ABSTRACT
Youth militancy has become one of the greatest challenges to the Nigerian state, especially given its lingering effect on oil and gas production and the national treasury. Three issues are fundamental to understanding the current security crisis in the Niger Delta. The first is increasing pauperization of the region, even though its petroleum resources have sustained Nigerian economy at least since after the civil war in the early 1970s. The second issue is the incessant pollution of region's environment by transnational corporations involved in crude oil extraction. The third issue relates to the time-tested practice of capital accumulation relying on brute force across time and space. The security challenges in the Niger Delta can therefore be understood in the context of frustrations by the local population about their deprived existence in the midst of plenty. The creation of modern Nigeria is associated with the commercial interest of European merchants in the Niger Delta region.
