TITLE:
Political Ecology, the Silent Driver of Environmental Degradation in the Oil and Gas Producing Communities of Niger Delta: Can the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 Curb this Threat to Human Security?
AUTHORS:
Olufunmilayo Oju
KEYWORDS:
Environmental Degradation, Political Ecology, Oil and Gas Producing Communities, Niger Delta, Human Security
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection,
Vol.13 No.12,
December
23,
2025
ABSTRACT: Environmental degradation, has been the bane of the oil and gas producing communities of the Niger Delta (OGPCND), right from the inception of the discovery of oil in commercial quantity in 1958. The Petroleum Industry Act (2021). Official Gazette of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 108(142), A121-370 (hereinafter referred to as PI Act 2021), was enacted as a panacea to the problem of environmental degradation in the OGPCND and other challenges associated with oil and gas production and development. The PI Act 2021 was intended to reform Nigeria’s petroleum sector by strengthening regulatory oversight, enforcing environmental protections, and establishing community development frameworks, through the incorporation of the Host Communities Development Trusts. But, four years after the enactment of the Act, environmental degradation persist in the OGPCND. This paper applies Political Ecology Theory to the environmental crisis in the OGPCND, plagued by oil-induced degradation, socio-economic marginalization, and violent conflict. Political Ecology offers a multidimensional framework that links environmental degradation to power relations, historical inequalities, and global capitalist structures. Through this theory, the paper argues that environmental degradation in the OGPCND is not merely a technical or ecological issue but a deep-rooted political issue, shaped by elite resource control, global energy demands, and community resistance. The paper adopted the doctrinal research methodology, with primary sources of information derived from PI Act 2021 and other related legislations, and secondary source distilled from textbooks, journal articles and other scholarly periodicals, sourced from the interment. Drawing on scholarly literature and empirical evidence, the study highlights how power, scale, and agency define the environmental struggles in the OGPCND, and proposes reforms grounded in justice, decentralization, and participatory governance.