NIGER DELTA DEVELOPMENT AND POLITICS OF RESOURCE CONTROL IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Resource control has remained one of the intractable national questions in the search for a united Nigeria, devoid of suspicion, ethnic or regional sentiments and other political trickeries. The controversy over the issue has become a recurrent decimal in almost all the national debates made in an effort to ensure an enduring nation. This study takes a look at the political intrigues of the agitation for resource control and allocation in Nigeria in relation to the concept of development. Specifically, it interrogates the link between resource allocation and the level of development in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. It uses two principal approaches in its methodology, namely, qualitative descriptive approach and the Elite theoretical analysis to scrutinise the enormity of rot in the area. It recommends, among other things, that in as much as it ascribes to true federalism, greater focus of the leaders and people of the region should be on the transparent and accountable deployment of the resources accrued to the region, particularly from the revenue derivation formula of the Nigerian state to guarantee competitive growth and development with the other regions of Nigeria.