Niger Delta Militia

The Niger Delta is an oil rich region in Southeast Nigeria. Nigeria's oil based economy has provoked violence and uprisings in this region because the people of this region are not benefiting from the oil  but the environment is being destroyed by the oil extraction. This extraction has created an immense amount of pollution and has forced families to abandon their subsistence farming. The Niger Delta militia has formed in response to the exploitation of this region. This militia recruited many youths of this region because : " With youth unemployment soaring in the Niger Delta and even university graduates struggling to find work, recruitment by the militias is one of the only way for young men to make their own way ("NIGERIA: No shortage of Niger Delta youth ready to join militias" )."

IRIN Africa, "NIGERIA: No shortage of Niger Delta youth ready to join militias." Accessed April 23, 2012. http://www.irinnews.org/Report/76521/NIGERIA-No-shortage-of-Niger-Delta-youth-ready-to-join-militias.