ILLEGAL CRUDE OIL REFINING: HOW INCENTIVIZED VIOLENCE IS DRIVING THE MOTIVATION FOR ILLICIT JOBS IN NIGERIA’S NIGER DELTA

Despite associated environmental challenges, the illicit workspace of crude oil theft and illegal refining also referred to as kpo fire in Nigeria’s Niger Delta has continually defied all attempts to stop it by the Government. This is due to the absence of sufficient legitimate jobs and the incentives that conflict actors get within a widely established economy of violence. This study examines how illegal crude oil refining drives the motivation for illicit jobs amongst youths as a result of the incentives accruing to warlords. To achieve this objective, the study relies on the qualitative method and extensive content analysis. It covers two states (Rivers and Bayelsa) in the Niger Delta given the high incidence of illegal crude oil refining in these states. 54 Key Persons made up of 5 owners of illegal refineries, 41 employees of these refineries, 6 government officials and 4 members of the armed forces, constitute the sample size. The study employs the purposive and snowballing sampling techniques to select participants with Key Persons Interview (KPI) as the method of data collection. Information gathered was analyzed using the thematic method. The findings reveal that the illicit works pace of crude oil theft and refining will continue to proliferate because warlords who own these illegal refineries are mostly supported by the government and high ranking security officers. Also, youths prefer to find jobs in illegal refineries because the pay is relatively very high when compared to some entry level legitimate jobs. The study concludes that the skewed reward system that favours conflict actors provide incentives for illegal oil refineries to thrive and more youths continue to make inroad into the illicit workspace because they find it more rewarding than legitimate work. It recommends that government should make  legitimate workspace more attractive in addition to enforcing existing laws against oil theft and illegal refining in the region.