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The Niger Delta.... History by puritygen: 12:02pm On Jul 26, 2016 |
The Niger Delta is the delta of the Niger River
sitting directly on the Bight of Biafra side of
the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean in
Nigeria. [1]
It is a very densely populated region
sometimes called the Oil Rivers because it
was once a major producer of palm oil . The
area was the British Oil Rivers Protectorate
from 1885 until 1893, when it was expanded
and became the Niger Coast Protectorate .
The delta is an oil-rich region, and has been
the centre of international controversy over
pollution, corruption (notably by the Abacha
regime), and human rights
violations . [citation needed ]
Geography
The Niger Delta, as now defined officially by
the Nigerian government, extends over about
70,000 km 2 (27,000 sq mi) and makes up
7.5% of Nigeria's land mass. Historically and
cartographically, it consists of present-day
Bayelsa , Delta , and Rivers States . In 2000,
however, Obasanjo's regime included Abia,
Akwa-Ibom , Cross River State, Edo , Imo and
Ondo States in the region. Some 31 million
people [2] of more than 40 ethnic groups
including the Bini , Efik , Esan , Ibibio, Igbo ,
Annang , Oron, Ijaw , Itsekiri , Isoko, Urhobo,
Ukwuani , Kalabari and Ogoni , are among the
inhabitants of the political Niger Delta,
speaking about 250 different dialects.
The Niger Delta, and the "South South Zone",
which includes Akwa Ibom State, Bayelsa
State, Cross River State, Delta State, Edo
State and Rivers State are two different
entities. While the Niger Delta is the oil-
producing region the Nigerian South South is a
geo-political zone.
The Niger Delta separates the Bight of Benin
from the Bight of Biafra within the larger Gulf
of Guinea .
History
Colonial period
The area was the British Oil Rivers
Protectorate from 1885 until 1893, when it
was expanded and became the Niger Coast
Protectorate .
The core Niger Delta later became a part of
the eastern region of Nigeria, which came into
being in 1951 (one of the three regions, and
later one of the four regions). The majority of
the people were those from the colonial
Calabar and Ogoja divisions, the present-day
Ogoja , Annang , Ibibio , Oron, Efik , Ijaw , and
Igbo peoples. The National Council of Nigeria
and Cameroon (NCNC) was the ruling political
party of the region. The NCNC later became
the National Convention of Nigerian Citizens,
after western Cameroon decided to separate
from Nigeria. The ruling party of eastern
Nigeria did not seek to preclude the
separation and even encouraged it. The then
Eastern Region had the second, fourth and
fifth largest ethnic groups in the country (the
Igbo , the Ibibio and the Ijaw ) after the Hausa -
Fulani and the Yoruba .
In 1953, the old eastern region had a major
crisis due to the expulsion of professor Eyo
Ita from office by the majority Igbo tribe of
the old eastern region. Ita, an Efik man from
Calabar, was one of the pioneer nationalists
for Nigerian independence. The minorities in
the region, the Ibibio , Annang , Efik , Ijaw and
Ogoja , were situated along the southeastern
coast and in the delta region and demanded a
state of their own, the Calabar-Ogoja-Rivers
(COR) state. The struggle for the creation of
the COR state continued and was a major
issue concerning the status of minorities in
Nigeria during debates in Europe on Nigerian
independence. As a result of this crisis,
Professor Eyo Ita left the NCNC to form a
new political party called the National
Independence Party (NIP) which was one of
the five Nigerian political parties represented
at the conferences on Nigerian Constitution
and Independence.
Post-colonial period
In 1961, another major crisis occurred when
the then eastern region of Nigeria allowed
present-day Southwestern Cameroon to
separate from Nigeria (from the region of
what is now Akwa Ibom and Cross River
states) through a plebiscite while the
leadership of the then Northern Region took
the necessary steps to keep Northwestern
Cameroon in Nigeria, in present-day Adamawa
and Taraba states. The aftermath of the 1961
plebiscite has led to a dispute between
Cameroon and Nigeria over the small territory
of Bakassi.
A new phase of the struggle saw the
declaration of an Independent Niger Delta
Republic by Isaac Adaka Boro during Nigerian
president Ironsi's administration, just before
the Nigerian Civil War.
Also just before the Nigerian civil war,
Southeastern State of Nigeria was created
(also known as Southeastern Nigeria or
Coastal Southeastern Nigeria), which had the
colonial Calabar division, and colonial Ogoja
division. Rivers State was also created.
Southeastern state and River state became
two states for the minorities of the old
eastern region, and the majority Igbo of the
old eastern region had a state called East
Central state. Southeastern state was
renamed Cross River state and was later split
into Cross River state and Akwa Ibom state.
Rivers state was later divided into Rivers state
and Bayelsa state.
Nigerian Civil War
The people of the Eastern reigion sustained
heavy suffering and many deaths during the
1967-1970 Nigerian Civil War, also known as
the Biafran War, in which the eastern region
declared an independent state named Biafra
in that was eventually not defeated but
reemeged as one Nigeria as it was before the
war. The loss of lives began when Nigerian
soldiers invaded the now South South at the
start of the war; majority of the South South
community leaders were eliminated, as the
region was mainly on the side of the Biafran
Government. The entire South East and South
South became a major war zone as the
Nigerian Army fought with the help of hired
foreign mercenaries and pushed the loyal and
die-hard Biafran soldiers out of this Biafra
region and deep into the Biafran Capital,
leading to the end of the war. Over three
million Biafrans died during the war, with
present-day Akwa Ibom State, Bayelsa State,
Abia State, Imo State, Anambra State, Enugu
State, Ebonyi State and Delta State sustaining
most of the heavy casualties, and Rivers
State and Cross River State also severely
affected. Many children and adults died due
to starvation and disease, and as casualties
of war. |
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