Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Marshes – Nigeria – Niger River Delta'

This thesis explores the manner in which the conflict in the oil-rich Niger Delta in Nigeria is represented in western Anglophone media. Large oil reserves in the Niger Delta have contributed millions of dollars towards the growth of Nigeria's export economy. Despite this, the Niger Delta is the least developed region in the country and is characterised by high rates of inequality. Residents of the Niger Delta have been outraged by the lack of action on the part of the Nigerian government and multinational oil corporations. Their discontent over the inequalities in the region has resulted in the proliferation of armed groups and militants who often use violent and criminal tactics to communicate their disgruntlement. This thesis closely examines the representations of the violent insurgency in the Niger Delta by conducting a Critical Discourse Analysis of 145 news texts selected from four western Anglophone newspapers from 2007 to 2011. The depiction of the conflict as it appears in the four newspapers is discussed in relation to an overview of scholarly literature which explores the portrayal of Africa not only in western media, but also in other forms of western scholarship and writing. The research undertaken in this study reveals that to a significant extent representations of the Niger Delta conflict echo and reflect some of the stereotypical and age-old negative imagery that informs meanings constructed about the African continent. However, the analysis of the news texts also shows that there are certainly efforts amongst some newspapers to move beyond simplistic representations of the conflict. The disadvantage however, is that these notable attempts tend to be marred by the use of pejorative language which typically invokes negative images associated with Africa. This study argues that the implications of these representations are highly significant as these representations not only affect the way in which the conflict is understood, but also the manner in which the international community responds to it.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2012.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The petroleum industry concern itself with natural resource extracting activities which are highly sensitive for contributing to environmental degradation by oil spills or gas flaring. A large proportion of the world’s oil and gas reserves is located in developing countries where the presence of multinational oil corporations (MNOCs) is high as host countries often lack the infrastructure needed or are financially unable to conduct extracting operations on their own. The Niger Delta in southern Nigeria has one of the largest oil reserves in Africa and is one of the world’s leading oil exporters. MNOCs like Shell, Chevron, Total, ExxonMobil and Statoil are some of the firms present in the Niger Delta region. The oil-rich area in the developing country poses high levels of political risk for the MNOCs. Local grievances, paired with environmental degradation and human rights violations by the oil companies, have led to a tense relationship between the local stakeholders and the MNOCs, with so-called petro-violence at the center of the oil conflict. Frequently, oil installations are sabotaged and crude oil is stolen, causing major financial losses for the firms, and armed attacks on oil facilities and kidnapping of MNOCs’ staff constitute the majority of political risks facing MNOCs operating in the Niger Delta. This study investigates how MNOCs can successfully manage such political risks, providing a business advantage in a challenging business environment. By addressing the companys’ own behaviour, the research analyses if social engagement through corporate social responsibility (CSR) can mitigate political risk in the Niger Delta. The study looks at two different MNOCs operating in the Niger delta, Shell and Statoil, and scrutinises their methods of implementation of their CSR initiatives. The difference in approaches to CSR is elucidated where Shell claims it has repositioned its approach from a top-down angle during the first years of conducting CSR projects, to a more stakeholder-oriented approach. Yet, their approach is still found to carry elements of the previous top-down approach, and has not resulted in satisfactory performance in relation to stated goals. Statoil undertakes a stakeholder-oriented bottom-up approach, executed with a high level of commitment. The stated CSR goals have to a great extent been met. By assessing the two companies’ CSR strategies in relation to the frequency of political risks experienced by each MNOC, the study finds that CSR has the potential to mitigate political risk depending on the approach to implementation, and could serve as a political risk management strategy.<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die brandstofbedryf is betrokke by die ontginning van natuurlike hulpbronne, ’n aktiwiteit wat hoogs sensitief is vir sy bydrae tot omgewingsbesoedeling as gevolg van storting van olie en opvlamming van gas. ’n Baie groot deel van die wêreld se olie en gas reserwes word aangetref in ontwikkelende lande. Die teenwoordigheid van Multinasionale Olie Korporasies (MNOKs) in hierdie lande is groot omdat daar gewoonlik ’n gebrek aan toepaslike infrastruktuur is en die lande ook nie finansieel in staat mag wees om die ontginning op hulle eie te doen nie. Die Niger Delta in die Suide van Nigerië beskik oor een van die grootste olie reserwes in Afrika en is een van die voorste olie uitvoerders in die wêreld. Shell, Chevron, Total, ExxonMobil en Statoil is van die bekende MNOK wat ontginning doen in die Niger Delta gebied. Die olieryke gebiede in ’n ontwikkelende land kan groot politieke risiko vir die MNOKs inhou. Plaaslike griewe gekoppel aan omgewings besoedeling en menseregte skendings deur die oliemaatskappye het gelei tot ’n gespanne verhouding tussen hulle en die plaaslike belange groepe, en sogenaamde “petrogeweld” staan sentraal hierin. Heel gereeld word olie-installasies gesaboteer en ru-olie word gesteel, wat natuurlik groot finansiële verliese die firmas inhou. Daarby word gewapende aanvalle op die olie-installasies uitgevoer en van die MNOKs se personeel ontvoer. Al hierdie dinge vorm die groot politieke risiko’s wat die MNOKs in die Niger Delta in die gesig staar. Hierdie studie ondersoek hoe die MNOKs met welslae hierdie politieke risiko’s kan teenwerk om vir hulle ’n suksesvolle besigheid te vestig in ’n baie mededingende bedryfsomgewing. Deur te kyk na die maatskappy se eie gedrag, sal die navorsing analiseer of gemeenskapsbetrokkenheid deur korporatiewe sosiale verantwoordelikheid (KSV) die politieke risiko in die Niger Delta kan temper. Die studie kyk na twee verskillende MNOK wat in die gebied bedryf word, Shell en Statoil, en kyk noukeurig na die manier waarop hulle KSV inisiatiewe toegepas word. Die verskil in benadering tot die probleem word toegelig deur die feit dat Shell beweer dat hulle ’n bo-na-onder benadering in die beginjare van KSV projekte verander het na ’n beleid waar meer na die betrokkenheid van belangegroepe gekyk word. Tog word gevind dat daar nog oorblyfsels is van die bo-na-onder benadering en dat doelwitte wat gestel is nie bevredigend bereik is nie. Statoil daarenteen. Implementeer ’n onder-na-bo benadering met betrokkenheid van belangegroepe en ’n hoë vlak van toewyding deur die maatskappy. Die gestelde KSV doelwitte is grootliks behaal. Deur te kyk na die twee maatskappye se ervaring van politieke risiko in verhouding met hulle KSV strategieë bevind hierdie studie dat KSV wel die potensiaal het om, as dit suksesvol toegepas word, politieke risiko te temper en dus kan die as ’n strategie om sodanige risiko te bestuur.

