Oil, Conflicts, and Political Economy of Migration in Africa: The Nigeria’s Niger Delta Experience

In most African countries, especially Nigeria, migration is driven by economic hardship, unemployment, poverty, and the search for greener pastures overseas. In Niger Delta, in addition to the factors above, migration is driven by recurrent attacks and conflicts between militants and the Nigerian state over oil. Indeed, negative environmental externalities and violence resulting from long years of oil exploration in this region have made many, especially youths leave the region for safety and livelihood. This article thus examined the implications of oil pollution and other environmental stressors for migrants leaving the region. The paper hypothesized and sought to understand how oil politics and environmental deplorable conditions in this region exacerbate the engagement of illiterate young girls and women to migrate or be trafficked to urban centers as child laborers and sex workers within and outside Nigeria. The paper appraised how oil conflicts and environmental degradation could intensify migration risks among this group of people leaving the region. Utilizing empirical qualitative research design, the paper tested if the migration of youth in this region is partly related to manipulation and the negligence by the Nigerian state to commensurate spending from oil on the development of the region. The paper concluded that the recurrent oil conflicts and environmental conditions in the Niger Delta bring into focus the political economy of migration, globalization, and indigenous, and minority rights and struggles for sustainable means of livelihood. Keywords: Conflicts, Livelihood, Migration, Oil, Political economy