Relative deprivation and insurgency: What lessons from Nigeria’s flawed federalism?

Abstract

In the heyday of insurgency in Nigeria's oil-rich but poor Niger Delta region, much scholarly effort was made to explain this conflict as being borne out of relative deprivation. This paper contests the logic of using relative deprivation as the cause, as opposed to the reconfiguration of power in Nigeria's national politics. This has seen the emergence of a president from the once marginalized Niger Delta region and the resultant dynamics of post-conflict peace-building. We also examine the consequences of a return to peace in the Niger Delta, in spite of the failure of the Nigerian state and oil transnational corporations to address the grievances that were widely canvassed as the reasons for rebellion. I conclude that insurgency in Nigeria is spawned not so much by conditions of relative deprivation, as by the nature of Nigeria's fundamentally flawed federalism.

Cultism in Rivers State: Causes, Faith-Based Organizations’ Role and the Setbacks

“…According to one of the participants, the youths in Rivers State are disenchanted and dissatisfied with issues in the state and country at large. Aaron (2015) summarized these issues to include (1) the longstanding marginalization of the region in national politics; (2) the widespread oil-induced environmental degradation; (3) the structural inequities in oil revenue-sharing; and (4) the palpable crisis of development and wrenching poverty in a region whose oil wealth sustains the rest of the nation. Yet, Aaron has contended that the insurgency, the scourge of cultism or youth restiveness in the Niger Delta, including Rivers State, is not necessarily caused by conditions of relative deprivation.…”

Governance failure and the formation of Anti-State Organisations: The Impact of the Amnesty Policy on the Development of Nigeria’s Niger-Delta, Nigeria

“…For example, some of the attacks on oil pipelines and threats against the Nigerian state by militants in this region are provoked by frustrations such as (the gross mal-administration of the Amnesty policy in forms of the delay or refusal to pay for rehabilitation programme fees of militants, abandonment or the inability to fulfil promise made to militants, especially, regarding their rehabilitation and proper reintegration, poverty and underdevelopment in the region, corruption, mismanagement of resources from the region by the government, conspiracy between community leaders and government officials to undermine the welfare of the people, and poor implementation of the Amnesty policy, among others) (Akinola, 2011). For instance, the plan or delay by the Nigerian government under President Buhari administration to promptly pay and take care of the concerns of repentant militants in Niger-Delta region was enough frustration that led to the aggressiveness and the formation of the Niger-Delta Avengers, an anti-state organization that terrorize the region and carried out major attacks on Nigeria's oil pipelines and security agencies (Aaron, 2015;Madubuko, 2014) Similarly, several other attacks and protests against the Nigerian government were borne out of frustration over the politics of revenue allocation and mismanagement of oil wealth in the region (Esikot and Akpan, 2013;Aworawo, 2013). This region contributes more to the national wealth of Nigeria, but receives very little in terms of development.…”

Resource Control and Secessionist Movements in Nigeria: Implications for National Unity and Development

“…The structural defects in the Nigerian federal system have been attributed to long years of military rule which was dominated by the majority ethnic group particularly the north, which used its position to advance the interest of the group and denied the rest of the federation especially the region that produced the golden eggs the fruit of its labor in terms of resources for its development [36]. Interestingly, several studies [37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47] have pointed to the defective federal system and absence of equity in the disbursement of revenue among the federating units as the cause of agitation for resource control in the Niger Delta. The people of the Niger Delta are dissatisfied with how rents accrue from oil proceeds are distributed among the component units of the federation.…”