This thesis examines the potential of the indigenous right to internal self-determination as a framework accommodating the demands of the Niger Delta Peoples for Self-determination within the sovereignty of Nigeria. The unsustainable exploitation of crude oil in the Niger Delta resulted in the ecological devastation of the region and adversely affected the Niger Delta People's subsistent traditional mode of using their lands. The response of the Niger Delta People was originally to seek redress by instituting legal actions in Nigerian courts. The failure of the majority of these actions, and the combined factors of the exclusion of the Niger Delta People from the process and proceeds of the oil industry and their marginalization in the political and administrative structure of Nigeria resulted in the demand by the Niger Delta People that Nigeria recognize their right to self-determination. They justified this demand for self-determination with the arguments that:  Their dispossession from their lands by the government in Nigeria was akin to the exploitation of indigenous peoples in the Americas by colonial settlers.  The unsustainable exploitation of resources in their territory placed them in the same position as colonized peoples experienced under foreign domination in the era of colonization. In a bid to protect her sovereignty, Nigeria does not recognize the rights of self-determination or 'peoplehood' or even minority status of any ethnic groups within Nigeria. This thesis argues that the indigenous right to internal self-determination is a framework that has the potential to bring lasting solution to the conflict between the Niger Delta people and the government of Nigeria for the following reasons:  Indigenous internal self-determination prescribes a category of self-determination that is consistent with the sovereignty of states because it recommends inter alia autonomy with the territories of states. Indigenous internal self-determination provides a regime for sustainable development of resources as it recommends inter alia that states recognize the right of indigenous peoples to participation, consultation and free prior informed consent in the exploitation of resources in indigenous peoples' territory.

