Abstract/Summary

In response to the environmental degradation from the crude oil spillages in Ogoni, the Federal Government of Nigeria legislated policies and established regulatory institutions and commenced the clean-up of oil spills in Ogoni, which is the site of this study. Learning from a political ecology theoretical framing, the study critically assesses stakeholders’ efforts toward enhancing the resilience of artisanal fishers and farmers (n=153) to crude oil spillages in Ogoni over the period 2008-2021. Thus, the study adopted the resilience analysis framework put forward by Béné et al (2015) and included a mixed methods approach. Furthermore, the findings demonstrate that, despite the existence and interventions of relevant government agencies for over a decade now, the reality is one of worsening vulnerabilities for the affected communities. In fact, the close analysis of the adequacy and efficacy of the activities of these agencies, brings to light the increasing abandonment of degraded fishing waters and polluted farmlands which consequently undermine livelihoods, and are the root causes of the poverty and negative experiences of the sampled artisanal fishers and farmers in Ogoni. The respondents deploy response mechanisms of which none is noticeably improved by the interventions of the agencies with a mandate to improve the situation on the ground. The findings expose the critical institutional and operational shortcomings responsible for the recurring crude oil spillages, and the ineffectiveness of the overall institutional response framework to crude oil spillages in Nigeria. The shortcomings are weak collaborative linkages between agencies, the centralised federal government control, institutionalised corruption, exclusion of community members and an overall lack of public trust. Thus, the farmers’ requirements for productive assets and capacity strengthening needs like knowledge and skills to access and manage credit facilities, participate in cooperatives, and broaden their on-farm activities in the wake of the oil spills.