Civil Society in the shadows of Nigeria’s Core Conflicts The Role of Civil Society Organizations in the Niger Delta Crisis Obi, Ndifon Neji, PhD Introduction The Niger Delta region of Nigeria has, unfortunately, become synonymous with agitations, militancy, and vandalism that have often threatened the socio-economic development of the country. In the colonial past, slave and palm oil traders(Africa Report, 2006) colonial potentates and post-independence Nigerian governments have often deployed a blend of diplomacy, force, threats, subterfuge, and bribery to extract resources from the land, swamps, and rivers of the Niger Delta, without the discernment that their mercantile activities were creating a background for protracted unrests, agitations, and violence(Obi, 2018). These unguarded mercantilist activities have inadvertently exposed the region to sustained restiveness occasioned by a cocktail of paradoxes of incompatibilities. A region so rich in resources yet so poor, a major contributor to the development of the Nigerian state yet, itself underdeveloped, a region classified as the world’s largest wetland, yet lacks potable water(Simbine and Obi, 2018). This is further compounded by the government’s attempts at security that have often resulted in insecurity in the region, a development that has created conditions conducive for underdevelopment and poverty and lack in a context of wealth and abundance. Years of neglect and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Nigeria| 36