This thesis examines the social character of petroleum-related grassroots struggles in Nigeria’s oil-producing region. It does this against the background of the dominant scholarly narratives that portray the struggles as: a) a disguised pursuit of an ethnic/sectional agenda, b) a 'minority rights' project, and c) a minority province’s protest against 'selective' environmental 'victimisation' by the majority ethnic nationalities. While the dominant scholarly analyses of the struggles are based on the activities of the better known activist organisations operating in the oil region, this thesis focuses primarily on the everyday 'grammar' of discontent and lived worlds of ordinary people vis-à-vis upstream petroleum operations and petroleum resource utilisation. The aim has been to gain an understanding of the forces driving community struggles in the oil region and their wider societal significance. Examined alongside the narratives of ordinary people are the legal/institutional framework for upstream petroleum operations and the operational practices of the oil-producing companies. Using primary data obtained through ethnography, focus group discussions, in-depth interviews and visual sociology, as well as relevant secondary data, the researcher constructs a discourse matrix, showing how grassroots narratives in selected oilproducing communities intersect with contemporary civic discourses in the wider Nigerian context. The thesis highlights the theoretical and policy difficulties that arise when the social basis of petroleum-related grassroots struggles and ordinary people’s narratives are explained using an essentialist idiom. It reveals, above all, the conditions under which so-called 'locale-specific' struggles in a multi-ethnic, oil-rich African country can become a campaign for the emancipation of ordinary people in the wider society. This research extends the existing knowledge on citizen mobilisation, extractive capitalism, transnational corporate behaviour, and Nigeria’s contemporary development predicament. It sheds light on some of the processes through which ordinary people are forcing upon the state a change agenda that could drive the country along a more socially sensitive development and democratisation trajectory.

Conventionally environmental assessments (EAs) have been carried out to enhance the understanding of the environment and for the purpose of developing appropriate environmental management and protection strategies. There are, however, limitations to the application of traditional EA approaches, particularly in rural communities in the developing world, where livelihood is dependent on common pool resources (CPRs), and baseline data are inadequate or unavailable. Eco-livelihood assessment (EcLA) is an adaptive approach that integrates a people focused sustainable livelihood approach with ecological assessment, as well as exploring traditional eco-livelihood knowledge (TELK). EcLA is identified as a promising EA tool that could help environmental professionals in planning for equitable development. This approach has been used in the Kolo and Otuoke Creeks, Niger Delta, Nigeria to investigate the ecological impact of dredging that may impact on livelihoods in such a rural setting. Ecological and social surveys have been carried out in four communities in the Study Area; two Test communities and two Reference communities (two communities from each study creek). The information collected from the social survey includes TELK, and has been used to build up a baseline scenario of the Study Area. Abundance and diversity of fish are good indicators of the eco-livelihood impacts of inland river dredging. The research shows that livelihood characteristics, river use profile, fish species diversity and abundance are very similar among all four sample communities. In addition, all sample communities have been associated with similar natural and human induced environmental consequences except that the Test communities have had river sections dredged for the purpose of land reclamation representing the baseline scenario. The analysis of the results of the ecological survey shows a difference in fish catch per unit effort, catch per unit hour, and species diversity between the Test and Reference communities, this have been attributed to the impacts of inland river dredging. The study shows that TELK has a place in environmental assessment, and that eco-livelihood assessment is one promising environmental assessment approach that could be used in areas where livelihood is strongly dependent on common pool resources.

