The Niger Delta in Nigeria is a potent symbol of the broader legacy of imperialism across Africa. For over 67 years, multinational corporations - particularly the Royal Dutch Shell Company - in partnership with successive Nigerian regimes, have waged economic and ecological warfare against the people of the Niger Delta. This exploitation of the Delta is a reflection of Africa's broader experience with imperialism which stretches back at least 500 years into history. Over this period, foreign powers have, in their pursuit of wealth, inflicted untold harm on our land and her people, leaving behind a devastating trail of socio-economic and environmental ruin.
Nigeria produced almost all of her food at independence in 1960, with agricultural exports providing 97% of the nation's income. Neoliberal political theorists optimistically predicted that Nigeria, under the direction of capable and imaginative leadership, would see rapid economic growth. They said that liberal democracy and a free-market economy would lead Nigeria into prosperity and that there wouldn't be any major ideological obstacles to slow down Nigeria's 'leap' into the future. They believed that Nigeria had entered a "post-historical" stage of its development, an epoch during which the effects of colonialism and imperialism would become less significant.
This optimism was however, short-lived, if not illusionary. The discovery of crude oil dramatically shifted Nigeria's economic trajectory, turning oil into the country's largest foreign exchange earner. By 1976, Nigeria was the seventh-largest producer of crude oil in the world and had joined the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) - exporting over two million barrels of oil on a daily basis. Despite the enormous wealth generated by this 'black gold', the people of the Niger Delta, who bore the brunt of the environmental destruction caused by oil production, saw little benefit. While Nigeria's elites squandered the nation's riches abroad, the Delta's inhabitants continued to languish in poverty - deprived of basic infrastructure, education, healthcare and other necessities of life. Hitherto productive lands like the Delta have, over the years, been affected by oil spills that have destroyed farmlands and contaminated water sources, making the country a net importer of basic food items.
The persistence of nationalism and a resultant ethnic conflict in Nigeria, often viewed as relics of the colonial past, exposed progressive struggles from below to the legacy of imperialism. In this scheme of things, popular struggles exposed a political and economic elite that had accumulated vast wealth from oil revenues and manipulated government machinery so as to control Nigeria's internal and foreign policies. These elites had only catered to international demands and prioritized their selfish interests, further deepening the exploitation of the country's resources and people. Their modus operandi echoed colonial patterns of economics and domination, where wealth generated from Africa's natural resources was extracted by a few at the expense of the masses. These patterns continue to exist and evolve today.
Today's colonial patterns of economics.
As Kwame Nkrumah argued more than sixty years ago, colonialism had not been entirely abolished; it had simply been replaced by neo-colonialism. Under neo-colonialism, countries like Nigeria appear to be independent with all the outward symbols of sovereignty. Reality, however, is that their economic systems and political policies are still dictated by foreign powers and interests. This is precisely the situation in today's Nigeria where multinational corporations like Shell maintain significant control over the country's resources, governance, and even the military apparatus - an arrangement that arises out of the colonial experience and its legacies, and which continues to buttress colonial patterns of economics to date.
Oil production activities and resultant effects in the Niger Delta, such as gas flaring, canal construction, oil spills and waste dumping have caused widespread environmental devastation over the decades. The delicate ecosystem of the Delta is today nearing collapse, and the livelihoods of local communities, which once depended on fishing and farming, have been decimated. Despite this, affected communities have received little to no support or compensation for the damage occasioned on their lands. That is why, as outlined in the previous section, this country that was once food-suacient is today a net-importer of food.
Furthermore, these communities do not receive a fair share of the oil royalties that are only distributed among individuals in the Nigerian government, Shell and other oil companies. The economic base, in this instance, exists in the service of a few individuals and corporations.
Shell's operations in Nigeria are solely facilitated by its close ties to military oacers and politicians who share a mutual interest in controlling the region's oil wealth. Shell, in fact, maintains its own private police force, imports arms and ammunition, and has even admitted to making payments to the Nigerian military to ensure the continued exploitation of the Niger Delta.
This continuing exploitation of natural resources in the Niger Delta is part of a broader pattern across Africa and the Global South. Wars over oil, forest lands, rare earth minerals, and water sources are today at the front lines of our shared global struggle against imperialism and neo-colonialism. It is more than clear that the aggressive pursuit of profit by multinational corporations, backed by right-wing governments from across the ocean, has contributed to the global environmental crisis that we are witnessing today. This crisis has led to climate change, water scarcity, the destruction of ecosystems, and the disruption of life - putting the future of the entire planet and its people at risk.
500 years after their initial assault on Africa, imperial powers and transnational corporations have again intensified their offensive against workers and indigenous peoples around the world. They have today advanced their control over oil, land, mining, water, and biodiversity. They now use various political and ideological tools to wage hybrid wars in regions rich in natural resources, where they set up military bases to maintain corporate dominance. These corporations take possession of territories, extract raw materials, and force local populations to rely on their goods and services.
In this context, our struggle for self-determination, ecological justice, and national sovereignty becomes even more urgent. The people of the Niger Delta, like many others across the Global South, continue to resist the destructive forces of imperialism and transnational corporations. They do this out of their historical experience and transmitted indigenous knowledge which makes them aware that they must defend their land, water, air and biodiversity against a relentless drive for profit that threatens to annihilate both the environment and future generations.
In the words of my comrade Machel Nawenzake, we must strive for a balance between human needs and the natural rhythms of the earth. We must resist the annihilating forces of capitalism and imperialism, and instead fight for a future where the people and the planet can coexist in harmony. Only through collective action can we reclaim our sovereignty, protect our natural resources, and build a just and sustainable future for all.
Dear reader, if you must remember anything from this essay, please remember that Ken Saro Wiwa, who was executed on the 10th of November 1995 by the Nigerian military, did not die for today's prevailing state of affairs. He paid the ultimate price for a world of freedom, justice, dignity and ecological sovereignty.
We must win!
Magdalene Idiang' is a 2024 Toussaint L'Ouverture Fellow at Mwamko and a graduate student at the MS Training Centre for Development Cooperation (MS-TCDC) in Arusha, Tanzania, where she specializes in Leadership and Governance. Her research interests draw from the historical and current development of extractive capitalism and how it infuences youth in building peace across the region.
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