Federated Niger Delta Ijaw Communities (FNDIC) 



Origins

The FNDIC is an organization of Ijaw youth, which formally emerged after a series of bloody ethnic clashes in 1997 among competing groups. The FNDIC claims Delta State, and more specifically the largest town of Warri, as its homeland. However, two other ethnic groups have made the same claim: the Itsekiri, and the Urhobo. While the groups have been violently debating over ownership and who rightly belongs in Warri, they additionally feel that their stake can be solidified or muted through the legal system. Therefore, “closely linked to the question of ‘ownership’ is that of representation in the formal structures of government,” which both the Ijaw and the Urhobo groups view as currently unfair. They claim that the Itsekiri ethnic group dominates governance structures in the local government areas (LGAs) of Warri and thus, disproportionately benefits from government resources. Since Delta State produces 40 percent of Nigeria’s total oil and receives its constitutional 13 percent of the revenues, control of the government structures [in this region] constitute major monetary and influential gains for the victors and therefore, provide continued motivation for the struggle.
Some observers state that FNDIC is a remnant of the The Niger Delta Volunteer Force (NDVF): “From various studies the group [NDVF]later transformed itself into the current, youthful, energetic and ubiquitous pressure group FNDIC. This is because most of the demands and leadership of FNDIC are contained in NDVF objectives and demands. The change in name from NDVF to FNDIC may not be unconnected with the emergence of the Asari faction called Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF).
 

Location / Main area of operation

Ijaw ethnic nationality of the Niger Delta is scattered across six states - Ondo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, and Akwa Ibom States. The FNDIC operates throughout the southern coastal areas of the Niger Delta region, particularly in the surrounding areas of Oporoza, Eghoro, Oghoye, Ogidigben, Ajudaibo Ugboegwugwu, Akpakpa, Ugogoro Ajakosogbo, Ugbogbodu, Deghole, Utonlila, Wakeno, Tobu, and Kolokolo.


Objectives

The FNDIC is primarily focused on ensuring that Ijaws have access to benefits from the sale of the region's oil and realizing the Ijaw ethnic group’s claim to the Delta State as their homeland. In this respect, on 3 March 2003, the FNDIC issued an ultimatum to the Nigerian government instructing it to comply with several demands – including the redrawing of electoral wards in the Warri South West local government area, troop withdrawal from Ijaw communities, reversal of the April 2002 Supreme Court ruling that offshore revenue belongs to the Nigerian federal government and is not subject to the constitutional requirement that a 13 percent share be returned to the state of derivation, and withdrawal of expatriate oil company staff. The threat for non-compliance was “mass action” to “reclaim” the areas, though, in fact, the deadline passed “without incident.”

Number of Members


In 2003, the FNDIC reportedly comprised of approximately 3,000 youths.

Type : National

The FNDIC is a national armed group; more precisely, it is an ethnic militia operating in Nigeria.

Conflict Status : Active

Active.

Structure of the organization

No information available.

 

Leadership

The president of the FNDIC is Oboko Bello. George Timinimi is the spokesman; Kingsley Otuaro, secretary; and Dan Ekpebide, adviser.

External aid/Third party involvement

In 2006, President Obasanjo’s government reserved an oil block drilling license for a company linked to members of the FNDIC, while Shell Oil has also admitted giving service contracts to FNDIC members.

 

External effects of the NSAG's armed activities

The activities of the Niger Delta insurgent groups, including FNDIC, have had a great influence in pushing global oil prices higher. Expatriates working in the oil industry continue to be victims of kidnapping and many oil companies have relocated to neighboring African countries due to the region’s insecurity. Although Nigeria is the world’s eighth largest oil exporter, the bombings of oil platforms and kidnappings of oil workers have cut Nigerian production by a fifth since early 2006, helping push world oil prices to record highs.
 

Funding

Donations and support are received from the Ijaw population in Delta State.

Relationship with the international community

None.

Books

  • Florquin, Nicolas and Berman, Eric G. (eds) (2005), Armed and Aimless: Armed Groups, Guns, and Human Security in the ECOWAS Region (Geneva: Small Arms Survey).

Articles and Chapters

     

  • Small Arms Survey, Jennifer Hazen and Jonas Horner, Small Arms, Armed Violence, and Insecurity in Nigeria. Occasional Paper No. 20 December 2007, available at link
  • Elias E. Courson, The Burden of Oil, Social Deprivation and Political Militancy in Gbaramatu Clan, Warri South West LGA Delta State, Nigeria, Institute of International Studies, University of California, Berkeley, USA, Working Paper No. 15 , p 28, available at: link

 

Reports and resolutions of intergovernmental organizations

Governmental reports

Reports of think tanks and non-governmental organizations

  • Amnesty International, Nigeria: Ten years on: injustice and violence haunt the oil Delta, 3 November 2005, at 22, available at link
  • Human Rights Watch, The Warri Crisis: Fuelling the Violence, Vol. 15, No. 18 (A), December 2003, available at link
  • Human Rights Watch/Center for Law Enforcement Education (CLEEN), Nigeria. The Bakassi Boys : The Legitimization of Murder and Torture, Vol. 14, No. 5 (A), May 2002, available at link
  • International Crisis Group, Fuelling the Niger Delta Crisis, Africa Report No. 118, 28 September 2006, available at link
     

Press Information (in chronological order)

Interviews

Internet resources

  • The International Institute for Strategic Studies Armed Conflict Database, Non State Armed Groups, Nga, available at link.

Statements of the armed group

Agreements involving armed groups