Negotiating without Trust: Exploring the Structural and Political Constraints of Peace Talks in Niger Delta Communities

This paper examines why the government’s attempts to mediate in the Niger Delta keep failing. Peace talks have become more like show, focused on quick fixes instead of fixing deep-rooted problems. In a place where there’s a big crisis of confidence, talks often get messed up because of past broken promises and harm to the environment. The paper explores how problems with the system, like how resources are controlled and how conflict is handled politically, stop real talks from happening. It also investigates the role of gatekeeper politics and how community power is split up. The paper notes that the way negotiations are set up now often benefits powerful people instead of dealing with what regular people are upset about. It concludes that, to get past the current shaky situation, there is the need to switch from just making deals to building real relationships. The government and mining companies can only start to rebuild trust which is needed for lasting peace in the Niger Delta by getting rid of the things that encourage instability.