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NIGER DELTA MINORITIES AND THE QUEST FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE
Published 2014-05Subjects: “…Social justice…”
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Parallels and Contextual Implications of Land and Social Justice Motifs in Israel and Ogbomoso Christian Community
Published 2014Subjects: “…Land and Social Justice…”
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Page will reload when a filter is selected or excluded.- Book of Micah 1 results 1
- Contextual implications 1 results 1
- Ethnic minority 1 results 1
- Land Use Act 1 results 1
- Land and Social Justice 1 results 1
- Land and social justice are central to social life in the society of Prophet Micah (Micah), thus their motifs are dominant in the book of Micah of the Old Testament because of the oppressive government in power during the prophets time. Related situations obtained in Ogbomoso between 1978 and 2008, particularly among the Christians, when a number of people and organisations lost their land to the government or other individuals. Previous studies have identified several land and social justice motifs but have not compared these motifs in Micah with traditional Ogbomoso society‘s Christian experience in spite of their similarities. This study, therefore, compared land and social justice motifs in Israel and Ogbomoso Christian community in terms of types and manifestations with a view to establishing their contextual implications. The study was premised on Itumeleng Mosala‘s biblical hermeneutics of liberation, using the historical-critical method. In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 key purposively selected informants comprising 10 community/village heads and 10 opinion leaders across the five local governments in Ogbomoso land. Six Hundred and Fifty copies of a questionnaire were administered to 550 Christian and non-Christian land owners, 50 church leaders, and 50 land agents. Newspaper reports, Church records, land ownership documents and land Use Act of 1978 were also consulted. Data were subjected to exegetical analysis of the Book of Micah, and percentage scores. Three types of land and social justice motifs occurred in both Micah‘s society and Ogbomoso, namely, economic, social and political. Economically, farming constituted the professional hub of Micah‘s society. Consequently, depriving the people access to land (Micah 2: 1-5) had negative economic effects on them. In Ogbomoso, the same effect was exerted through the Land Use Act which affected the financial state of churches. Socially, the deprivation in Micah‘s society led to social discord (Mic. 3:1-4,5:7-15, 7:1-7) as many people were dislocated from their land. A similar situation occurred in Ogbomoso, leading to loss of church-owned schools, itself degenerated into tension between Christians and Muslims; threats to mission investments; and inter/intra family imbroglio. The political leaders of the time of Micah manipulated power to deprive the people of their land (Mic. 2:6-11). This was not manifested in Ogbomoso. One enforcer-based approach used during Micah‘s time was brute force, which received passive, prayer-based responses from the oppressed. The Ogbomoso cases received parallel but sometimes different approaches from the Christians: amicable settlement (25.0%, produced 21.0 % land reclaim), defensive action against attacks and occasional physical assaults (3.0%, produced 3.0% reclaim), litigations (23.0%, produced 12.0% reclaimed), political influence (8.0%, produced 4.0% reclaim) and spiritual invocations (96.0%, led 6.0 % reclaim). Micah‘s society and the Ogbomoso Christian community related to similar economic and social, but different political motifs, converging, with respect to reclaim approaches, only at the spiritual level. This reveals a deflection from the biblical example, which implies that geographic and social contexts rather than strict religious approaches determine effectiveness in land and social justice issues. Thus, achieving success in these issues required a more pragmatic than a biblically consistent approach 1 results 1
- Niger Delta 1 results 1
- Ogbomoso 1 results 1
- Resource control 1 results 1
- Social justice 1 results 1
- The perceived inequitable distribution of economic and social resources remains a perennial feature of Nigeria’s political history. The rise of ethnic minority organisations and the concomitant violent struggles for justice has continued to militate against economic growth and political stability of Nigeria. Although, there are several studies on the conflicts and intervention programmes in the Niger Delta, these have not been done from the perspective of a Theory of Justice. This study, examined the agitation in the Niger Delta region as a quest for social justice. Rawls’s theory of ‘justice as fairness’ provided the analytical framework for this study. Four out of the six States of the Niger Delta were purposively selected. Questionnaire was administered to proportionate to size cross-section of youths and community leaders, purposively selected from three Local Government Areas (LGAs) in each of the four States: Rivers 250 (190:60), Delta 250 (190:60), Bayelsa 150 (100:50) and Edo 150 (100:50). Data were collected on the socio-demographic characteristics; perceptions of economic marginalisation, social amenities, resource control, unemployment, corruption and government policy on Niger Delta demands. Key informant interviews (KIIs) were conducted among three of each political office holders; academics; leaders of ethnic associations and Directors of Minority Rights non-governmental organisations. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics and ANOVA while qualitative data were content analysed. Age of the respondents was 34.2±12.1 years and 67.7% were males. Seventy-one percent were youths, while 44.8% had tertiary education. Perceptions of youths and community leaders on economic marginalisation varied from125:31 (63.4%) in Rivers to 97:37 (91.2%) in Bayelsa State; scarce social amenities varied from 74:21 (69.4%) in Edo to 158:38 (83.7%) in Delta States as major factors for persistent agitations for justice. Factors identified for violent agitation in the Niger Delta included: inability to control resources which varied from 83:22 (76.6%) in Edo to 174:38 (90.6%) in Delta; and a high level of unemployment from 61:23 (61.3%) in Edo to 97:26 (89.8%) in Bayelsa State. Perception of corruption among the elites, which varied from 148:49 (80.1%) in Rivers to 170:32 (86.3%) in Delta State, was identified as a major factor for government’s failure to address Niger Delta demands. There was a significant difference among the States regarding implementation of government policy on economic control of resources. Most respondents (93.6%) agreed to the need to promote a fair socio-economic distribution of resources among ethnic groups. There were significant differences regarding trust in government affirmative programmes and minority quest for justice. Infrastructural development and employment of youths were cited by most respondents (90.7%) as means of reducing the tendency for violent struggles. The KIIs indicated that inadequate premium on derivation principle and oppressive state policies led to socio-economic marginalisation of minority groups. Fair treatment of all groups would facilitate ethno-regional growth, while compensation, environmental and participatory justice would encourage equity and promote justice. Perceived marginalisation is central to the persistent quest and struggles for social justice in the Niger Delta region. Pragmatic approach should be taken to ensure equity in the distribution of resources. 1 results 1
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