Environmental Terrorism and Poverty in the Niger Delta: The Mosquitoes' Character of the Multinational Corporations # Rufus, Anthony Abstract-There is no gainsaying that the Niger Delta is like a beautiful damsel raped severally with her supposed protector pretending to be defending her while collaborating with the rapists exposing her to more violations. The advent of oil extraction in the region has left it more despoiled than one can imagine. The ungodly and poorly regulated romance of the Multinational Oil Corporations, the Nigerian State and the oilbearing/producing communities can best be described as dangerous Mosquitoes perching on the very testicle of an old man, and any attempt to kill it spells trouble. Leaving it will equally mean exposing the man to acute malaria. This paper examines the precarious situation of poverty in the Niger Delta induced by the very activities of MNOCs operating without respect to international environmental best practices. Attempts at checking the situation seem to have fallen on deaf ears and in most cases military repression on the part of the government that should protect her citizens whose livelihoods have been bastardized with reckless abandon and impunity. Using the Economic Penetration and Integration Theory, the paper draws a glaring link between environmental terrorism and poverty in the Niger Delta. The paper concludes that if the future and peace of our nation must not be sacrificed on the altar of petrodollar, the environmental terrorism being perpetuated by the MNOCs in the Niger Delta must be dealt with and the laws regulating the oil industry should be reviewed to accommodate modern realities. Policy options are further highlighted. Keywords: environmental terrorism, ecological terrorism, poverty, multinational oil corporations, niger delta. # I. Introduction/Statement of the Problem any scholars have linked issues of disregard for the environment to the dynamics of poverty in the Niger Delta (Gideon, 2011; Ibaba, 2005; Anthony & Stella, 2016) only to mention a few. The discovery of oil in commercial quantity at Oloibiri in the present Bayelsa State of Nigeria and in the Niger Delta has been described as "a blessing and a curse" by the former Minister for Petroleum and former President of OPEC, Rilwan Lukman (cited in Aiyetan, 2008), as "paradox of plenty" (Karl, 1997), "blood and oil" (Anderson, 2001) "where vultures feast" (Okonta & Douglas, 2001) "oil on troubled waters" (Kemedi, 2005) "the antinomies of wealth" (Ibeanu & Ike, 2006) "the burden of oil" (Courson, 2007) and as "the oil of poverty" (Annet, 2004). This is despite the huge revenue accruing to the Federal Government from sales of crude oil products. The Niger Delta represents one of the most extreme cases of poverty stricken regions of Africa and the worst case of environmental pollution in the world (Okolo, 2016:4). To make matters worse, the livelihoods of the people depends largely on the bartered environment. Ibeanu (2000:19) captured the grim realities of the situation when he noted that; For four decades, ecological devastation on the one hand, and neglect arising from crude oil production, on the other hand, has left much of the Niger Delta desolate, uninhabitable, and poor. The shady modus operandi of oil companies and the incompetence and corruption of state officials ensured that neither took responsibility for the enormous environmental and social damages caused by crude oil production. Frustrated, the people of the Niger Delta took up arms against petrol-business and its political allies. The failure of a violent final solution to the community resistance, a tactic favored by successive military dictatorships, inevitably led to calls for a reassessment of the petroleum industry in Nigeria, and particularly the need for a new conflict management regime in Nigeria's oil belt. Presently, these calls are even more pronounced since the inauguration of an elected government in May 1999 appears not to have assuaged the people's needs of the Niger Delta. The problem is, therefore, the unimaginable hardship, quagmire, squalor and avoidable height of poverty brought upon the Niger Deltans in the name of the oil industry that ought to be an agent of positive change. More worrisome is the fact that the said MNCs operate with double standards making the Niger Delta the most polluted environment in the world. While environmental laws are largely obeyed in the world over, the Niger Delta is neglected. Self-help strategies in the form of oil bunkering have also worsened the already bad situation constituting ecological terrorism. One can ask why the coming in of the MNCs that should bring prosperity has rather brought poverty turning the Niger Deltans who were their brothers' keepers against themselves. Intra and inter-community conflicts have characterized everyday events. The story has been that of vexation, hatred an conflicts from Beletieama to Liama, Koluama to Akassa, Nembe Ogbolomabiri to Nembe Basambiri, Brass to M Okpoama, Lobia to Azusuama, Biseni to Agbere, Opuama to Ofonibiri communities in Bayelsa State and from Ke to Bille, Emohua to Ogbakiri, Ogoni to Andoni communities in Rivers State and from Ogidighen to Okerenkoko in Delta State all related to the contradictions of oil induce poverty. This is further complicated by the military