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

Dr. Lere Amusan
he treated the Niger delta as a special area between 1960 and 1966.
This could have led to the support Isaac Boro and his Integral WXYZ
gave to the Federal government during the failed coup d’état perceived
to be Igbo’s inspired ambition. The Niger Delta Oil Council called on
the oil companies to look into the issues of sustainable development
as part of their area of concentration. The Council also demanded
damages to be paid as compensation for their damaged cash crops
and economic trees destroyed in the course of their operation.
The introduction of unitary system of government by the Aguiyi Ironsi
military government after the January 1966 coup d’état brought
about the agenda of the federal government in having effective control
over the state mindless of the heterogeneity of the state-nation. The
fear of the majority and their need to feed on the resources of the
minority ethnic groups from the south-south was envisaged by the
Willink Commission. The struggle to seek redress through the court of
law and political movement on the case of the Niger delta did not
receive the blessing of the federal government was believed to be an
intentional act of the Hausa/Fulani influence on the need to cart
away the resources of the south-south for the development of the
North. Attempt to use derivation formula in revenue sharing and
introduction of special treatment to the oil bearing communities to
cater for the heavily polluted environment and the denial of the people
of the area of their traditional occupation has not been properly
addressed in holistic way (Obi, 1999b: 49). The oil spillage, which
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