Oil, Conflict and Everyday Security in Post-Amnesty Niger Delta, Nigeria

Abstract

Over the last three decades, the Niger Delta region of Nigeria has witnessed protracted oil-related conflict in the form of armed militancy against the Nigerian state and International Oil Companies (IOCs), with grave consequences for the security of the region and beyond. The state’s offer of amnesty to militant groups in 2009 marked a major, but fragile peace deal with the armed groups in the region. Following the resurgence of conflict post-amnesty, and the continued militarization of the region, questions have been raised about the security practices of the state despite the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) touted as a peacebuilding measure. This study examines the state’s securitization and militarization of the region and the effects on ordinary people of the Niger Delta. The thesis argues that the state’s securitization without addressing the prevailing grievances of the people, constitutes a narrow and self-defeating approach for resolving insecurity and engendering peace; and has thus, created new security problems with the resurgence of oil militancy.
Drawing from the qualitative analysis of the field research data, I demonstrate how securitization theory and the concept of everyday security allows for a deeper understanding of the state security discourses and practices, how people perceive and experience security, how people respond or resist these security practices, and what security means to them. It finds that whilst restoring security is imperative, there is the need for the state to rethink its security approach, understand the social context in which conflict is created, and the everyday lived security experiences of the people in post-amnesty Niger Delta. The thesis contributes to a better understanding of everyday security from a critical security studies approach that emphasizes an alternative way of exploring security beyond the traditional state-centric disposition to security and state survival, to that of people as the ideal security referent. This is useful for interrogating security dynamics for both policy and practice, and for engendering security and sustainable peace in the Niger Delta.