Contending Issues in the Niger Delta Crisis of Nigeria - Journal of ...

Dr. Victor Ojakorotu and Olaopa Olawale
and conflict among and within communities through a divisive
strategy of compensation payment. The oil companies are quite
selective in terms of who they give “informal compensation or gratis”
(CSRN, 2002). They may give to the traditional rulers in order to faceoff
the youths in a community, or to one community as against the
other. The social injustice, neglect and poverty that constitute the lot
of the Niger Delta people produced a series of contradictions. It led to
the rise of ethnic and minority rights groups that demand for justice
and fairness for their communities. From 1990 to 1999, there were no
less than 24 of these minority rights pressure groups (Obi, 2002). The
groups include the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People
(MOSOP),Ijaw Youth Congress (IYC), Movement for Reparation to
Ogbia (MORETO), Ijaw National Congress (INC), Egi National Congress
(ENG), and
Isoko National Youth Movement (INYM). Some of these
groups have made various declarations and demands in order to call
attention to the plight of their communities, and redirect public policy
in order to promote fairness, justice and their fundamental rights and
human dignity in the Nigerian federation (Ibibia report). These
declarations include the Ogoni Bill of Rights, the Kaiama Declaration,
Aklaka Declaration ofthe Egi people, The Oron Bill of Rights, the Warri
Accord, and the Resolutions of the First Urhobo Economic Summit
(Ekine, 2001). The reaction of the Nigerian State to those activities
has been largely to unleash repression on the leaders of these groups
and their communities. These ranged from the militarization of those
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