The pre-petroleum Niger Delta region was well endowed with enormous natural and cultural resources. However, the advent of the oil industry seems to have affected some changes in the social–cultural structures of this region. Therefore, to determine the impact of the petroleum industry on livelihoods and value orientation, in-depth interview sessions were held with 20 respondents in four communities in the Delta State Nigeria to complement the secondary information collected through documentary method. Consequently, the article argues that the petroleum-led agrarian crisis has created a monetised culture among its youths. This condition has impacted negatively on traditional values, resulting in the socio-cultural quaking of communities in the region. The article therefore suggests a holistic approach that would provide education, cultural reorientation and economic empowerment for the youths.
AlagoaJ. (2009). Linkages. In AlagoaJ., TamunoT. & ClarkJ. (Eds), The Izon of the Niger Delta (pp. 1–9). Port-Harcourt: Onyema Research Publication.
2.
AndersonM. G. (1999). Visual arts. In AlagoaE. J. (Ed.), The land and people of Balysea state: Central Niger Delta (pp. 139–52). Port Harcourt: Onyema Research Publication.
3.
AyomikeJ. (1988). A history of Warri. Benin-City: Ilupeju Press Ltd.
4.
AyomikeJ. (1990). The Ijaw in Warri: A study in ethnography. Benin-City: Mayomi Publishers
5.
BrownM. (2003). Opening remarks of the UNDP administrator. In NyongE. & OladipoE. (Eds), Creating an enabling environment for the sustainable development of the Niger Delta region (pp. 28–32). Lagos: NDDC.
6.
Budget Office of the Federation. (2011). 2012 FGN budget-revised. Nigeria: Federal Ministry of Finance.
7.
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). (2010). Economic report for the first-half of 2010 Retrieved 7November2012, from www.cbn.gov.ng
8.
ChokorA. (2005). Humanistic approach to environmental assessment with case Study from the Niger Delta. In OnokerhorayeA. & OmutaGideon (Eds), Perspectives on development—Benin City (pp. 350–77). Centre for Population & Environmental Development.
9.
Development Policy Centre (DPC). (2001). Socio-economic mapping of the Niger Delta. Ibadan: A report prepared for Shell Petroleum Development Company.
10.
DikeK. O. (1956). Trade and politics in the Niger Delta 1830–1885. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
11.
DokpesiA. O., IbiezugbeM.I, & ObaroO. A. (2003). Fundamental values, philosophy & ethics of social work. Benin City: Mindex.
12.
DokpesiA. O., & OlomuB. (2010). Social conflicts, failure of development programmes and the challenges of social order in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. International Journal of Social Sciences, 6(2): 59–87.
13.
EnehO. (2011). Crippling poverty amidst corporate social actions: A critique of peripheral corporate community involvement in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Asian Journal of Rural Development, 1(1): 1–20.
14.
ErivwoS. (2005). Urhobo traditional religion. In EkehP. (Ed.), Studies in Urhobo culture. Lagos: Urhobo Historical Society.
15.
EssienR. (2011, 30March). Unemployment highest in Niger Delta. Daily Times, Nigeria.
16.
FagadeE. (1990). Bacteria bio-degradation of crude oil from the Niger Delta area of Nigeria (PhD Thesis). Department of Botany & Microbiology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan.
17.
FosterW. (2007). Pre-twentieth century Isoko: Its foundation and later growth. In EkehP. (Ed.), History of Urhobo people of the Niger Delta (pp. 37–50). Delta state, Nigeria: Urhobo Historical Society.
18.
IbiezugbeM.l., & DokpesiA. O. (2011). Challenges of sustainable development in the oil-rich communities of Nigeria. The Social Work Practitioner-Researcher, 23(3): 292–309.
19.
IdowuS. (2009, 23May). How Ijaw elite ‘sold’ Tompolo to JTF. Tribune, No. 788.
20.
IkelegbeA. (2008). Interrogating a crisis of corporate governance and the interface with conflict: The case of multinational oil companies and the conflicts in the Niger Delta. Proceedings, international conference onthe Nigerian State, Oil Industry and The Niger Delta, Yenagoa, 11–13March.
21.
IkimeO. (1995). The merchant prince of the Niger Delta. London: Heinemann.
22.
JikeV. (2004). Environmental degradation: Social disequilibrium and the dilemma of sustainable development in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. Journal of Black Studies, 34(5): 686–701.
23.
KemediV. (2002). The changing predatory styles of international oil companies in Nigeria. Review of African Political Economy, 92(June): 134–39.
24.
National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). (2011). Nigeria poverty profile 2010. Abuja: NBS.
25.
Niger Delta Environment Survey (NDES). (2000). Niger Delta development priorities and action, Phase-II Report, Vol. 2.
26.
NnoliO. (1978). Ethnic politics in Nigeria. Enugu: Fourth Dimension.
27.
OkabaB. (2003). The state, oil multinationals and informal repression in the Niger Delta. AFAS Journal of Minority Studies, 3(1): 20–36.
28.
OkabaB. (2005). Petroleum industry and the paradox of rural poverty in the Niger Delta. Benin-City: Ethiope Publishing.
29.
OkpokunuE. (2002). Culture areas of Nigeria. In NzemekeD. & ErhagbeE. (Eds), Nigeria peoples and culture (pp. 99–126). Benin-City: Mindex.
30.
PreboyeI. (2005). The core delta: Iduwin clan. Ibadan: Rural Development Nig. Ltd.
31.
PremoD. (2005). Niger Delta sitting on a time bomb. National Standard, 1(9): 8.
32.
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). (2006). Niger Delta human development report. Abuja: UNDP.
33.
WattsM. (2005). Resource curse? Governmentality, oil & power in the Niger Delta, Nigeria. In BillonA. (Ed.), The geopolitics of resource wars: Resource dependence, governance & violence. London: Frank Case.
34.
WattsM. (2008). The rule of oil: Petro-politics and the anatomy of an insurgency. Proceeding, International Conference on the Nigerian State, Oil Industry and the Niger Delta, Yenagoa, 11–13March.