repression experienced in the region in order to create room for unhindered oil extraction. Two cases that easily come to mind are the Odi and Umuechem Massacres in Bayelsa and Rivers States respectively with countless hundreds killed. Speaking the unrestrained and unlawful killings in Umuechem, Alapiki (2001:185) observed rightly that: The mobile police who attacked Umuechem village was like a?army that had vowed to the take last drop of the enemy's blood. They threw all human reasoning to the wind shot people and raze down a total of 495 houses in the village with blast grenade. Again, it is also important to find out what activity of the MNCs that constitutes environmental terrorism and how it entrenches poverty in the Niger Delta. Evidence shows that poverty in the Niger Delta has a direct linkage to oil exploration and the associated negative externalities. The evidence to the above claim is presented herein in table 1 as the anthropogenic activities (human activities) that have been implicated in climate change include fossil fuel combustion, wood burning etc. (Tyokumbur, 2010: 72). The evidence in Table 1 below corroborates the above. We should have in mind that: climate change affects farming and fishing which is the main source of income to the inhabitants of the oil-rich Niger Delta, as it reduces the production level of agriculture by altering the weather and ecological conditions of a place. Thus, the activities of MNCs and consequently, the destruction of the ecosystem in the region could be said to have a direct linkage to poverty and dynamics of adaptation. As noted by Akinola and Amos (2016: 39): The epidemic of environmental degradation, exclusion, deprivation, unemployment, inequality, poverty, political repression, etc., inflamed solidarity among the youths which engage in divers revolutionary actions, stiff resistant, violent reactions, militancy and hostage taking. A major take from the above is the obvious fact that decades of crude oil drilling activities have produced widespread environmental pollution with adverse impacts on traditional livelihood on oil-bearing rural communities. This study thus sets out to identify the culprits in this human security dilemma. Consequently, the study aims to achieve the following objectives listed below: i. To investigate the socio-economic implications of the activities of MNCs and its link with poverty in the Niger Delta. ii. To examine what activity of the MNCs that constitutes environmental terrorism. II. # Literature Review Although there is no consensus among scholars on a universal definition of the term environmental terrorism, available literature on the concept however, has presented it to represent actions aimed at self-gains that are harmful to the environment. It is important to state right away that the term is quite different from ecological terrorism which by the FBI's definition is the threatened use or actual use of violence against people or properties (considered innocent) by a pro-environmental group aimed at an audience beyond the target for environment-political reasons (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2002) . Chalecki (2002) defined environmental terrorism "as the unlawful use of force against in situ environmental resources so as to deprive populations of their benefit(s) and/or destroy other property". One point stands out in the definition above. The word 'unlawful use of force' seems to be pregnant as it seems to exclude those actions carried out by state-backed up agencies that destroy or deplete environmental resources in an unsustainable manner so as to deprive the general populace of their benefits. Mark (2011) noted that environmental terrorism is a "systematic act of terrorism designed to destroy the life-world". The term systematic here means that for an act to be subsumed as an environmental terror, it must be methodological either a modus operandi applied and sustained over time. To this end, Graham (2010) noted that environmental terrorism depletes life both directly and indirectly by changing the body's surrounding atmosphere and indirectly by acting on society's critical economic, organizational and ecological systems lethally. To Timothy Schofield the term connotes "the utilization of the forces of nature for hostile purposes (cited in Gamal, 2014: 176)". Alpas, Berkowicz, and Ermakova divided the term into three subcategories: the first relates to the environmental activists who target "industries, companies or even governments that they believe are harming the environment". In the second subcategory, "the environment is used as a weapon to harm an opponent". As for the third subcategory, it concerns the "harm caused by companies, industry, or governments through negligence (cited in Gamal, 2014: 176)". The above categorization points to the fact that the term is value-laden and as such, subject to abuse. It is in light of the above that Berkowicz placed a distinction between the term ecoterrorism and environmental terrorism by noting their targets. The target of ecoterrorism is properties, whilst that of environmental terrorism is environmental resources (Anthony, 2017). The literatures reviewed above reveals that while much has been written on environmental terrorism, there is arguably none on a localized and context-specific as it relates