Between the ‘Sectional’ and the ‘National’: OIL, GRASSROOTS DISCONTENT AND CIVIC DISCOURSE IN NIGERIA A Thesis Submitted in Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY of RHODES UNIVERSITY by WILSON NDARAKE AKPAN October 2005 SUPERVISOR’S STATEMENT I confirm that the thesis of the following candidate has been submitted with my approval. Name of candidate: Wilson Ndarake AKPAN Student number: 602A1972 Department: Sociology _____________________ ____________________ SUPERVISOR DATE ii DEDICATION To the loving Memory of my Father: Chief Ndarake A. Udo And to my Mother: Mrs. Kokomma N.A. Udo For their exemplary sacrifice, love and foresight iii ABSTRACT This thesis examines the social character of petroleum-related grassroots struggles in Nigeria’s oil-producing region. It does this against the background of the dominant scholarly narratives that portray the struggles as: a) a disguised pursuit of an ethnic/sectional agenda, b) a ‘minority rights’ project, and c) a minority province’s protest against ‘selective’ environmental ‘victimisation’ by the majority ethnic nationalities. While the dominant scholarly analyses of the struggles are based on the activities of the better known activist organisations operating in the oil region, this thesis focuses primarily on the everyday ‘grammar’ of discontent and lived worlds of ordinary people vis-à-vis upstream petroleum operations and petroleum resource utilisation. The aim has been to gain an understanding of the forces driving community struggles in the oil region and their wider societal significance. Examined alongside the narratives of ordinary people are the legal/institutional framework for upstream petroleum operations and the operational practices of the oil-producing companies. Using primary data obtained through ethnography, focus group discussions, in-depth interviews and visual sociology, as well as relevant secondary data, the researcher constructs a discourse matrix, showing how grassroots narratives in selected oil- producing communities intersect with contemporary civic discourses in the wider Nigerian context. The thesis highlights the theoretical and policy difficulties that arise when the social basis of petroleum-related grassroots struggles and ordinary people’s narratives are explained using an essentialist idiom. It reveals, above all, the conditions under which so-called ‘locale-specific’ struggles in a multi-ethnic, oil-rich African country can become a campaign for the emancipation of ordinary people in the wider society. This research extends the existing knowledge on citizen mobilisation, extractive capitalism, transnational corporate behaviour, and Nigeria’s contemporary development predicament. It sheds light on some of the processes through which ordinary people are forcing upon the state a change agenda that could drive the country along a more socially sensitive development and democratisation trajectory. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I owe so much to so many people for the successful completion of this project. One exercise that will, however, not be attempted here, is to list everyone who has extended needed support, mention the value of each person’s contribution, or list my numerous ‘creditors’ in any order of priority. Since this is a project that has had a fairly long gestation, I can only say thank you to everyone who has offered advice, prayers, financial support, literature, criticism and insight. Without such support— which I have received from family members, mentors, associates, friends, and my Fellowship administrators from all over Nigeria, and from South Africa, the United States and elsewhere—my doctoral career and this thesis, its crowning, would without doubt have turned out differently. I thank my supervisor, Professor Jimi Adesina, for putting so much of his talent, professionalism and experience into seeing this work to this stage, and for cheerfully and generously sharing his exemplary intellectual wealth with me. I thank him for his valuable criticism, guidance, patience and understanding. The faculty and staff of the Rhodes Sociology Department and Faculty of Humanities were such excellent company. I owe my heartfelt gratitude to, especially, the Dean of Humanities Professor Fred Hendricks, the Head of Department Dr. Monty Roodt, and Professor Jan Coetzee. Other members of this exemplary and caring Department share in this token repayment of my huge debt. I learnt from Denise Wisch, Departmental Secretary, what may well be the future of university academic departmental administration. She enhanced the esteem I attach to Rhodes Sociology Department and to the university as a whole. Namhla Zondani and Penny Jaffray (now of Fort Hare University) ‘ushered’ me into South Africa in 2002 and availed me of their friendship throughout my study. They have my thanks and my respect. I am grateful to Sheila Hicks of the Rhodes Dictionary Unit for proofreading the entire thesis and making useful comments and suggestions. I owe very special gratitude to my benefactors, Ford Foundation. In particular I would like to thank Joan Dassin, Thomas Lansner, Yolande Zahler, Danielle Marino and other members of the New York ‘family’ who took such good care of me. I thank v to Araba Botchway, Aba Nwachukwu, the Waffnet ‘family’ and other colleagues in the IFP social justice movement. I will think the best of them at all times. Jerry Edemeka, Mr. Orji and their colleagues at Alpha Juris legal firm in Port Harcourt provided wonderful support during my fieldwork, and so did Akpabio Akpabio and Dr. Ime Imaha. I thank Goddy, Tina, Uduak, Jackie, Usen, Ima, Itoro and all my friends and family, for their prayers and sacrifice. I also appreciate the support I received from Ms. Itumeleng Seotsanyana and the Nigerian community in Grahamstown. I especially wish to thank my wife, Ini, for her prayers, intellectual support and sacrifice. To my two boys, Wisdom and Wesley, I can only say, please forgive me: I won’t be ‘out for such a long time’ next time! To God I give all the glory! vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract……………………………………………………………………………… iv Acknowledgments ……………………………………………………………………v List of Tables………………………………………………………………………….x List of Figures………………………………………………………………………...xi List of Plates…………………………………………………………………………xii List of Abbreviations and Acronyms ……………………………………………….xiii PART I: UNDERSTANDING THE NIGER DELTA STRUGGLE— BEGINNINGS, RESURGENCE, AND CONCEPTUAL DEBATES CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW........................................................................................2 1.1 Context and problem of the study............................................................................2 1.2 Niger Delta struggles—a historical sketch ..............................................................6 1.2.1 Pre-independence struggles ..............................................................................6 1.2.2 Niger Delta struggles in the immediate post-independence period ................15 1.2.3 Internationalisation of petroleum-related community struggles.....................19 1.4 Research Goals.......................................................................................................30 1.5 Organisation of the study.......................................................................................31 1.5.1 Arrangement and synopsis of chapters ...........................................................31 1.5.2 Presentation style ............................................................................................33 CHAPTER 2: GRASSROOTS MOBILISATION—ETHNIC-CIVIC DISCOURSE ..............................................................................................................36 2.1 Introduction............................................................................................................36 2.2 Grassroots struggles: ethnicity in disguise?...........................................................37 2.2.1 Ethnic-civic dichotomy—a limiting discourse?..............................................46 2.3 ‘Ethnic’ mobilisation and the ‘community rights’ thesis.......................................54 2.4 Conclusion .............................................................................................................58 CHAPTER 3: GRASSROOTS MOBILISATION—ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE DEBATE ...................................................................................................60 3.1 Introduction............................................................................................................60 3.2.1 Environmental justice—the ‘Nigerianisation’ of a discourse.........................65 3.3 ‘Background institutions’—a conceptual outline ..................................................71 3.4 Conclusion .............................................................................................................74 CHAPTER 4: METHOD OF STUDY .....................................................................75 4.1 Introduction............................................................................................................75 4.2 Validity and objectivity in qualitative research: some epistemological and methodological issues ..................................................................................................75 4.3 Data collection .......................................................................................................83 4.3.1 The study sites.................................................................................................83 vii A. Choice