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
Hellman/Hammett Award of the Free Expression
Project of Human Rights Watch."
Condemnation of poor human rights records of the Abacha regime
and lack of transparency in the undemocratic system of government
put in place, together with an attempt to transmute the military
government to a civilian one made the MOSOP popular. Despite the
economic interest of the Western states, mostly, the UK government,
it was the intention of the London to get rid of military involvement in
politics in Africa of which Nigeria was one of the area of concentration.
The need to have a fair share in the oil resource was well articulated
in one of Saro Wiwa columns as quoted from Maier (2001: 90) that:
"The government...must pay royalty to the
landlords for oil mined from their land and the
revenue allocation formula must be reviewed to
emphasize derivation. Citizens from the oilbearing
areas must be represented on the Boards
of Directors of oil companies prospecting for oil in
particular areas and communities in the oilbearing
areas should have equity participation in
the oil companies operating therein. Finally, the
delta people must be allowed to join in the
lucrative sale of crude oil. Only in this way can
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