ENGAGING ECOWAS IN MANAGING THE CONFLICT IN THE NIGER DELTA: A PERCEPTION STUDY

Abstract

The Niger-Delta conflict has been one that has shown signs of protractions, with great economic and environmental costs to both the federal government and the local communities alike. Likewise, the conflict increasingly seems to be falling out of the effective management and control of the state despite the availability of capable and mandated international bodies that are established to effectively intervene in such a conflict. As such, this paper is a perception study that examines the option of an ECOWAS intervention in the Niger-Delta in line with the institution’s core principle of maintaining and initiating peaceful resolution to conflict, and also how a supranational intervention in the conflict will be received by the Niger-Delta people. The study used a quantitative research approach, a sample size of 482 respondents comprising of 259 males and 223 females from across various fields of life, but all residing in the Niger-Delta region. A non-experimental research design was used with the aid of a cluster random sampling technique in administering the questionnaires to the respondents and also for data collection. The findings of the study strongly indicates that public opinion in the Niger-Delta community agrees with the notion that Nigeria is not taking advantage of ECOWAS as a conflict management and resolution mechanism in meeting its domestic security challenges as found in the Niger-Delta, despite being a host to this prestigious intergovernmental organisation. Key recommendations includes the conceptualization of Nigeria’s security needs before ECOWAS Heads of States Summit, and also the effective exploitation of ECOWAS statutory committees to advance Nigeria’s security agenda particularly in the Niger-Delta.