Eastern Obolo is richly endowed with abundant natural resources especially crude oil and gas. Oil exploration has impacted disastrously on the people and their environment. Despite its immense contribution to the up-keep of the state, the area has suffered monumental neglect and deprivation in addition to the destruction of the ecosystem. The fauna and flora are under threat. The exploration of crude oil apart from causing damages to the ecosystem has been one of the major sources of communal conflicts and crime in the area. This vexed situation has in recent years encouraged youth restiveness, violent protests, pipeline vandalisation and kidnapping. Against this backdrop, the paper argues that unless there is a paradigm shift in the manner the oil multinationals as well as the state and federal government respond to these ugly situations, violent crisis will continue to prevail.
Israel U.E and Mbikan M.D. (2023) Oil Exploration in Eastern Obolo Environment, 1996 – 2021, International Journal of History and Philosophical Research, Vol.11, No.2, pp.1-7
Keywords: Agip, Eastern Obolo, Environment, Exxon-Mobil, Niger-Delta, littoral multinationals, oil exploration, pipeline
