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

The most common and vicious forms of
conflict, in terms of lives lost and property
destroyed, are:
• intra-community
• inter-community
• inter-ethnic
• community and oil company
conflicts
Box 5.1 contains a list of examples from
the past several years. There are, of course,
other forms of conflict. These include
disputes between local governments,
between communities and local
governments, between communities and
state governments, between local and state
governments, between states, between
states and the federal government, and
between local governments and oil
companies. These conflicts are also
important, but they lend themselves more
easily to negotiated settlement than to force
by either of the parties. In these cases, one
party is the government, and the other party
is generally reluctant to take the law into
its hands.
Intra-community
Intra-community conflicts involve
members of a clan, village or ethnic group
with some form of communal identity.
Examining a few cases of these conflicts
will show the typical root causes.
In Ogbogoro community, for example,
violent intra-community conflict has flared
sporadically since 1998. Under dispute is
the 1978 agreement that the community
reached with an oil services company,
ARCO. It requires the company to pay a
modest annual rent to the community, and
replaced an earlier agreement with a single
family voided by a court after a protest by
the rest of the community. In 1993, OIL
(Nig) Ltd. and West African Field Services
leased the property when ARCO left. They
signed an agreement that promised higher
rent, contracts and jobs to local people.
This raised the stakes for Eze Oha, the
traditional head of the community, because
he became responsible for distributing the
compensation to the community. At the
same time, a new candidate emerged who
made a successful claim to the right to
serve as the traditional head. This divided
the community into two camps, with one
behind the old ruler and one behind the
new ruler. Several lawsuits were filed and
pending in court when, as a result of rising
tension in the community, the Rivers State
Military Administrator set up a Caretaker
Committee and representative council to
disburse the benefits from the oil
companies to the indigenous members of
the community. In 1998, supporters of the
new ruler violently challenged the
Committee’s attempt to collect fees for
market stalls.
Box 5.1: A Catalogue of Escalating Violence in the Niger Delta, 2003-2006
Intra-community
conflicts arise most often
in struggles over the
sharing of benefits from
oil.
1. 2003: At Irri, Isoko South local council, a traditional ruler was alleged to have sold the rights of the community to
Agip Oil. This sparked off violence. At the end of the imbroglio, no fewer tha palace of the traditional ruler who
took to his heels in the heat of the crisis.
2. 15 January 2003: Indigenes of Ohoror-Uwheru community in Ugbelli North local council were attacked by a
detachment of soldiers from the Joint Security Task Force ‘Operation Restore Hope’.
3. 21 March 2003: While the Security Task Force was on patrol off n 10 persons died and property worth millions
of naira was vandalized, including the Escravos River, youths attacked the team with 17 speedboats at Oporosa on
the Escravos Creek, killing three soldiers and one naval rating.
4. 22 March 2003: Youths struck at the TotalFinaElf tank farm in Oponani Village and killed five soldiers and
destroyed property worth billions of naira.
5. 2 May 2003: Barely 24 hours after the state House of Assembly election, youths brandishing AK-47 pump rifles
and other light weapons attacked the naval base, leaving two naval ratings severely injured.
6. 7 November 2003: Eight mobile policemen were reportedly killed by youths between Otuan and Oporoma in
Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
7. April 2004: Five persons including two Americans were killed by militant youths. They were among nine people
travelling in a boat along Benin River, West of Warri, when they came under what was described as “unprovoked
attack”. The two American expatriates were the staff of ChevronTexaco.
NIGER DELTA HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT
113