Perspectives on Nigeria

In March 2010 the international conference Natural Resource, Security, and Development in the Niger Delta was convened in Yenagoa, Nigeria and hosted by the Niger Delta University in cooperation with the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Scholars of the Niger Delta from various disciplines - ranging from political science to anthropology - came together to debate the myriad security and development issues in the region as well as the implications for energy security. As a result this special in the Journal of African Security was developed to feature some of the papers presented and themes addressed at this conference. Perhaps most importantly, the editors of the special issue sought to highlight the excellent scholarship in the region and thus readers will find that most of the contributing authors are from universities in Nigeria. The issues features four papers that cover the character and dynamics of oil violence in the Niger Delta, the history of conflict in the region and its more recent effects on regional security, the emergence of militancy and formation of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) as well as the 2009 amnesty program and post-amnesty environment. The authors collectively find that endemic corruption, the availability of arms, patterns of abusive corporate practice in the oil sector, high unemployment and poor development, and the politics of oil revenue distribution as factors that continue to limit any sustainable progress in the Niger Delta post-amnesty environ. Until these issues are addressed, the situations in the Niger Delta will remain volatile and its future uncertain.