In January 2006, insurgents in Nigeria’s Niger-Delta kidnapped four foreign oil workers working for Shell Petroleum. Since then, over 250 foreign oil workers have been kidnapped in the region. A proliferation of insurgent groups, led by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger-Delta (MEND) and the Niger-Delta People’s Volunteer Force (NDPVF), have continued to claim responsibility. These groups frame their act as woven within the fabric of politics to protest the exploitation of the region by multinational oil corporations (MNOCs) and the Nigerian government.
Mainstream literature on the region has largely focused on the nature of violence while a few of the literature on kidnapping are descriptive and have not properly situated the act within the realm of domestic and international politics. I develop a conceptual framework for understanding kidnapping as a political act in the Niger-Delta drawing on empirical evidence. I operationalize this framework by focusing on a triad of actors: insurgents, MNOCs, and the Nigerian government.
Findings show that kidnapping in the region is intractable because, in a bid to nip the act in the bud, the Nigerian government has focused on symptoms rather than the causes of the act. More so, insurgents have become a useful tool to unleash mayhem on opposition parties during elections. Kidnapping in the region will only become history if fundamental economic, social, and political questions are addressed by the Nigerian government and MNOCs.
Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)
- The Niger-Delta and a Chequered History of Violence
- What is Kidnapping?
- The State, Multinational Corporations and Insurgents: A Triad of Uneasy Relationship
- Enter NDPVF and MEND: Towards Conceptualizing Kidnapping as a Political Instrument
- The Political Nature of Kidnapping
- Conclusion
Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)
This paper examines the political nature of kidnapping of expatriates in the oil-rich Niger-Delta region of Nigeria and its implications for national security. It aims to disaggregate kidnapping for political purposes from other forms of kidnapping and to understand the context within which it has become a prominent tactic in the region.
- The history of violence in the Niger Delta and its connection to resource exploitation and environmental degradation
- The role of multinational corporations and the Nigerian state in exacerbating conflict in the region
- The emergence of insurgent groups like MEND and NDPVF and their use of kidnapping as a political instrument
- The political motivations behind kidnapping and its implications for national security
- The challenges faced by the Nigerian government in addressing the issue of kidnapping
Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)
The paper begins by providing an overview of the Niger-Delta and its history of violence, highlighting the role of resource exploitation and environmental degradation in fueling conflict. It then explores the concept of kidnapping, examining its different forms and motivations. The paper then delves into the relationship between the Nigerian state, multinational corporations, and insurgent groups, emphasizing the complex dynamics at play in the region. It then focuses on the emergence of MEND and NDPVF and their use of kidnapping as a political tool to achieve their objectives. The final chapter delves into the political nature of kidnapping and its implications for national security, highlighting the challenges faced by the Nigerian government in addressing this issue.
Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)
Key terms and concepts explored in the paper include: Niger-Delta, kidnapping, political instrument, national security, insurgency, multinational corporations, resource exploitation, environmental degradation, MEND, NDPVF, amnesty, strategic studies.
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- Ayo Peters (Autor:in), 2016, Understanding Kidnapping as a Political Act. A Case of the Niger Delta, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/339042
