Oil Exploration and Exploitation in Ugbo (Ilaje) Communities of Coastal Yorubaland

Abstract

Coastal Yorubaland is one of the richest parts of Nigeria in terms of natural resource endowment. The area is blessed with extensive forests, good agricultural land and abundant water resources such as fish. It is also blessed with reserves of crude oil. This natural resource has attracted the attention of oil companies, whose activities often result in economic and social problems such as environmental pollution, occupational dislocation, cultural extinction and rural urban drift. However, the attitude of the people in this region, especially the militant youths, has also contributed to environmental degradation: oil pipe vandalization has become a constant occurrence, and it has a debilitating effect on the environment. Environmental devastation, economic poverty and constant conflict constitute a lived reality. Oil exploitation activities have also left much of the area desolate, poor and uninhabitable. This article argues that the effects of oil exploitation on Ilaje Ugbo communities are comparable to what occurs in other oil communities of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.