The Rentier State: Oil-related Legislation And Conflict In The Niger Delta, Nigeria

Abstract

Oil presents a horrendous paradox in Nigeria. It provides enormous wealth and means of patronage to the rentier state and its joint venture partners, the transnational oil companies. However, to large sections of the local oil-bearing communities, the commodity is mainly a source of anxiety and misery. Dating from colonial history, the state has made systematic and sustained efforts to disfactor the local oil-bearing Niger Delta communities from asserting or holding any consequential stakes in the oil resources underneath their soil. In this ironic political game, the state employs the unmitigated paraphernalia of law and public policy to privilege itself and its business partners primarily within the oil industry. This leaves the local oil-bearing communities with limited breathing space, hence, their massive resort to violent protests. This study critically examines the emergence of the contemporary rentier state and how the latter mobilizes and exploits the instrumentality of rule making to entrench and advance its rent-seeking interests in the Nigerian oil economy. The rent-seeking interests and devices of the federal state not only underlie but also complicate the oil conflict.

Notes

 1. Beblawi, ‘The Rentier State in the Arab World’, 85.

 2. Beblawi, ‘The Rentier State in the Arab World’, 85.

 3. Schwarz, ‘State Formation Processes in Rentier States’, 1–5.

 4. Joseph, Democracy and Prebendal Politics in Nigeria .

 5. Erdmann, ‘Neo-Patrimonial Rule’, 13.

 6. Turner, ‘Commercial Capitalism and the 1975 Coup’, 167.

 7. Usman, ‘Some Observations on the Problem of Corruption in Nigeria From a Historical Perspective’.

 8. FMJ, ‘Oil in Navigable Waters Act 1968, Section 4’; Frynas, Oil in Nigeria .

 9. Cf. Omeje, ‘The State, Conflict and Evolving Politics in the Niger Delta’; Zalik, ‘The Niger Delta’.

10. Omeje, ‘The Nigerian Oil Conflict’, 62–84; Ikelegbe, ‘Civil Society, Oil and Conflict in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria: Ramifications of Civil Society for a Regional Resource Struggle’, 437–469.

11. Omeje, ‘The Nigerian Oil Conflict’.

12. Frynas, Oil in Nigeria , 75.

13. Omoruyi, ‘The Politics of Oil’.

14. Omoruyi, ‘The Politics of Oil’., 2.

15. Omoruyi, ‘The Politics of Oil’., 2.

16. Omeje, ‘The Nigerian Oil Conflict’, 62–84.

17. Ukwu, ‘Governance and the Nigerian Economy, 1960–1999’.

18. See Okoli, Institutional Structure and Conflict in Nigeria .

19. Cf. Okonta and Douglas, Where Vultures Feast ; Omeje, ‘The State, Conflict and Evolving Politics in the Niger Delta’, 425–426.

20. Okonta, The Lingering Crisis in Nigeria's Niger Delta and Suggestions for a Peaceful Resolution .

21. Khan, Nigeria: The Political Economy of Oil , 20.

22. Omeje, ‘The State, Conflict and Evolving Politics in the Niger Delta’.

23. Khan, Nigeria: The Political Economy of Oil, 20.

24. Okeke and Sobotie, NNPC School Enlightenment Lectures .

25. Khan, Nigeria: The Political Economy of Oil, 24.

26. Vanguard, ‘US Classification Linked to Nigeria's Refusal to Quit OPEC’.

27. Frynas, Oil in Nigeria, 36–39.

28. NBI, ‘Nigeria Crude Oil and Gas Industry’.

29. FGN, Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1979 ; FGN, Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 .

30. FGN, ‘The Land Use Decree No. 6’, 2.

31. FGN, ‘The Land Use Decree No. 6’, 2.

32. Omeje, ‘Oil Conflict in Nigeria’, 321–334.

33. Omeje, ‘Oil Conflict in Nigeria’, 321–334.

34. Omeje, ‘Land Alienation in the Lower Anambra River Basin’, 286–300; Yahaya, ‘Development and Challenges of Bakalori Irrigation Project in Sokoto State, Nigeria’, 411–430.

35. FGN, ‘The Land Use Decree No. 6’.

36. Omeje, ‘Land Alienation in the Lower Anambra River Basin: An Example of Human Rights Violations’.

37. Watts, ‘Contested Communities, Malignant Markets and Gilded Governance’, 24–33.

38. Frynas, Oil in Nigeria.

39. Frynas, ‘Corporate and State Responses to Anti-Oil Protests in the Niger Delta’, 27–54.

40. Frynas, ‘Shell in Nigeria: A Further Contribution’, 161.

41. FMJ, ‘Oil in Navigable Waters Act 1968, Section 4’; Frynas, ‘Corporate and State Responses to Anti-Oil Protests in the Niger Delta’, 27–54.

42. FGN, Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.

43. SCN, ‘Judgement by The Supreme Court Of Nigeria On the Case Brought By Nigeria's Federal Government Against Littoral States Concerning Allocation of Revenues From ‘Off-Shore’ Petroleum Resources’, 4.

44. SCN, ‘Judgement by The Supreme Court Of Nigeria On the Case Brought By Nigeria's Federal Government Against Littoral States Concerning Allocation of Revenues From ‘Off-Shore’ Petroleum Resources’, 4.

45. SCN, ‘Judgement by The Supreme Court Of Nigeria On the Case Brought By Nigeria's Federal Government Against Littoral States Concerning Allocation of Revenues From ‘Off-Shore’ Petroleum Resources’, 10.

46. SCN, ‘Judgement by The Supreme Court Of Nigeria On the Case Brought By Nigeria's Federal Government Against Littoral States Concerning Allocation of Revenues From ‘Off-Shore’ Petroleum Resources’, 26.

47. Cf. Uche and Uche, Oil and the Politics of Revenue Allocation in Nigeria , 31–32; Ibe and Okocha, ‘Confab’.

48. Ibe and Okocha, ‘Confab’; Ojameruaye, ‘The Offshore/Onshore Oil Dichotomy Abolition Act – Matters Arising’.

49. See Ikelegbe, ‘The Economy of Conflict in the Oil Rich Niger Delta Region of Nigeria’, 208–234; Ifeka, ‘Violence, Market Forces and Militarization in the Niger Delta’, 144–150.

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Kenneth Omeje

Kenneth Omeje holds a PhD from the Department of Peace Studies, University of Bradford, UK, and works as Research Fellow in the Africa Centre in the same department. He has previously held funded research fellowship positions in a number of academic centres, including the Centre for African Studies, University of Florida Gainesville; Department of Law, Keele University UK; Institute of Higher Education, Comprehensive University of Kassel Germany, among others. He has published many articles in the area of state-society relations and conflicts in Africa.