The commodification of natural resources is often neglected in the study of the Niger Delta, Nigeria. Yet commodification connects past transatlantic slavery and oil palm production with contemporary Nigeria’s petroleum economy. Nigeria’s current dirigiste policy of dependence on the export orientation of natural resource production reinforces earlier conditions of commodification. Several generations of existing scholarship have largely overlooked this continuity and thus have failed to grapple with the predatory relationship of the state towards the people. The lack of substantive development in the Niger Delta can be traced to the interplay between international capitalist interests and the continuing collaboration of both the Nigerian state and the regional Niger Delta elite in supporting an economy heavily geared to export. The full development of the productive forces of both labor and natural resources can occur only when real social justice is achieved through the liberation of the nation from predatory exploitation.
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