Climate Change, Global Energy Transition And The Niger Delta Region Of Nigeria: Missed Opportunities And The Way Forward

Abstract

The Niger Delta region of Nigeria has not benefitted commensurately from its oil
abundance, yet it has suffered some of the worst social, economic and
environmental impacts of these activities in the world. This is put in clearer
perspective within the context of the global energy transition that is being
developed as a corrective path to global warming, the main driver of climate
change. This paper argues that with the Nigerian state’s poor handling of the
resource control and environmental justice demand of the Niger Delta, the region
is not in the best stead for the emerging era. Based on the theory of political
ecology, the paper posits further that the Nigerian state through the combination
legislative land dispossession, state repression, political domination and economic
irresponsibility underdeveloped the Niger Delta. Thus, the reality in the region as
the world gravitates towards the post-carbon stands global best practices in
handling the development of oil and gas hubs on its head, as it has had several
missed opportunities for development. The recommends that environmental
justice, which is a complex of several amerliorative steps is the only way forward
to develop the Niger Delta and prepare it for global energy transition.