Les sécheresses des années 1970 accentuées dans les années 1980 et les aménagements hydroagricoles ont eu pour conséquence une certaine dégradation des ressources naturelles du delta intérieur du fleuve Niger (DIN). Cette dégradation des ressources naturelles associées à la pression croissante de la population sur le milieu a conduit à une gestion conflictuelle de ces ressources. De plus, le système d’exploitation actuel des ressources et le fonctionnement hydrologique font du DIN un écosystème complexe à gérer. Dans ces travaux, nous adoptons une approche intégrée et pluridisciplinaire pour aborder la problématique de gestion des ressources du DIN. L’approche mobilise l’hydrologie, la sociologie, l’agronomie et l’économie. L’analyse des données hydrologiques a permis de mettre en évidence une différence significative entre les dates de passage des maximums des fleuves Niger et Bani qui alimentent le DIN. Cette différence impacte les calendriers des principaux systèmes de production contribuant ainsi à exacerber les conflits. Les stratégies de gestion élaborées avec les parties prenantes, allient des pratiques de sécurisation et de maîtrise de l’eau, d’intensification, de régénération des ressources, de renforcement des capacités et des incitations économiques. Par ailleurs, dans un contexte de variabilité climatique accrue, nous avons analysé les perceptions d’un échantillon de pêcheurs, d’éleveurs et de cultivateurs sur la prévision du climat et sur l’intérêt des prévisions climatiques et des crues. Il ressort que les besoins en information climatique des usagers d’une plaine inondable comme le DIN se rapportent surtout aux dates de début de saison, de passage des maximums de crue, de la date d’arrivée des crues et des hauteurs maximales de crue. L’intérêt économique simulé de l’information climatique pour un système agraire de riziculture inondée présente un gain moyen de 10%. Par contre le coût des éventuelles erreurs de prévision serait particulièrement élevé pour les producteurs avec un déficit moyen sur le revenu de 24%<br>The droughts of the 1970s intensified in the 1980s and the development of irrigation schemes upstream of the Inner Niger Delta in Mali (IND) have resulted in the degradation of natural resources. This degradation of natural resources associated with the increasing population pressure on the environment has led to a more conflictive management of these resources. In addition, the current operating system of resources and the hydrological functioning of the IND make the management of the ecosystem more complex.In this work, we adopt an integrated and multidisciplinary approach to address the IND resource management issues. The approach mobilizes hydrology, sociology, agronomy and economy.The analysis of hydrological data has highlighted a significant difference between the maximum passing dates of the two rivers that supply the IND. This difference impacts the schedules of the main production systems thus contributing to exacerbate conflict. The management strategies developed with stakeholders combine the practices of security and water control, intensification, resource regeneration, capacity building and economic incentives. Moreover, in a context of increased climate variability, we analyzed the perceptions of a sample of fishermen, herders and farmers on climate prediction and their interest of climate and flood forecasts.. It appears that the need for climate information of floodplain users as IND relate mainly to the onset date of rainy season, flood maximum passaging date, the arrival of floods and flood peak heights.The simulated economic value of climate information for an agrarian system of flooded rice obtains an average gain of 10%. As against the cost of possible prediction errors is particularly high for producers with an average deficit on income of 24%

Marshy soil and sediment samples were collected during dry and rainy seasons within Warri, and Agbarho, 20km away as control. Levels of 16 USEPA priority Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons PAHs were determined using GC-FID. Source prediction analysis was also done. The study was in Niger Delta region, Nigeria from January to March and June to August 2012 in dry and wet seasons. Benzo(a)pyrene had highest total concentration of 3.302mg/kg and mean value of 1.651mg/kg in dry season soil samples. However, sediment samples had highest levels for total concentration of PAHs of 19.362mg/kg and mean of 4.840mg/kg for both dry and rainy seasons within Warri. PAHs concentration was higher in dry than rainy seasons for soil and sediment samples. Source prediction analysis revealed that PAHs in sediments for dry season were pyrolytic while rainy seasons were petrogenic sources. For soils, the dry season was mixed sources while the rainy season was petrogenic.<br>Environmental Science<br>M. Sc. (Environmental Science)

Since the discovery of oil in Nigeria, way back in 1950s, the country has invariably suffered some negative environmental consequences such as oil pollution resulting from gas flaring and oil extraction, loss of mangrove trees, which before now was a source of livelihood for the indigenous people and habitat for the area’s biodiversity. Oil production activities have caused contamination of marine life, and habitat, which in turn have had negative consequences on the health of humans, who consume the sea food. Inadequate attention had been paid by the successive Governments of Nigeria and the oil companies to these environmental problems over the years. In this study, an assessment of the effects of oil and gas exploration and exploitation on the nearby communities in some of Chevron’s operational areas was carried out using the Ugborodo community as a case study. Furthermore, investigations were carried out on the toxicity effects of the Escravos crude oil on aquatic organisms like Tilapia and a terrestrial organism such as the Earthworms (Lumbricus terrestris,). The study established the effect and the impact of crude oil when exposed to such organisms mentioned above. The rate of death of barbus fingerlings of Tilapia and the Earthworm (Lumbricus Terrestris) at different concentrations of crude oil was determined and reported. The community survey undertaken by polling data shows the dwindling of the natural resources of the area due to oil exploration and the survey indicate the impacts on natural resources from pollution by crude oil and the consequences on the affected communities using the Ugborodo community in the Chevron’s Nigeria Limited Operational base as a case study.<br>Environmental Sciences<br>M.Sc. (Environmental Management)

