Civil society, oil and conflict in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria: ramifications of civil society for a regional resource struggle
Ikelegbe, A.
Journal of Modern African Studies 39(3): 437-470
2001
ISSN/ISBN: 0022-278X DOI: 10.1017/s0022278x01003676Document Number: 199721
This study focuses on the ramifications of the entrance of civil society into a regional resource agitation in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The study finds that civil society has flowered, taken over and escalated the struggle and constructed itself into a solid formation of regional resistance. Civil groups have reconstructed the agitation into a broad, participatory, highly mobilized and coordinated struggle and redirected it into a struggle for self-determination, equity and civil and environmental rights. The study denotes the roles that civil society can play in the sociopolitical process and reveals the dynamics of their encounters with the state and multinational corporations.