[18] The violence has contributed to Nigeria's ongoing energy supply crisis by discouraging foreign investment in new power generation plants in the region.

Despite the vast wealth created by petroleum, the benefits have been slow to trickle down to the majority of the population, who since the 1960s have increasingly been forced to abandon their traditional agricultural practices.

[24] The 1970s and 1980s saw government promised benefits for the Niger Delta peoples fall through and fail to materialize, with the Ogoni growing increasingly dissatisfied and their environmental, social, and economic apparatus rapidly deteriorating.

Both parties began carrying out acts of violence and MOSOP issued an ultimatum to the oil companies (Shell, Chevron, and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation) demanding some $10 billion in accumulated royalties, damages and compensation, and "immediate stoppage of environmental degradation", as well as negotiations for mutual agreement on all future drilling.

The rationale for this assignment of responsibility was the benefits accrued by the oil companies from extracting the natural wealth of the Ogoni homeland, and the central government's neglectful failure to act.

The occupying forces, led by Major Paul Okuntimo of Rivers State Internal Security, claimed to be 'searching for those directly responsible for the killings of the four Ogonis.'

Saro-Wiwa and his comrades denied the charges, but were imprisoned for over a year before being found guilty and sentenced to death by a specially-convened tribunal, hand-selected by General Sani Abacha, on 10 November 1995.

However, no attempts have been made by the government or any international body to bring about justice by investigating and prosecuting those involved in the violence and property destruction that have occurred in Ogoniland,[31] although individual plaintiffs have brought a class action lawsuit against Shell in the US.

The IYC pledged "to struggle peacefully for freedom, self-determination and ecological justice," and prepared a campaign of celebration, prayer, and direct action, Operation Climate Change, beginning December 28.

In December 1998, two warships and 10–15,000 Nigerian troops occupied Bayelsa and Delta states as the Ijaw Youth Congress (IYC) mobilized for Operation Climate Change.

After a march demanding the release of those detained was turned back by soldiers, three more protesters were shot dead including Nwashuku Okeri and Ghadafi Ezeifile.

On January 4, 1999, about one hundred soldiers from the military base at Chevron's Escravos facility attacked Opia and Ikiyan, two Ijaw communities in Delta State.

[34] The ethnic unrest and conflicts of the late 1990s (such as those between the Ijaw, Urhobo and Itsekiri), coupled with a peak in the availability of small arms and other weapons, led increasingly to the militarization of the Delta.

Although the smaller groups are autonomous, they have formed alliances with and are largely controlled from above by either Asari and his NDPDF or Tom's NDV, who provide military support and instruction.

The NDPVF was founded by Asari, a former president of the Ijaw Youth Council, in 2003 after he "retreated into the bush" to form the group with the explicit goal of acquiring control of regional petroleum resources.

Subsequent violence occurred chiefly in riverine villages southeast and southwest of Port Harcourt, with the two groups fighting for control of bunkering routes.

The state campaign against the NDPVF emboldened Asari who began publicly articulating populist, anti-government views and attempted to frame the conflict in terms of pan-Ijaw nationalism and "self-determination."

Consequently, the state government escalated the campaign against him by bringing in police, army, and navy forces that began occupying Port Harcourt in June 2004.

At the end of August 2004 there were several particularly brutal battles over the Port Harcourt waterfront; some residential slums were completely destroyed after the NDPVF deliberately burned down buildings.

Numerous multinational corporations established oil operations in the region and made a conscious effort to not violate any environmental or human rights regulations.

There is also a higher demand for food of good quality, but not enough monetary income, which leads to sex exchanges that ultimately transmit diseases such as HIV/AIDS, and increase teenage pregnancy and illegal abortions.

[43] Citizens briefly mention their bodily experience when consuming local crops and protein in the HBO documentary, The Battle Raging in Nigeria over Control of Oil.

[45] In the year 2000, the Niger Delta Development Commission(NDDC) was entrenched on the region with the purpose of encouraging environmental relief, preventing pollution, as well as locating and removing any inhibitions to community advancement.

The United States provides the Nigerian Navy with equipped patrol boats to prevent oil smugglers from entering, leaving, or engaging in any business in the area.

[46] Though action has been taken in the previous years, the Niger Delta continues to experience environmental and physical detriments with little to no legitimate interference from the oil companies involved.

Shell's inability to respond effectively has led Friends of the Earth Netherlands and Amnesty International to believe it actively contributes to the human rights violations in the region.

[57] The amnesty office has worked to reintegrate the fighters into society, primarily by placing and sponsoring them in vocational and higher education courses in Nigeria and abroad.

With Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan's defeat in the March 2015 elections, the amnesty program seemed likely to end in December 2015 and with patronage to former militant leaders terminated, local discontent is deepening.

[67] On August 9, 2016, Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate declared its existence and threatened to destroy refineries in Port Harcourt and Warri within 48 hours, as well as a gas plant in Otu Jeremi within a few days.

[72] On 4 September, the group claimed it had rigged all marked oil and gas facilities with explosives and warned residents living near them to evacuate[73] From early 2021, Niger Delta militant groups such as the "Niger Delta People's Salvation Force" led by Asari-Dokubo joined an insurgency in Southeastern Nigeria which pitted Biafran separatists against Nigerian security forces, armed Fulani herders, and bandits.