e-sRC

CHAPTER ONE

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Introduction

              The Niger Delta area is one of the locations that is seriously affected by oil spill in Nigeria since it was discovered in 1956 at Oloibiri in the Niger Delta. Oil crisis could result in vast effects on humans and animals which include social, ecological, health, economical amongst others.¹

            The environment (air, water, soil) usually indicates the presence of hydrocarbon and petrogenic pollution and this affects aquatic lives and agricultural practices. These result in decrease in fishing resources, damage to marine flora and fauna, loss of biodiversity, deforestation, coastal and marine erosion and flooding.² The inability of the people to fix these problems and the supposedly government insensitivity had been the cause of persistent conflicts and confrontation with government and oil companies in the area.³

            The richness of oil in the Niger Delta made Nigeria one of the major oil producing nations. Nigeria as a member of the Africa Union (AU), NEPAD. and ECOWAS plays a prominent role as a peace keeper in West African sub-region. Ironically, in the Niger Delta, Nigeria has not been able to maintain peace. The area has not known peace but chaos, abduction, killing, armed robbery, prostitution and kidnapping.⁴ The effect of this is devastation, sabotage, unemployment, militancy, lack of amenities and abject poverty. The traditional occupation of the people is mainly fishing and farming, and therefore the Delta have a high dependency on the river and their land for survival. The rivers and the land are polluted by oil spillages and pollution.⁵

The women and the children are the ones mostly hit by this devastation. The men have either fled the area for greener pastures or away on combatant duty. As a result of the absence of their husband the women are left with fending for their families.⁶ The situation leads to a shift in gender roles with a dramatic increase in the number of women heads of households. In the Niger Delta, the women suffer both the confiscation of their agricultural land by the government and multinationals on the one hand, and rape and other assault by oil workers and soldiers on the other hand.⁷ They are also denied access to the oil [i]wealth as well as remain the most vulnerable group to production of oil that has caused environmental crisis. The thesis therefore seeks to examine women in the face of crises in the developing world with particular reference to the Niger Delta area. It hopes to proffer possible solutions to this problem.⁸

Aims and Objectives

            The main thrust of this research is aimed at examining the impact of Niger-Delta crisis on women and children, while the objectives include the following:

1. To examine the causes of the Niger Delta crisis.
2. To examine the nature and manifestations of the crisis on women and children.
3. To examine the role and struggle of women and children in environment of crisis in the Niger Delta.
4. To examine the social consequence of military on women and children in Niger Delta.
5. To examine the effect of molestation of women and children in Niger Delta region.

---

1. Emmanuel Osewe Akubor, “The Travail of Women in the Crises in the Niger Delta Area”, History Department, Gombe State University. Nigeria. Anthropologist, 13(1). 2011.pp. 27-31

₦6,000.00 – Purchase Checkout Added to cart