to the Niger Delta. This research work is therefore concerned with drawing a nexus between environmental terrorism and poverty as it relates to the Niger Delta which is the gap it aims to fill. # III. Theoretical Framework: Economic Penetration and Integration Theory The theoretical road map adopted for this research endeavor is the Economic Penetration and Integration Theory. Interestingly, this theory is a variant to the Marxian theory and is associated with scholars such as Lenin (1933), Schumpeter (1955), and Ake (1981) inter alia. The theory offers explanation on the penetration or migration of capitalists into the backward regions and the cunning character of influencing especially the political class, in the peripheral state to justify their occupation of viavle regios in the milieu (Offiong, 1980). Speaking on this capitalist precondition for expansion, Connor (1971) observed inter alia: ?The precondition for truly favourable investment climate is an indirect control of internal politics in the backward regions. Economic penetration therefore leads to spheres of influence. Undoubtedly, this is perhaps the reason why MNCs cooperate with local ruling class to ensure an atmosphere devoid of security threat for oil exploration/exploitation to thrive at the expense of the local populace whose farmlands and rivers have been polluted without corresponding compensation. The theory is adopted to explain the negatives transformation of the local economy by the cooing of the oil multinationals and consequent oil politics. The theory is relevant to the study as it helps to draw a nexus between the activities of the MNOC's in the Niger Delta and poverty in the region by illuminating how the MNOC's have collaborated with the government through their operations to perpetuate environmental terrorism in the Niger Delta, and how these have penetrated/destroyed the existing local economy that existed before crude and have subjected the people of the Niger Delta to poverty. # IV. Chronicles of Environmental Terrorism in the Niger Delta: The Mosquitoes' Character of Multinational Corporations The Niger Delta has been described as one of the world's most deltaic delta's (Doust, 1990; Etekpe, 2007;and Okonkwo, 2015). This distinguish ecological characteristic has made it vulnerable to decades of an unregulated crude oil business in the region. The discovery of crude at Oloibiri (Present day Bayelsa State) in 1956 by the Royal Dutch Company (now Shell Petroleum Development Company; SPDC) marked the commencement of oil exploration and exploitation activities in the region. Ever since then, it has been nothing but; sorrow, tears, and blood for the communities that bear the brunt of the petro-dollar business. Oil exploration activities in the Niger Delta have been nothing but a disaster with her marine life almost totally destroyed. As a matter of fact, the Niger Delta situation can best be described as an ecocide. The petro-dollar business has left the Delta as the most polluted region in the world (Cadmus, nd). The maximization of profit with disregard for the environment by the MNOC's has turned the region into an ecological nightmare. Despite the significant contribution of the Niger Delta region to the Nigerian economy, the region is still wallowing in poverty making scholars to describe her as a region "poor in wealth". The huge natural resources in the Niger Delta have not translated to wealth making scholars to describe her resources as a curse rather than a blessing (Watts, 2008). To make matters worse: the contrast in the life style of the MNOC's and the local populace points to the fact that the relationship is nothing but; parasitic. This paradox, coupled with the mosquito character of the MNOC's culminated in the arms struggle in the region that ended up with the amnesty program of the Yar' Adua's administration. Available data on oil spills in the Niger Delta has been subjected to debate due to the secrecy of MNOC's and the shortcomings of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) (Ibaba, 2017;11). Nevertheless, available records have shown that the incidence of oil spills (a major source of environmental degradation) is on the high side. Take for example; while 9,107 of oil spills were recorded between 1976-2005 by Nwilo and Badejo, Uyigue and Agho noted that there were 4,647 spills between; 1976-1996. Similarly, the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) acknowledged to 1,243 incidences of oil spills in its jurisdiction (Ibaba, 2017: 11-12). The figures noted above are quite alarming when one puts into consideration that the attempt to recover the spilt oil from the environment is on the low. The table below captures the scale of oil spills in the Niger Delta. The table above captures the scale of environmental damage caused by the petro-dollar business in the Niger Delta. What is quite alarming from the above is the fact that it barely captures up to 1 percent of the total spills recorded by NOSDRA which put it at an alarming 4769 spills between the years 2013 to 2017. As a matter of fact, the scale of environmental damage in the Niger Delta is so bad that a United Nations study said it could take Shell and other oil companies up to 30 years and about $ 1b to clean up the oil spills (Obi, 2012). The large scale at which the environment