mr isaac bullum
INTRODUCTION:
The Niger Delta cuts across three geopolitical zones of Nigeria namely; South South, South East and South West. It consist of nine states Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Cross Rivers, Delta, Edo, Imo, Abia and Ondo and it is from this zone that over 90% of Nigeria’s revenue is derived, the citizens of the area live in abject poverty and deprivation, environmental hazards and threat to source of their livelihood. It was as a result of these challenges that the citizens of the area began a protest to attract government attention to their plight.
It is no longer news that late Ken Saro-Wiwa and other Ogoni eight paid the supreme sacrifice for the liberation of their people. What began like a student union protest has, today, snowballed into major crises assuming national and international dimension.
THE EMERGENCE OF THE NIGER DELTA MILITANCY:
It was with late Isaac Jasper Adaka Boro that the Niger Delta crisis started in 1966, As an undergraduate student of chemistry and a student union leader at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, he left school to lead an armed protest under the aegis of the Niger Delta Volunteer Force against exploitation of oil and gas resources in the Niger Delta region which benefitted mainly the federal government of Nigeria. He was motivated by what he described as inadequate attention of government to the plight of the Niger Delta people.
The agitation assumed a new dimension after the killing of Ken Saro-Wiwa in 1995 and worsened during the last decade, following the December 11, 1998 Kaiama Declaration. The declaration witnessed the historic coming together of representatives organizations and over 40 communities that constitute the Ijaw nation to deliberate on ways of ensuring the continues survival of the Ijaw people. Highlights of the Declaration included;
i. the ownership of all land and natural resources within the territory as the basis of their survival; ii. refusal to recognize all undemocratic decrees
The Niger Delta cuts across three geopolitical zones of Nigeria namely; South South, South East and South West. It consist of nine states Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Cross Rivers, Delta, Edo, Imo, Abia and Ondo and it is from this zone that over 90% of Nigeria’s revenue is derived, the citizens of the area live in abject poverty and deprivation, environmental hazards and threat to source of their livelihood. It was as a result of these challenges that the citizens of the area began a protest to attract government attention to their plight.
It is no longer news that late Ken Saro-Wiwa and other Ogoni eight paid the supreme sacrifice for the liberation of their people. What began like a student union protest has, today, snowballed into major crises assuming national and international dimension.
THE EMERGENCE OF THE NIGER DELTA MILITANCY:
It was with late Isaac Jasper Adaka Boro that the Niger Delta crisis started in 1966, As an undergraduate student of chemistry and a student union leader at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, he left school to lead an armed protest under the aegis of the Niger Delta Volunteer Force against exploitation of oil and gas resources in the Niger Delta region which benefitted mainly the federal government of Nigeria. He was motivated by what he described as inadequate attention of government to the plight of the Niger Delta people.
The agitation assumed a new dimension after the killing of Ken Saro-Wiwa in 1995 and worsened during the last decade, following the December 11, 1998 Kaiama Declaration. The declaration witnessed the historic coming together of representatives organizations and over 40 communities that constitute the Ijaw nation to deliberate on ways of ensuring the continues survival of the Ijaw people. Highlights of the Declaration included;
i. the ownership of all land and natural resources within the territory as the basis of their survival; ii. refusal to recognize all undemocratic decrees