Oil, Gender and Unemployment: Social Issues in the Niger Delta

Though there have been studies on the economics and politics of violent conflict relations between and/or among the state, petrobusinesses and diverse oil-bearing communities of the Niger Delta, this present study is devoted to research on the socio-cultural consequences and the implications of environmental change on Niger Delta communities; an area vastly neglected by researchers of the Niger Delta and its crises. Therefore, this study is a pragmatic shift from previous studies and a bridge in knowledge production. It also addresses current issues on the social, economic, political and theoretical dilemma of the human society and its significance with regards to development and policy related issues both locally and globally.

 For decades, the economic and political dimensions of environmental governance and change has been at the centre of national and international public policy and academic debates; nevertheless, the social impacts of environmental change and the inadequacy of policies addressing them have remained at the margins of academic research. Though its relevance has been emphasized and reaffirmed in the Brundtland Report (1987), the Millennium Development Goals (2001), the Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development (2002), they remain fringe issues in the global discourse on sustainable development. Hence, much should be done to conceptualize and interrogate the social dimensions of environmental change in mainstream socio-economic analysis. However, social dimension issues should not be overlooked as societies face potentially dramatic

environmental changes thus have to undergo fundamental transformations to achieve sustainable development. Environmental change is principally caused by anthropogenic activities such as petrobusiness explorations and its consequences to human society are negative. It alters the normalcy of the environment and forces the inhabitants of the affected area into new ways of life and adaptations. The Niger Delta is highly susceptible to adverse environmental changes because it is an oil producing community located in the coastal region of the world; little wonder why reports on the environmental state of the community are conclusive that the area is rapidly becoming an ecological wasteland (Uyigue and Ogbeibu, nd:2).