This paper examines environmentally induced displacement in the Niger Delta, Nigeria, between 2010 and 2025, focusing on its drivers, socioeconomic consequences, and policy responses. Anchored on Environmental Justice Theory, it argues that host communities bear disproportionate environmental burdens from oil extraction due to weak regulatory enforcement and unequal power relations. The study adopts a qualitative historical design, using secondary data and content analysis to synthesize evidence from oil spill records, gas flaring incidents, flood patterns, and policy implementation reports. Findings show that recurrent oil spills, pipeline sabotage, gas flaring, artisanal refining, and climate change-induced flooding have degraded farmlands, fishing waters, and settlements in communities such as Bodo, Ogale, Odi, and Uwheru. Between 2010 and 2025, these environmental pressures contributed to livelihood collapse, rising unemployment, increased healthcare burdens, housing destruction, youth restiveness, and intensified rural–urban migration. Although policy initiatives—including the NDDC Master Plan, HYPREP cleanup, NOSDRA reforms, and the Petroleum Industry Act—were introduced, weak enforcement, delayed implementation, and elite capture limited their effectiveness in reducing displacement. The study’s key contribution is demonstrating the structural link between documented pollution patterns and measurable socioeconomic instability over time, showing that displacement in the Niger Delta stems largely from governance failures rather than isolated environmental events. It recommends stronger regulatory enforcement, transparent management of host community funds, community-based environmental governance, and integrated climate adaptation planning to mitigate long-term displacement risks.
Okuma et al. (Thu,) studied this question.