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

Dr. Lere Amusan
wall as the court declared that the case was not within its jurisdiction
(Omoweh, 1996: 40). When the oil producing areas could not employ
the services of the law court to claim damages or restore the status
quo ante, they resorted to the use of native intelligence in form of
sending honey bees, taking hostage and other forms of illegal means
to send messages to the oil companies and the federal government on
the illegality of the 1978 Decree. Though after the oil companies
would win court cases, they always pledged to compensate the
communities involved or private individuals, but their promise always
turned out to be vague or belated.
The activities of Oil Servicing Companies (OSCs), mostly
Seismography Services Limited, are another area which the struggle
against degradation and pollution of the environment has failed to
capture. Because of the financial outlay of the Shell oil companies, the
major focus of the restive youths in the Niger Delta is the government
and the oil majors while the operation of the contractors, engage in
the laying of surface pipes to transport crude oil to their terminal
stations suppose to be area of attack. This would have sent a signal to
the oil companies and the government to find a lasting solution to the
problem in the South-South.
The crisis of ownership of the land between the government and
communities on one hand and among various communities on the
other makes the oil companies have their field days as the confusion
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