Niger Delta Human Development Report - UNDP Nigeria - United ...

CHAPTER
FIVE
Conflict and Conflict Management:
Towards Sustainable Peace
THE NIGER DELTA, YESTERDAY
AND TODAY
A brief history of the Niger Delta will set
the stage for the current conflicts, although
only aspects germane to human
development are highlighted. For a start,
this region had the earliest and most
sustained contact with Europeans,
especially during the pre-colonial period.
This contact served the region well. While
the colonial government’s 1917 township
classification rated Lagos the only first-class
town in Nigeria, eight of the 18 secondclass
towns were in the Niger Delta and
27 of the 47 third-class towns.
Since the township classification guided the
distribution of infrastructure and
amenities, many towns in the delta, such
as Brass, Burutu, Forcados, Sapele, etc.,
received colonial attention much before
bigger settlements further inland. According
to Church (1965), Forcados became so
important during this early colonial period
that until 1914, goods meant for Lagos
were usually shipped through there. In the
Nigeria of that time, the place to be was
probably the Niger Delta!
Yesterday
The Niger Delta was an important area
for European trade, which stimulated the
economic, political and social life of the
people living there. New city states emerged
to cope with growing prosperity. Most
towns in the delta sprang up during the
period of European trade between 1450
and 1800, especially in places where
European traders had set up businesses
(Dike 1956). As a result of the palm oil
trade, middlemen became a powerful and
prosperous class.
For fear of malaria, European merchants
NIGER DELTA HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT
were reluctant to move into the interior of
the Niger Delta until after 1854, when the
explorer Baikie proved that quinine protects
against the disease. The role of the
middlemen in the palm oil trade was
sufficiently high for McPhee (1926) to
remark that the commercial penetration of
the interior was made possible through their
help as agents of European firms on the
coast. Middlemen established stores in the
interior with goods advanced to them on
credit by their European principals on the
coast (Mabogunje, 1968).
As a result of the foothold the British
traders had in the Niger Delta, the area
now known as Nigeria was conceded to
Britain at the Berlin Conference of 1885.
The Royal Niger Company, in addition to
its trading activities, was already virtually
in charge of governance on behalf of the
British. Its attempt to monopolize the trade
in palm oil to the exclusion of the Niger
Delta kings and middlemen was to result
in the first major rebellion in the region
against injustice. The British revoked the
charter empowering the company to govern
in 1900; thereafter, Britain assumed direct
rule of Nigeria.
The active participation of the British
Government in the internal development
of Nigeria did not begin until the passing
of the first series of Colonial Development
Acts in 1929. Before this time, development
was carried out with funds generated from
Nigeria itself. In 1939, the scope of the
Acts was changed under the Colonial
Development and Welfare Act. Its stated
aim was the promotion of the development
of the resources of the colonies and the
welfare of their peoples.
In the same year, southern Nigeria was
subdivided into the Western and Eastern
Regions. The present Niger Delta peoples
The Niger Delta
conflicts over resources
began simmering during
the pre-colonial period.
But today, the region
has become far more
volatile. Years of
deprivation have
pushed citizens into
anger, hopelessness,
cynicism and violence.
The Royal Niger
Company’s exclusion of
the Niger Delta kings
and middlemen from the
palm oil trade resulted
in the first major
rebellion against
injustice.
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