© AesthetixMS 2020. This Open Access article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For citation use the DOI. For commercial re-use, please contact editor@rupkatha.com. Two Oils, One Evil: an Appraisal of Contemporary Dilemma of the Indigenous Population of Nigeria’s Oil-Delta Communities, 1956-2019 Victor O. Ukaogo 1 & Nwakuya Cecilia Ogechi 2 1 Department of History & International Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria. Email: victor.ukaogo@unn.edu.ng 2 Careers Unit (Registry Department), University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria. Email: Ogenwakuyah@yahoo.com Abstract This study examines the processes of economic transition and the corresponding impact on the Niger-Delta communities. It argues that the region has witnessed several epochs of economic transition; all of which came with damning consequences. While the major focus of the study is the change from palm oil to crude oil (two oils), the study explores the curious linkage between economic transitions, contemporary poverty and environmental violence in the region (one evil). The integration of the region into the vortex of oil globalization has paradoxically and inversely increased the poverty amongst the rural poor. The study argues that while the ‘oily debacle’ yield endless violence against the indigenous population, issues of environmental governance exacerbates. This is evidenced in the government’s militarized mediation strategies that worsen the prospects of peace in the enclave. Typical of ‘resource curse’ philosophy, the wealth from crude oil that should improve the lot of the rural poor has directly shut them out of the expected benefits of oil extraction. The study investigates and avers that the unholy alliance between the State and global capital is a challenge and concludes that capitalist exploitation of the region on account of crude oil explains the contemporary dilemma of the indigenous population. Keywords: Niger-Delta; Globalization; Foreign Interest; Environmental Governance; Resource curse; Environmental security; Capitalist exploitation Introduction The two oils of palm oil and crude oil constitute products of pain for the population of Niger- Delta. Both can be referred to as ‘oils of evil’ given the pain they have brought upon the people. From the era of palm oil to crude oil, the Niger-Delta has contributed to world energy and industrial growth but has paradoxically remained in the doldrums and fringes of development on account of the convergence of Nigeria’s political and economic vices in the region. It is believed to be the poverty capital of Nigeria; probably explaining the recurring incidents of violence and abuse in the region ostensibly from the contestations related to wealth and power. Complaints abound in the land; and from imperial humiliation through colonial exploitation, the region has journeyed to the present crisis of oily debacle that has pitched the people not only against foreigners as was the case in the past but against their own government in the present. All these emanate from conflicts and struggles over the appropriation and control of environmental resources like palm and crude oil. The strategic nature of the Niger-Delta, particularly in the context of global energy security confers on the region an important status in contemporary Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities (ISSN 0975-2935) Indexed by Web of Science, Scopus, DOAJ, ERIHPLUS Special Conference Issue (Vol. 12, No. 5, 2020. 1-9) from 1st Rupkatha International Open Conference on Recent Advances in Interdisciplinary Humanities (rioc.rupkatha.com) Full Text: http://rupkatha.com/V12/n5/rioc1s32n3.pdf DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s32n3