The Niger Delta Wetland, Illegal Oil Bunkering and Youth Identity Politics in Nigeria

Abstract

In my paper, I examine and reflect on how space (the Niger Delta wetland) and illegal Oil Bunkering (oil theft) became crucial weapons in the hand of the 50, 000 disgruntled youth who waged a violent insurgency in the region between 2006 and 2009. I argue that space and a vibrant underground oil economy assumed huge significance in the hands of marginalized youth who embraced subjective violence as a tool for renegotiating power relations between transnational oil corporations, the Nigerian state and aggrieved oil communities in the oil-rich Delta.