Democracy Delayed

Nigeria's return to democracy in 1999 heralded a potentially monumental transformation of the political patronage system. Lives of many activists had been lost in the fight against military rule. With the relatively democratic elections of 1999, civil society was filled with hope, not only for the future of Nigeria as a nation, but for the long overdue development of the Niger Delta specifically.

This honeymoon period of hope and optimism was short lived. Some local commentators point out that at least under military dictatorship the government could not hide from the people behind the internationally supported veil of 'democracy'. After the 1999 electoral process, the momentum behind civil activism that aided the transition to democracy began to diminish. A trickle of developmental funds began to flow from the US and Europe. People realised and accepted that democracy would take time to deliver.

In reality, what this delay has meant - and this is what makes the majority of the population of the Niger Delta so angry - is a continuation of patronage based politics. Self elected elites rule from behind the high walls of air conditioned offices and compounds, at the expense of the men, women, and children living on the streets, the dilapidated farms and in the oil-producing communities of one of the richest regions on Earth.