ABSTRACT
Ominous signs that the Niger Delta environment was in peril became manifest after the discovery of oil in 1956 at Oloibiri, a community in present day Bayelsa State. The agitation of the minorities and especially the people of this area against the usurpation of their land for oil exploration and fears of discrimination and marginalization in the political and economic spheres of life after independence led to the setting up of the Sir Henry Willink Commission preparatory to Nigeria's independence. At the close of deliberations, the Willink Commission acknowledged the genuineness of the minorities' fears and found evidence of possible marginalization after independence, but rather than take fundamental structural and institutional steps to allay these fears, such as the creation of states to accommodate ethnic minorities, the Nigerian illiberal State in connivance with the Commission, acting out the script of the colonial government, made feeble recommendations such as entrenching in the emerging Independence Constitution a bill of rights to protect the people of the Niger Delta region and other ethnic minorities in the country with similar fears and concerns. Although the Willink Commission noted the present and future danger the discovery of oil portended for the Niger Delta people and their environment, it merely recommended the creation of a special commission to address the peculiar environmental problems envisioned from oil exploration in the region. 1
