast and later as the Oil Rivers, the area was chiefly remarkable among British West African possessions for the exceptional facilities which they offered for penetrating the interior by means of large and navigable streams and by a wonderful system of natural canalization which connects all the branches of the lower

Niger by means of deep creek.[3]

However, in contemporary political history of Nigeria, the term Niger Delta has taken on so many definitions in Nigeria that the actual meaning is almost lost to the politics of opportunism. In one broad sense, it refers to oil bearing areas of Nigeria, while in another rather restrictive sense it is employed to describe the ethnographic area with a peculiar ethnic make-up viz: Ijaw, Itsekiri, Urhobo, Isoko, Ogoni, Eleme, Ibibio, Ikwere, Kalabari, Efik, Okirika, Andoni, the Obolo and Opobian as well as Etche, Ekpeye, Ogba, Egbema, Engenne

and Abua.[4] These body of controversy on the actual area that constitutes the Niger Delta has given rise to terms like the “historical Niger Delta,” the “political Niger Delta” and the

“geographical Niger Delta.”

Figure: Historical Map of the Niger Delta

Source: Cosmas Ndichie, Cartographer, Department of Geography, University of Nigeria, Nsukka

The historical Niger Delta is restricted to the areas now covered by five states namely; Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta and Rivers States. It follows the original description of the Niger Delta as given by the Willink Commission of 1958.[5] This description does not include the Igbo-speaking areas of Abia and Imo states as well as the Yoruba area of Ondo state as it is today.7 This leaves the Niger Delta comprising Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Cross River and Edo states. Historically, Benin, as an area, came into the picture of the Niger Delta on February 22, 1890 when the term “Oil Rivers Protectorate” was employed in the instructions issued by the Secretary of State under the Order in Council of October 15

1899.[6]

The political Niger Delta enlarges the scope of the geographical and historical Niger Delta to include all oil bearing states found in the South-South, South-East and South West region of the country. To this end, the present Niger Delta is made up of nine oil bearing states (Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo and Rivers states) out of the thirty-six states in Nigeria. It equally has one hundred and eighty-five local government areas out of a total of seven hundred and seventy-four local government areas in

Nigeria[7](see Figure 1.3).

Figure 1.2: Map of Nigeria Showing the nine states of the Niger Delta

Source: Cosmas Ndichie, Cartographer, Department of Geography, University of Nigeria, Nsukka

Figure 1.3: Land and Population of the Niger Delta

States

Land (Sq/m)

Area 

Population

  Males

 Females

 Capitals

No. of LGs

Abia

6,320

2,845,380

1,430,298

1,415,082

Umuahia

17

A/Ibom

7,081

3,902,051

1,983,202

1,983,202

Uyo

31

Bayelsa

10,773

1,704,515

874,083

830,432

Yenagoa

8

C/River

20,156

2,892,988

1,471,967

1,421,021

Calabar

18

Delta

17,698

4,112,445

2,069,309

2,043,136

Asaba

25

Edo

17,802

3,233,366

1,633,946

1,599,420

Benin

18

Imo

5,530

3,927,563

1,976,471

1,951,092

Owerri

16

Ondo

15,500

3,460,877

1,745,057

1,715,820

Akure

18

Rivers

11,077

5,198,716

2,673,026

2,525,690

P/Harcourt

23

Total (9)

111,937

31,277,901

15,857,359

 15,420,542

      9

185

Source:National Population Commission, 2009 Federal Republic of Nigeria Official Gazette No. 2. Vol. 96, February 2, 2009

The geographical Niger Delta has been argued to be the “Delta of the Niger,” made up of Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers states and shaped by River Niger and its tributaries.[8] Advocates of this posi

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