The government-issued deadline to stop gas flaring in Nigeria expired on December 28, 2008. Prior to this date, several deadline have been issued and violated: December 2004 and December 2007.

A federal jury in San Francisco clears Chevron of any responsibility for the May 1998 shooting and killing of protesters in the oil-rich Niger Delta. A big set-back for human rights activists who were hoping to jump-start the use of a centuries-old law allowing foreigners to file lawsuits in U.S. courts alleging international law violations.

Last September, Nigerian Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan, inaugurated a 40-man panel of former ministers, activists and academics to consider ways to end the unrest in the oil-rich Niger Delta. The committee has released its report, highlights:

Allocate 25% of oil revenue to build Niger Delta infrastructure
open trial and release of Henry Okah, leader of the Movement [...]

Nigeria suffered another setback in its oil sector. Following an attack on a key pipeline last week, the U.S. oil company Chevron announced it will suspend export contracts for much of its output. The destroyed pipeline feeds into the Escravos terminal in the Niger Delta region - a hot bed of militant and criminal activities. [...]

Barely three months after Nigeria ceded the controversial Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroonian government, the neighbouring country has commenced the process of searching for oil resources in the area.
Nigeria had identified the portion as part of the oil rich regions of the country awaiting explorations before the event that led to the eventual handing over of [...]

In Nigeria, the government of Rivers State in the Niger Delta has offered amnesty to several militant groups operating in the oil-rich area, if they stop attacking government facilities. In reply, the militants asked the government to withdraw its security forces from the areas under their control as a condition for peace. [...]

To reverse the downward trends in the Shell-shocked Niger-Delta requires addressing the proverbial elephant in the room — the entities befitting from the chaos in the region, whose natural instinct is to maintain the status quo, people whose mindset is closed to the idea of change. These are the entities the Nigerian President and his [...]

Many residents say it takes ruling party loyalty in Africa’s “Kuwait”, as some locals refer to the oil-rich islands, in order to benefit from oil production. “To be able to work with the oil companies you have to present a membership card with the [presidential ruling] Democratic Party of Guinea.”

Nigerian President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua has described the escalating violence in oil-rich but restive Niger Delta as a nightmare facing his administration. Chudi Chukwuani, a Nigerian economist fired back: “Clearly it’s a statement that can be made by somebody that has absolutely no vision of leadership”.
Take a listen.

The peninsula believed to hold significant amounts of crude oil deposits boost Cameroon’s declining economy and oil production up from the current 90,000 barrels per day.