Category Issue 3

Abstract – The Niger Delta conflict has continued to attract the attention of scholars, policymakers,and non-governmental organisations because of the abject poverty of the oil-bearing communities and the impact of the conflict on the global oil price. The efforts by both the Nigerian government and friendly countries, especially those that their oil companies are operating in the region to assist the country in its efforts to address the country has yielded no fruits. Several causes have been identified as responsible for the conflict and different theories have also been used to analyse the conflict but none has provided a thorough understanding of the conflict. However, there is a paucity of studies that have applied Azar’s protracted social conflict theory to the analysis of the Niger Delta conflict and this study fills this lacuna and contributes to the understanding of the Niger Delta conflict. It examines the relevance of the Azar’s theory to the understanding of the Niger Delta conflict and relies on secondary sources of data. The paper argues that the theory is multi-disciplinary in approach and also encompassing, as it contains elements of other theories that have been used to analyse the Niger Delta. However, the theory suffers from several limitations which limit its application to the Niger Delta conflict. Keywords: Nigeria, Niger-Delta, Protracted Conflict, Azar’s Protracted Social Conflict [Cite as: Adeosun, A. B. (2020). The Nigeria’s Niger-Delta Protracted Conflict: How Relevant is Azar’s Protracted Social Conflict Theory to the Analysis of the Conflict? Diverse Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, Vol. 2, Issue 3, Pages 13-22.]