WILBERFORCE JOURNAL OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES (WJSS)
ISSN: 2504 – 9232
Volume 6, No. 1, March 2021
Pages 170-184
DOI: 10.36108/wjss/1202.60.0190
SUSPENSE IN A COMPLEX NIGER DELTA: INTERROGATING THE LOUD SILENCE OF RESOURCE CONTROL AGITATORS
IYABRADE IKPORUKPO
Abstract
The Niger Delta is very central to Nigeria’s economic survival, yet, the region remains underdeveloped. A situation that has resulted in the agitations for resource control and the practice of true federalism. This study examines the grouse of the agitators and the interventionist strategies of the federal government and posits that while the agitations cannot be classified as misplaced, resource control and the practice of true federalism are not panaceas for the region’s development. The study describes the Niger Delta as a complex region in suspense. This description adequately reflects a region seated on a gun-powder; naturally endowed but prone to different forms of crises. The study adopts Frustration Aggression and the Political Economy Theories as theoretical explanations for the agitations. It is the position of the study that rather than the agitation for resource control (an agitation that has assumed loud silence), the agitators should concentrate on tackling some identified hindrances to the region’s development.