Armed groups, many affiliated to the Niger Delta-wide political organization MEND, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, proliferated throughout the oil producing states, particularly from early 2006 onwards. In January 2006, MEND declared...
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Armed groups, many affiliated to the Niger Delta-wide political organization MEND, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, proliferated throughout the oil producing states, particularly from early 2006 onwards. In January 2006, MEND declared war on the oil industry pending the resolution of long term political grievances relating to poverty and underdevelopment, the poor regulation of an environmentally polluting oil industry, and the alienation of local people from rights to land and resources in the Niger Delta. Attacks on oil industry infrastructure, the kidnapping of expatriate oil company personnel and the illicit tapping and sale of crude oil became stocks in trade of armed militia, many with political as well as pecuniary objectives. Their actions significantly dented the Nigerian govern-ment’s revenue base, which relies on oil and gas sales for some 90 percent of its forex earnings. Some estimates point to losses of 100 billion dollars to the Nigerian treasury bet
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