Modernization and the Crisis of Development in Africa: the Nigerian experience (review)

the insecurity becomes a process of weakening structures in order to attain egocentric interests. The author generally sees the oil firms as attempting to address the issues in the conflict – especially Shell, which is seen as ahead of the game thanks to ingenious adaptations to the imperatives and dynamics of domestic rentier politics. But this conclusion is equally ambivalent, since he sees the corporate ‘developmentalism’ and state displacement entailed in the oil firms’ response as not comprehensive enough. The framework for resolving the crisis offered by the author is not without merits but it still needs to be disaggregated into specific actions and goals in the short, medium and long terms. Moreover, it also fails to address the sensitive issues of disparity in oil deposits and contribution to national revenue, in terms of the core and non-core Niger Delta sub-regions.The contention that the charge of collaboration between the state and the TNOCs is weak is not sufficiently borne out by the author’s findings. Also, the general dearth of socio-physical infrastructure in the area, as reported in the UNDP’s Human Development Report 2006, bears eloquent testimony to the contrast between heaven (represented by the TNOC zone) and hell (represented by their host communities). The book is obviously well-researched and innovative in the sense that it starts from a disavowal of the conventional wisdoms or orthodoxies on the Niger Delta narrative. It is a bold attempt at refocusing the Niger Delta discourse in line with its complex and cross-cutting nature. Probably its most innovative contribution is the attempt to deconstruct the narrative of a hegemonic alliance between the state and the TNOCs that influences oil policies. However, the vision imbedded in popular or subaltern imagery is underrepresented in the book.