So far this month, at least three pipelines in the Niger Delta in southern Nigeria have been attacked. The bombings have been claimed by a new organization called the Niger Delta Avengers, which has declared its intention to wage an armed campaign to end the exploitation and impoverishment of the region.
The “Third World” or Global South are names for what are known to be resource rich countries in which the inhabitants are gripped in poverty. This contradiction, of poverty in the midst of rich resources, is one of the after effects of colonialism. These countries do not control the distribution of resources, multinational corporations do. Those who reap the lion’s share of the wealth are those who run those corporations in imperialist countries and the imperialist countries themselves.
The governments of some of these oppressed nations seem to have no problem with this situation, as the government leaders’ pockets are being lined while the people they rule and supposedly represent continue to live in poverty. One such case in recent memory is Nigeria. As long as there are those who fatten their pockets to the detriment of the people, there will be resistance and people will form together into groups to stop the exploitation of their homelands.
One such group is the Niger Delta Avengers. This group, which announced itself in March, declared its intention to fight for greater local control of the region, an end to the pollution in the area and a greater share of the oil profits to the villagers. Ultimately, the NDA want sovereignty of the Niger Delta region, as the Nigerian government in their eyes has merely exploited the people of the region for their labor and resources.
They see the Nigerian army as one of the major agents of both a greedy Nigerian federal government and foreign corporate domination. However, the NDA frowns upon offensive attacks against soldiers and oil workers.
“When it is time to engage the military in combat the whole world will know they started the war not the Avengers,” the NDA related in a communique on June 4. “So far, we have not engaged the Nigeria [sic] military in combat; despite the heavy presence of military on the pipelines. we still find way to carry out our actions without attacking soldiers. The avengers will deal with any group that refuses and attack military.”
The NDA has been engaged in activity at this point, sabotaging the oil installations in the region to effect economic instead of military consequence so that the government hears the demands of the NDA, and those of the Niger Delta peoples.
It is necessary to understand the material conditions from which groups like this originate. Oil was discovered in Nigeria in 1956, in Olibiri of the Niger Delta region. It was discovered by Shell D’Arcy Petroleum, the Nigerian satellite of the The Royal Dutch Shell Company. Nigeria itself claimed independence from the British Empire in 1960, however, the control of oil in Nigeria has never really been handed over to the Nigerians. Large, multinational corporations, mostly based in Europe, control the extraction and distribution of the petroleum from the oil fields. Almost 95% of all exports from the country of Nigeria are petroleum exports.
There are over 600 oil fields in the Niger Delta, more than half of them onshore. In the wake of the extraction of oil, many villages are marred with pollution. Oil spills are not an uncommon occurrence: in 2014 there were 349 spills in the Niger Delta region from ENI (an Italian oil company) alone. Water is contaminated (there is almost no drinking water and there is a high demand from villagers for at least bottled water). Villagers complain of breathing problems and other health issues, such as skin lesions. The villages see very little of what is gained financially from what is drilled, as the corporations take the bulk of the profits and the Nigerian government itself gets the corporations’ scraps.
Oil workers have gone on strike. Conditions are terrible for them, some even end up dead from pipeline explosions that may be due to negligence. Strikers and discontented villagers have been killed by mercenary agents of oil companies or by the Nigerian military at the behest of the oil companies (though the Nigerian military denies this). It is from this environment that militant groups have formed in the villages of the Niger Delta to deal with the oil companies.
The exploitation of workers and the destruction of the environment and living space of the peoples of the Niger Delta Region rightly necessitates action by those willing to fight against it. The fight for self-determination is more than one for just the ability to self govern. It is the fight for popular control of resources so that the majority of the people can benefit from them, not just a handful of elite, most of whom don’t even live in the country. It is unclear where the struggle will go from here, but there is one thing that is sure: it will continue until the popular masses win.
