Natural Resources, Conflict, and Sustainable Development

Okechukwu Ukaga is Executive Director and Extension Professor at the Northeast Minnesota Sustainable Development Partnership at the University of Minnesota.Ukoha O. Ukiwo is Lecturer in the Department of Political and Administrative Studies at the University of Port Harcourt.Ibaba Samuel Ibaba is Lecturer in the Department of Political Science at Niger Delta University.

"Much has been written about the resource curse and the costs of resource-dependency. Natural Resources, Conflict, and Sustainable Development explores the case of Nigeria and the Niger Delta oil-producing region - both typically seen as exemplary cases of failed oil development - in new and compelling ways, and provides a provocative and complex analysis of the complex historical and political forces which have shaped the descent into an oil insurgency. This book contains some of the leading Nigerian commentators and analysts on the Niger delta crisis and offers a magnificent tour d'horizon of the relations between natural resources, violence and human development. An important and path breaking book." –Michael Watts, Class of ’63 Professor, University of California, Berkeley"...this is an important and welcome contribution to the political economy of the Niger Delta area...Further, the historical method used in the book helps to throw light on the centrality of land, its control, use, and distribution, to resource conflict...This book is worth reading." – African Review of Economics & Finance

• 1. Introduction: Natural Resource, Conflict and Sustainable Development in the Niger Delta Ibaba Samuel Ibaba, Okechukwu Ukaga and Ukoha O. Ukiwo 2. Because of Oil? Understanding the Globalization of the Niger Delta and Its Consequences Cyril Obi 3. Overcoming Tyranny and Underdevelopment in the Niger Delta Through Appropriate Human Resources Development and Utilization Samuel Ranti Akinola 4. Assessing the Human Development Efforts of the Niger Delta Development Commission Augustine Okhobo Dokpesi and Michael Irabor Ibiezugbe 5. Entrepreneurship Development and Poverty Reduction in the Niger Delta Gordon M. Bubou and Nimiye A. Egai 6. Non-Governmental Organizations and Conflict Resolution in Niger Delta: The Case of Yakubu Gowon Center’s Peace Process in Ogoni Ambily Etekpe 7. Land Reform, Land Rights, and Development Challenges in Nigeria: A Focus on the Niger Delta Yinka Kehinde Binuomoyo, Johnson B. Ogbewo, Ephraim A. Okoro and Okechukwu Ukaga 8. Challenges to Fundamental Rights of Women in the Niger Delta Adaora Osondu 9. Conclusion: Reclaiming Politics and Reforming Governance: Options for Sustainable Peace and Development in the Niger Delta Ukoha O. Ukiwo, Okechukwu Ukaga and Ibaba Samuel Ibaba