Niger Delta Militants and Resource Control in Nigeria

Abstract

For the past three decades, issues about the Niger Delta have attracted attention in scholarly
discourse, policy cycle and global political economy as a result of the changing politics of oil
exploitation and resource control in the region. There has been a wave of violent agitation by the
communities in the region, with several militant groups demanding justice, equality, and socioeconomic
development of their host communities. This paper examines the major cause of militant
agitations in the Niger Delta region, especially from derivation principle for revenue allocation
and resource control. The paper contends that militant agitations in the Niger Delta should be
considered in the light of youth reactions to the prevailing decades of neglect of the region by the
Nigerian state, rather than merely reducing it to youth restiveness and criminal act. The paper
concludes that the issues raised by the militants over the Niger Delta crisis are very sensitive and
bother on the very essence of fiscal federalism and must be resolved within the context of allinclusive
national dialogue.