Sustainable Development of Oil and Gas in the Niger Delta

Since the late 1980s, the Niger Delta region of Nigeria has become the venue for mobilisation and protests by littoral states on the one hand and oil bearing communities and civil society groups on the other hand. They are protesting not only against ownership and control of oil and gas and the distribution of its benefits, but also challenging policies and practices that disadvantage the region, destroy its environment and impoverish its people. The purposes of this work are: to attempt an overview of the issue of ownership of oil and gas in Nigeria and to examine the principle of sustainable development and its implication on petroluem in Nigeria.