is being destroyed in the Niger Delta is terrifying. This situation is even made worse by the fact that the region has not benefited much from oil production despite the fact that it is the center of Nigeria's oil industry, which provides a bulk of the country's foreign exchange and despite the fact that the local economy is being destroyed by the petro-dollar business at an unprecedented scale which makes it a take-take scenario for the oil companies and a lose-lose one for the locals. Nwadiaro (1993), Agahlino (2000) and Okaba (2003) have all acknowledge the negative impact of oil production on the environment, as the various stages involved in the exploration and exploitation of crude ranging from geophysical prospecting drilling, production, transportation and refining have all been implicated for causing severe harm to the environment. Some of the damaging impacts of oil production on the environment have been noted to include but not limited to: a) Land Deprivation as a result of constructing flow lines, barrow pits and trunk line networks in preparation for seismic drilling, b) Soil Quality Alteration as a result of frequent crude oil spillage, c) Air Pollution and Health Problems as a result of gas flaring etc. Amongst all the issues noted above, the case of gas flaring has been the most annoying as the body language of the MNOC's point to the fact that there is no genuine attempt on their side to put the issue to an end. In the case of pollutants discharged into the air, such as: sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxides, disease reactions range from masophary irritation and cough, bronchitis respiration function impairment associated carbon monoxide toxicity. Although data in Nigeria's oil mineral producing areas are unavailable, preliminary studies shows the occurrence of such effects as abnormal erthrocycle sedimentation rates (ESR), abnormal white cell counts, dermatitis, conjunctivitis, urethistis, upper respiratory tract infections and cardio-pulmonary diseases (Olusi, 1981in Okaba, 2005). The character of the MNOC's in the Niger Delta can best be describe as that of a mosquito which feast on its victims blood for survival, and in return deposits parasites that causes malaria. The argument above is particularly true when one puts into consideration the many oil induced conflicts that has occurred in the Niger Delta such as the killing of the Ogoni 9 (including Ken Saro Wiwa) by the Abacha's administration which was in large part due to the role played by the SPDC which eventually led to their expulsion from Ogoni land. Similarly, the Odi massacre by the Obasanjo's administration which left an entire community in shambles was also to a large part connected with oil production. The number of oil related crises in the Niger Delta is quite alarming. The unholy romance between the MNOC's and the federal government to rape the people of the Niger Delta of their resources while at the same time destroying their environment without adequate compensation can best be described as an environmental terror. Suffice it to say, that it is the mosquito character of the MNOC's operating in the region that gave birth to the Ogoni Bill of Right, and the Kaiama declarion which served as the instrument and rallying point for the Niger Delta agitation which later culminated in to the arms struggle in the region vis-à-vis militancy between the years 2005-2009 (Ibaba, 2017;4). The government is still playing politics with the Niger Delta issue as can be seen in the Ogoni cleanup. Little wonder Ibaba referred to the Niger Delta situation as "Mopping the Wet Floor, while ignoring the Leaking Roof". The rise of the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) goes a long way to show that the fundamental issues confronting the Niger Delta has not been addressed. # V. Poverty Malaria: The Deposit of Multinational Corporations in the Niger Delta Poverty is a tricky concept to capture in a single definition because it is a political, social, economic, and cultural construct. Its conception and expression varies depending on the context in which it is used and as such, relies heavily on both the method of production and social organization. The term poverty is fluid and as such, cannot be subjected to simple definitional categorization. The United Nations Department of Public Information (1996) described poverty as having various manifestations which include: lack of income and productive resources sufficient to ensure a sustainable livelihood; hunger and malnutrition; ill health; limited or lack of access to education; and other basic services; increasing morbidity and mortality from illness; homelessness and inadequate housing; unsafe environments, and social discrimination and exclusion. Spicker (nd) cited in Anthony (2017) noted that, the concept of poverty in the social sciences is best understood under 'twelve discrete senses ' The definition of poverty given above, has presented the bulk of the Niger Delta people as poor. The activities of the MNOC's in the Niger Delta have left the people without 'productive resources sufficient to ensure a sustainable livelihood' as the environment which a bulk of the rural dwellers depend on have been destroyed thereby living them with little or no income. In addition, the presence of the MNOC's in the