Niger Delta Environmental Degradation: Reciprocal Process between Micro-Regional Environmental Governance and Macro-Regional Security Governance

Abstract

Niger Delta environmental degradation is known with oil spills and their environmental outcomes. However, it is not isolated from the region’s other dynamics as part of governance. The complex context of Niger Delta should be analysed at two spheres. At the micro-regional level, there are environmental degradation and oil crimes in Niger Delta. At the macro-regional level, there is transnational crimes and relatively stable relations of states in West Africa. The picture requires governance investigation, which would classify actors, institutions, regulations, and interaction. This paper argues that poor environmental governance in Niger Delta is highly connected with transnational crimes in West Africa. The main reason is that there is a centralised state function but not a centralised power in two different region levels (i.e., Niger Delta and West Africa). This work aims to clear out the contexts of two separate levels via conceptual framework based on the connection between environmental governance and transnational crimes.