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“Agriculture is our main priority” was a quote by Prof. E.C. Edozien, an economist who was the chief adviser to President Shagari (Gupte 1981). The dishonesty of this statement later became apparent because the Shagari Government alone was responsible for disappearance of many billions of dollars in bribes and foreign exchange that was put in international banks (Haller 2007, 65). Some other concerning comments were made by economists who said that the ambitious Nigerian government plan would require that the extraction of oil would be done as fast as possible and in the greatest quantity possible, which is made valid by claims from government officials emphasizing the need to expand the economy before there was a shortage in oil (As cited by Gupte 1981).

Many social issues have arisen from the political and economic conditions discussed. The indigenous peoples within the Niger Delta have experienced marginalization, violence, and poverty because historical circumstances have lessened the amount of control they have other their resources. The indigenous within the Niger Delta lost a significant amount of control at independence when the entirety of Nigeria was viewed to be the property of the government, including oil (Manby 1999, 3). Since the days of colonialism, stemming from as far back as the enlightenment, the ways of the indigenous have been viewed as backward and inefficient. This view transcended colonialism and continued to exist within independent Nigeria. The indigenous, particularly small minority ethnic groups like the Ogoni were pushed to the margins and their existence threatened by the more powerful and influential groups around them.

Tobias Haller argues that the existence of various ethnic groups in the Niger...

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...y up to the oil companies and more times than not, immediate gains took precedence over long term costs. The Nigerian State is responsible for the indirect elements that resulted in oil pollution such as: allowing Shell and other oil companies to operate without any environmental restrictions, for the choice base the economy around oil heightening the pressure on the industry, and for violence and corruption that angered the indigenous and resulted in retaliation. Many state issues originated during the days of colonialism but were continued by a political elite that lusted for the immediate financial gains and development opportunities that benefitted themselves and the projects they were in support of but not those who lived on the land from which the oil came and those who suffered the majority of the consequences from the production and pollution of oil directly.