D.Litt.et. Phil. (Historical Studies)<br>This thesis focuses on Oil and the Ijaw people of Niger Delta States: 1956 to 1998. The rationale and motivating factor is to trace the general environmental problems associated with oil production in the Ijaw village communities that have impacted on the livelihood of the Ijaw people. The thesis is the product of research conducted into the Ijaw environment before the discovery of crude oil, to determine whether their socio-economic and political activities impacted on it through conflict as a result of oil-related pollution and degradation in the 1990s. Oil was discovered in commercially viable quantities in 1956 in the Oloibiri Ijaw community. Extraction by Shell-BP and Chevron started soon afterwards. It examines the complexities of the operations, management and control strategy employed by the federal government under a joint venture agreement with the oil multinationals, particularly through the various regulatory laws passed to protect the Ijaw inhabitants and their environment. This thesis explores and investigates the impact of oil production, particularly of the perennial pollution and flaring of gas, on the soil, vegetation and climate in areas allocated to major oil producers in the Ijaw community. It contributes to existing knowledge on the responses of the federal government and the oil multinationals to pollution and its impact on the traditional fishing and farming of most Ijaws. It explains the main reason the Ijaws demanded greater control of oil resources and a fair share of revenue in the 1990s. The government’s repressive responses exacerbated the environmental struggle by the local protesters against both government and oil companies. This thesis explores the various steps undertaken by the federal government to resolve the conflict associated with environmental problems in Oloibiri, Nembe, Otuasega, Imiringi, Anyama, Kolo-Creeks, which constitute some Ijaw oil-producing communities. The performances and functioning of government agencies, such as NDDB (1961), FEPA (1988) and OMPADEC (1992), at local level are investigated. The main reason for survival strategy in adapting to the environmental problems associated with oil pollution by the Ijaws, and why they were unsuccessful, is also examined.

Since the commencement of the 4th Republic in Nigeria in May 1999, one relatively permanent characterisation of the country’s political landscape has been belligerent ethno-nationalism or ethnic militancy. The activities of ethnic militias exacerbated insecurity; confronted the status of the state as the sole legitimate monopolist of the instruments of force and violence; exposed the weak loyalty and allegiance of the populace to the Nigerian nation-state project; and threatened its continued existence as a corporate entity. Decades of marginalisation and injustice foisted on the Niger Delta people by the Nigerian state in tandem with major Multinational Oil Corporations (MNOCs), precipitated the nasty experience of frustration and deprivation, which triggered a section of the youth in the region to embark on the formation of militia groups as an extra-constitutional method for negotiation, and redressing the political cum socio-economic dehumanising conditions of the region. Thus, there is a historically established case of grievance instigated by environmental degradation and despoliation, neglect, poverty, political exclusion and intensified military repression of the Delta people by the Nigerian state in collaboration with the MNOCs. However, though there are ethnic militias in other parts of the country, its rampant proliferation and seeming sustainability in the region -- in the face of organised state violence -- is unprecedented and deserves scholarly investigation. This study, therefore, investigates the extent to which the quest for opportunism and predation by the ethnic militias has led to the escalation of armed conflicts in the Niger Delta region during the timeline of this research. It seeks to establish a linkage between economic gains (through hostage taking for huge sums of money and illegal trading in petroleum products) and the intensification of armed conflicts by ethnic militias in the region. Further, the study systematically interrogates the extent to which international commercial collaborators boosted the violent activities of ethnic militias in the Delta geopolitical landscape. Using the qualitative research approach and data from both primary and secondary sources, the study establishes a correlation between economic opportunism, the proliferation of militias and the escalation of armed conflict in the region during the timeline of this research. Several young people also became highly attracted to belligerent ethno-nationalism in the region as a result of the greed to corner resources from illegal oil bunkering, kidnapping, outright patronage from the political elite and the MNOCs. There was rampant multiplicity and mutation of militias and armed gangs whose main purpose appears to be their involvement in the highly lucrative criminal business of hostage-taking for ransom rather than a principled struggle for resource control and socio-economic justice. Clearly, several people and groups have used such injustices as a rationale for justifying what otherwise would be criminal activities: oil theft, armed robbery and hostage taking for ransom. The quest for various forms of gains therefore motivated the ‘democratisation’ of ethnic militancy purportedly fighting for the Delta region; while in reality, criminality was being deployed as a veritable instrument for illegal resource exploitation, political patronage and primitive accumulation. The phenomenal attraction of people to militancy in the region reached alarming proportion in 2006 when kidnapping for ransom became a strategic weapon popularised by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND). Generally speaking, it has been estimated that militias may not have been more than 20,000 persons in the region during the pre-kidnapping years. But by January 2009, field studies revealed that no fewer than 50,000 people were involved in militant activities -- a figure that represents more than 50 % of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Further, this research also establishes a linkage between the activities of ethnic militias, illegal oil bunkering, foreign opportunistic traders and the sustainability of conflict in the region during the study period. The purchase of stolen crude oil by opportunistic international commercial traders from various countries of the world was the major source of sustainability of militia movements until 2005. It provided the much-needed arms and money for the cycle of violence and conflict and, thus, became a source of attraction to more militias. With the improved performances of security forces in the region and the consequent diversification of the militias into hostage taking, however, the level of conflict sustenance through oil theft and foreign networks reduced drastically between 2006 and 2009 in comparison with the pre-kidnapping years of 1999 to 2005.<br>Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, 2017<br>This research report conducts a critical examination of Ayo Akinfe’s Fuelling the Delta Fires by paying attention to the writer’s use of satire to highlight social problems such as corruption, deception and exploitation in Nigeria. The focus is on how Akinfe’s novel represents exploitation, waste, and excess that have become normative in a country on the brink of collapse. The work also seeks to identify and critique how Akinfe employs satire to interrogate the syndrome of the ‘big-man’ in Nigeria, showing how their actions contribute to social decay and violence. The research will also examine issues of ecology in the Niger Delta. Ecology has often been construed as a Western ideology that has little resonance within the framework of the African novel. However, this work, tries to show that as the scholarship on ecological humanities has evolved over the years, African alternatives which take account of the unique challenges of the continent have also being developed. Akinfe draws from these proposed models of ecology to focus attention on the ecological issues that are a direct outcome of the exploration of oil in the Niger Delta and by so doing, brings attention to the transgressions of government and multinational corporations who go to great lengths to extract oil in the region. Applying ecocritical examples suggested by scholars like Anthony Vital, Byron Caminero-Santangelo and others, the research report demonstrates how literature has been used as a medium to expose greed that facilitates ecological degradations and how the culture of consumerism affect the daily lives of the inhabitants of the Niger Delta.<br>XL2018