Niger Delta has led to a hike in the price of commodities in the region. The average cost of living in the Niger Delta is much higher when compared to other regions. The above is indicative as it proves that the presence of the MNOC's has; worsened the economic status of the average Niger Deltan. The table below captures the poverty status of the Niger Delta states. Despite its continuous importance to the Nigerian economy, the table above reveals that the poverty rate in the Niger Delta has been on the rise. The shift/increased in the amount of people now living in poverty is significant, as a bulk of the states shown here have almost doubled their poverty rate between a space of six (6) years. The above scenario can only be linked to the large scale environmental degradation being perpetuated in the region by the MNOC's as a result of crude production (outside government failure) as a bulk of the Niger Delta population depends on their environment for survival. As the year goes by, more and more oil is spilt into the environment thereby destroying both aquatic lives and soil texture, which in turn affects the income of the local populace. Little wonder that the people have engaged in self help strategies such as illegal modular refineries to keep body and soul together. Sadly, the vandalization of oil pipes for illegal crude market (known as black market) has further led to the destruction of the already damaged eco-system which makes it a double blow to the local populace. It is for this reason that Anthony and David (2017) noted that "in as much as oil has brought wealth to Nigeria, it has also brought doom on the Niger Delta region at large and the host communities where it is found in particular." # VI. The Response of Ecological Terrorism: Re-enforcing the Dialectical Poverty Circle While Responding to the Effects Rather than the Cause With the incessant destruction of the environment by the MNOC's without adequate compensation, and with the traditional livelihood structures of inhabitants of host communities almost totally destroyed, the people (youths) of the Niger Delta resorted to economic sabotage in order to draw the attention of the government to their plight (ecological terrorism as against environmental terrorism). The resort to economic sabotage is made plausible by the fact that previous attempts through protest to draw both the government/MNOC's attention to the wanton environmental damage perpetuated by the MNOC's in the region yielded little or no result. Thus, militancy (ecological terrorism) in the Niger Delta was launched as a tool to draw international attention to the region's plight. Planned attacks by ecoterrorists gave them a sudden national recognition, a bigger recognition by the deprived Niger Deltan's, and an influx of cash, most of them, ransoms paid by oil giants within the Niger Delta creek and also the government. The modus operandi adopted by the ecoterrorists was simple: Destroy oil installations, and kidnap politicians and oil workers (Anthony and David, 2017). Source: Ibaba, 2017 Figure1: Conflict Tree Depicting the Niger Delta Conflict Disturbed by the security and economic challenges of the eco-terrorists violent agitations in the Niger Delta, the Nigerian State under the leadership of the Late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua introduced the amnesty program for the repentant eco-terrorists as a solution to the problem of general insecurity and also to create a peaceful and an enabling environment to tackle the development crisis in the region. Before the granting of amnesty, President Yar'Adua had tried other solutions such as drawing up the Niger Delta Master Plan, establishment of a Niger Delta Ministry among others. It was therefore, not surprising that the Nigerian state, realizing the importance of the DDR and the need to make it respond to local context, implemented the recommendation of the Niger Delta Technical Committee (NDTC) by instituting the DDR process in order to douse violent tensions and facilitate development in the oil-producing region (Ikenya and Iwuagwu, 2009; Omotola, 2010; Oluwatoyin, 2011). While it could be stated that the amnesty program was very effective in bringing to an end the endless level of sophistication in brutality and violence practiced by the ecological terrorist, and is credited for the 'relative peace' in the Niger Delta, it however, failed woefully in putting to an end the issue of oil theft (also known as oil bunkering) in the region. Oil theft now holds sway in the region, as it seems to be a survival response mechanism in the Niger Delta. Inherently, there is a paucity of research and evidence regarding (i) the current motivations for action as it concerns participation in oil bunkering and the spread of artisan illegal refineries (AIRs), and (ii) the motivations for the change in the nature of rural communities' attitude and response towards oil bunkering and AIRs as veritable agents of environmental pollution (Zibima, 2015: 5). Despite the dangers associated with oil theft and AIRs, the market for illegal crude seems to have local support. In trying to establish a rational for the above, Zibima noted that when the interest of the state is disconnected from that of communities, as it relates to natural resource extraction and use in the context of the