A Retrospective Analysis of Oil-induced Selective Federalism in Niger Delta, Nigeria

Abstract

The paper established that oil based federalism has failed the Niger Delta. Oil rents/royalties has induced the Nigerian state to have systematically operated a federal structure that is suffocating the Niger Delta, which manifested in the glaring absence of basic amenities, the unpleasant environmental circumstances for hosting oil facilities, the physical menace from the Joint Task Force (JTF), etc. Youth restiveness became the direct result of perceived and real material deprivations in the recent past. The paper concluded that the peace resulting from the Presidential Amnesty Programme for ex-militants is only but temporal, unless a sense of and real indicators of sustainable federalism such as fiscal federalism, environmental federalism, environmental sustainability, livelihood sustenance, basic material provisions, etc, are introduced in the Niger Delta.

Keywords: Niger Delta, Oil, Federalism, Fiscal Federalism, Environmental degradation, etc