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

Chapter II: The Niger Delta Crisis: The Political Economy of Fossil Fuels in
Nigeria
destroyed both cash crops and fishing are the major impacts of the
activities of the oil companies of which Shell bears the bulk of the
responsibility.
Boro later died during the Biafra war. His bid to liberate the
minorities of the south-south from the perceived Igbo domineering
ambition caused by the amalgamation of 1914 remained a mirage.
After thirty years of Isaac Boro’s attempt to liberate the minority
groups in the Niger delta, Ken Saro Wiwa, erstwhile darling of the
federal government who turned against the Abuja government in order
to seek reparation for the carted away resources of the area continued
the struggle. His intention of having a loose federal government or
better still an independent state from Nigeria changed the politics of
fossil fuel in Nigeria through his Ogoni Bill of Rights.
Ken Saro Wiwa and Changes in the Oil Politics in Nigeria
The battle to challenge the federal government and oil multinationals,
mostly the SPDC, became the focal point of environmentalists in the
Niger delta region. The initiative, as mentioned above started with the
Isaac Boro movement against the environmental degradation and
landlessness caused by the activities of the oil companies with the
enabling environment created by the federal government without due
regard to the plight of the poor masses in the region. The need to
declare a state within the Nigerian state as mentioned earlier brought
about the security hardware provided by the Shell Company to the
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