Canada-based Nigerian Professor Launches Book on Kidnapping
Tope Oriola
A new ground-breaking study of the complex politics of kidnapping of oil workers in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria is due for its first public presentation on Saturday, October 26, at Telus Centre, Room 150, University of Alberta Campus, Edmonton, Canada. Entitled Criminal Resistance? The Politics of Kidnapping Oil Workers the award-winning work by 2011 Governor General of Canada Academic Gold Medal recipient, Tope Oriola, will be formally reviewed by Biko Agozino, Professor and Director, Africana Studies, Virginia Tech, USA. The event is being sponsored by the Global Education Program
, Department of Sociology & Faculty of Arts, University of Alberta, Edmonton.
Recently released by the notable academic
publishers Ashgate, the book is based on a multi-actor qualitative
research in the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Crude oil
extraction in the Niger Delta region generates 96% of all foreign
earnings and 85% of state revenues. However, several generations of
state neglect and mismanagement have ensured that the Delta region is
one of the most socio-economically and politically deprived in the
country. By the late 1990s there was a frightening proliferation of
armed gangs and insurgent groups. Illegal oil bunkering, pipeline
vandalism, disruption of oil production activities, riots, and
demonstrations intensified and in 2003, insurgents began kidnapping oil
workers at a frenetic pace. An uber-insurgent movement “organisation”
was formed in Nigeria in late 2005. Christened the Movement for the
Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), it operates as an amorphous,
multifaceted amalgam of insurgent groups with an unprecedented clinical
precision in execution of intents.
publishers Ashgate, the book is based on a multi-actor qualitative
research in the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Crude oil
extraction in the Niger Delta region generates 96% of all foreign
earnings and 85% of state revenues. However, several generations of
state neglect and mismanagement have ensured that the Delta region is
one of the most socio-economically and politically deprived in the
country. By the late 1990s there was a frightening proliferation of
armed gangs and insurgent groups. Illegal oil bunkering, pipeline
vandalism, disruption of oil production activities, riots, and
demonstrations intensified and in 2003, insurgents began kidnapping oil
workers at a frenetic pace. An uber-insurgent movement “organisation”
was formed in Nigeria in late 2005. Christened the Movement for the
Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), it operates as an amorphous,
multifaceted amalgam of insurgent groups with an unprecedented clinical
precision in execution of intents.
Offering more insight into the book in his Foreword, Patrick Bond, Professor of Political Economy at the University
of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa avers that the “book is a healthy
corrective to the romanticised non-violence fetish of much social
movement scholarship as well as that of solidarity movements which arose
to support Ken Saro-Wiwa’s heroic fight against pollution and
underdevelopment of the Ogoni people a quarter of a century ago.” Bond
further notes that: “In part because of his tasteful stylistic approach,
as well as the extremely rich information and synthetic capacity,
Oriola has produced amongst the finest works in the tradition of
socio-political framing narratives.
of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa avers that the “book is a healthy
corrective to the romanticised non-violence fetish of much social
movement scholarship as well as that of solidarity movements which arose
to support Ken Saro-Wiwa’s heroic fight against pollution and
underdevelopment of the Ogoni people a quarter of a century ago.” Bond
further notes that: “In part because of his tasteful stylistic approach,
as well as the extremely rich information and synthetic capacity,
Oriola has produced amongst the finest works in the tradition of
socio-political framing narratives.
This book is, therefore, a vital addition to the academic
understandings of the Delta conflict, but much more, it offers lessons
to anyone interested in Nigeria, Delta solidarity, the oil and security sectors, social movement mobilisation, and environmental justice strategies and tactics”
sectors, social movement mobilisation, and environmental justice strategies and tactics”
The book launch event promises to provide an enlightening narrative
about the production of the book – the experience garnered in the course
of the research, including interviews and focus group discussions with
insurgents. The event will bring together (public) intellectuals,
students, human rights activists, as well as the Edmonton community and
beyond. Guests will be engaged in a robust conversation on kidnapping of
oil workers in Nigeria’s Delta region as well as the significance of the global phenomenon.
region as well as the significance of the global phenomenon.
Currently an assistant professor in criminology and socio-legal
studies, Department of Sociology, University of Alberta, Oriola has
authored or co-authored several refereed journal articles. His works
have been published in leading journals, such as Sociology, the British
Journal of Criminology, Critical Studies on Terrorism, and Canadian
Journal of Family and Youth, among others. His research focuses on
kidnapping, police and use of force, state crimes and the political
economy of crime. Oriola’s on-going SSHRC-funded book project
investigates the use of “less-lethal” force options by Canadian police
(under contract at University of British Columbia Press with Nicole
Neverson and Charles Adeyanju).
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