While a lot of ink has been spilled and numerous papers devoted to the variegated causes of the Niger Delta conflict, what has been conspicuously moot in the literature is their integration into a sufficient explanatory system to facilitate the intelligibility of empirical data and support effective policy intervention. Also, while writers have investigated the internal dimensions of the conflict, little systematic attention has been paid to its international dimensions. The study proposes to fill these gaps in existing literature through a two-level analysis of the Niger Delta Conflict: (1) internal (2) international. The internal level is anchored on a four-dimensional explanation which argues that political and economic factors are the root causes of the Niger Delta conflict, with environmental and social-security factors as the proximate causes. At the international level, the study probes the role of the international community in the moderation of the Niger Delta conflict and concludes with an appraisal of the extent to which the internationalisation of the conflict engendered both attitudinal and policy shifts on the parts of key players. Problematising the usefulness of majoritarian democracy for resource starved plural societies, the study canvasses, inter alia, the implementation of consociational mechanisms in the Nigerian political process as a more effective way of mitigating the seething cauldron of conflicts in the Niger Delta, and promoting inter-ethnic equity and amity in Nigeria as a whole.<br>Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011.

This dissertation titled ‘An appraisal of the law relating to oil pollution in the inland, territorial and maritime waters of Nigeria’ examines whether the law governing oil pollution in Nigeria is satisfactory in so far as determining issues of liability and compensation for oil pollution are concerned. The thesis examines a research hypothesis on the determination of the question whether the law adequately caters for victims of oil pollution occurring in the inland, territorial and maritime waters of Nigeria and if not, what are the observable defects and how can these defects be remedied. Not only has there been a considerable environmental degradation in Nigeria occasisoned by oil exploration and exploitation, particularly in the areas around the Niger Delta, but there has been serious socio-economic consequences pertinent to sustainable development of Nigeria as a nation. These impacts and the government’s attempts to tackle the problems have been the focus of this thesis.<br>Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.