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

Clement Odiri Obagbinoko
The current face-off between the Nigerian military and the Niger
Delta Militants is an evidence of the fact that government keeps
putting every feet wrong in its attempt to contain a mismanaged
situation. From the ignorant to the witless deployment of brute and
tactless force during the military era to the cunning and impervious
diversion of attention from the real issues during the Obasanjo years;
the present Yar’Adua government dithers from inaction to obvious
confusion on how to contain a man-made crisis that would have been
better managed if the country’s leaders have adopted sincerity in
dealing with the Niger Delta crisis.( Oparah, 2008).
Conclusion
From the preceding analysis, so far the prevailing scenario in
the Niger Delta depicts deprivation and worsening social condition of
the Niger Deltans; the ceaseless depletion of the environment
occasioned by lawless and unregulated gas flaring and oil spillages
that have destroyed both farmlands and aquatic life; mindless extrajudicial
killings as showcased in the towns of Choba and Odi in 1999;
the militarization of the region through the counterinsurgency
operation of “Hakuri II” and the JTF and lack of government sincerity
and well defined policy framework to tackle the Niger Delta crisis
The impression we get from the crisis situation in the Niger
Delta region is that of government under-appreciating the crisis in the
region. This is rooted in the fact that government seems to misread
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