Niger delta, community perceptions and experiences may lead to a challenge of the system and the nature of resource use. The outcomes of such action while providing short-term benefits may lead to contradictory outcomes for social and intergenerational justice. Essentially, the efficacy of individual and collective action does not always lead to rational outcomes. The environmental impacts of (oil bunkering) and artisanal refining highlight this relationship between collective action and rational outcomes, at least in the context of the Niger delta. This is notwithstanding the fact that the activity has developed to become a source of rural income (Zibima, 2015;6). # VII. Conclusion and Policy Implications The Niger Delta situation is a paradox. The region produces over 85% of the foreign exchange revenue that sustains the country through her rich oil industry, yet her rural communities that houses the petro-dollar business wallow in poverty. The negligence of the MNOC's coupled with repressive government policies/laws transformed a peaceful agitation into an arms race in the region culminating into the Yar' Adua's amnesty program. The decision of the government not to address the key issues that culminated into violent agitations in the region and the subsequent decision to throw money at the problem while the MNOC's keep perpetuating environmental terrorism in the region only gives credence to the illegal oil market in the Niger Delta. If nothing is done to address the issue, then the issue of ecological terrorism in the region will continue to be a bone in the neck of the government. # VIII. # Recommendations This paper recommends that the government should as a matter of policy address the issues of development and environmental degradation. More so, government should not play politics with the issues of pollution cleanup and payment of compensations. Multinational corporations should be compelled to obey the laws of the nation as well as abide by international best practices. Poem: Oil and Politics Wait, wait the power brokers say Farmers and Fishermen hardly make earns. Old men like young men falls in yonder place. The Militants Militates against Multinationals. 12![Site of Fire Explosion at an Illegal Crude Oil Loading BayPlate Aerial view of a cluster of artisanal refineries in the Niger delta](image-2.png "Plate 1 : 2 :") 1Greenhouse gases/substancesSourcesStratospheric water vaporHydrologic cycleCarbon dioxideFossil fuel combustion, bus burning, forest fires, wood burning, gasflaring, respiration, acidification of limestone depositsMethaneCoal mining activities, leakages from gas pipelines and oil tankers, ricepaddies, decay of natural vegetation, landfill emissions, belching fromruminant animals and decomposing droppings from poultry or otherlivestock farmsNitrous oxideFossil fuel combustion, automobile exhaust, bush burning, forest fires,wood burning, gas flaring, atmospheric release from the nitrogen cycleenhanced by fertilizer application in nutrient-deficient soils, automobileexhaustOzone(withinthetroposphereinPhotochemical reactions near the exhaust pipes of automobiles, aroundindustrialized regions)emitting points of gas flaring chimneys, flue of power plants utilizing gasand coalChlorofluorocarbon (CFC)Human activities related to production and use of organic coolants,refrigerants, solvents such as foaming agents and packing materialsParticulate matter (dark aerosols) Debatable,Erupting volcanoes, slash-and-burn farming, bush burning, gas flaring,but interfere in heat transfer between thewindblown dust.Earth and outer spaceSource: Tyokumbur, 2010: 72 2LocationYearMNOC involvedAffected AreaEstimated spill areaVolume (liters)Cause12" Opuekeba -Olero2014CHEVRONSwamp______Sabotage/TheftPipeline at Opuama (Delta)18'' Tebidaba/Brass P/L at2016NAOCSwamp0.4494 acres1750Sabotage/TheftBenekarukru(Bayelsa)Ovhor Well 9s at Ugborhen2017SEPLATSwamp___48UndefinedCommunity. (Delta)Etelebou Flowstation at2016SPDCLand0.2296 acres11,400Operational/Ogboloma (Bayelsa)Maintenance errorNPDC Ogini at Flow Line2015NPDCLand___1590Equipment Failure(Delta)MAKARABA 7A -2-6"2015CHEVRONSwamp___1Corrosion(Delta)SPM2 Forcados Terminal,2013SPDCSwamp___160Equipment FailureWarri North, (Delta)28'' Trans-Forcados Pipe2017HERITAGEInland___800Sabotage/Theftline at Oteghele, Warri SouthENERGYWaters(Delta)OPERATIONAL SERVICESLIMITEDIbaa Manifold 8'' Header,2016SPDCLand0.1235 acres48300CorrosionIbaa (Rivers)NPDC 16'' Uzere-Eremu2017NPDCSeasonal___1091700Sabotage/TheftDelivery Line at IyedeSwampAuthor's compilation from NOSDRA 3StatesPoverty Rate 2004 Poverty Rate 2010 Population living in PovertyAkwa Ibom34.953.82,109,071Bayelsa20.047.0800,578Cross River41.652.91,528,263Delta45.463.62,606,576Edo33.166.02,124,099Rivers29.150.62,623,812All Zone48.956.111,792,399Source: NBS, 2004 & 2010 cited in Ibaba, 2017: 17 4YearRural CommunityOil major1991Umuechem (Rivers state)SPDC1993Ogoni/Bodo (Rivers state)SPDC1993Bonny (Rivers state)SPDC1994Obagi (Rivers state)Elf1995Iko (Akwa Ibom)Western Geophysical/SPDC1995Apelegbene (Delta state)SPDC1996Biseni (Bayelsa state)ENI/AGIP1998Okoroma (Bayelsa state)ENI/AGIP1999Ikebiri (Bayelsa state)Chevron/TexacoZibima (2015: 3) Bring the Bear into Kingship even in the Delta, The Goats will suffer Injustice. 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