Oiling the Guns and Gunning for Oil: Oil Violence, Arms Proliferation and the Destruction of Nigeria’s Niger-Delta

This article explores the volatile security situation in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria as it relates to what Watts (2001) conceptualizes as ‘petro-violence’ vis-à-vis Small Arms and Light Weapons proliferation within the context of the country’s Fourth Republic (May 1999—). The prevailing precarious situation is examined to ascertain the potency of democracy and its influence in ameliorating the conflict trajectory in this resource rich region. Specifically, the paper addresses the following questions; what are the socio-economic and political factors that account for arms proliferation in Nigeria’s Niger Delta? Are there effects, either positive or negative, of arms proliferation on local conditions and the oil-bearing communities? How can the situation be improved? What are the civilian government’s policy prescriptions to improve the dangerous politico-military situations in the oil delta? Thus, the central argument of this paper is that it is the failure of the social contract (in general and of arms in particular) on the part of the Nigerian government that leads to the challenge, by the people of Niger Delta, of the state’s legitimacy and its monopoly of the instruments of violence. The paper concludes by stating that since violence and arms proliferation in the Niger Delta are consequences of the breakdown of the social contract, then the solutions lie in reconstituting the social contract by addressing the root causes of the grievances of the oil-bearing communitie