When Extraction Speaks, Others Stay Silent: The Politics of Environmental Attention in the Niger Delta

Dengiyefa Angalapu, Niger Delta University (Nigeria)

In the Niger Delta, extractive industries dominate the politics of environmental attention. The scale and visibility of oil-related damage, together with the financial and political power surrounding it, have made extraction the main frame through which environmental justice is understood and pursued. This paper argues that such dominance marginalizes other urgent ecological crises, including shoreline erosion, sea-level rise, deforestation, and plastic pollution, many of which predate or exist independently of oil operations. Using a political ecology framework, the study examines how advocacy, research, and compensation systems are organized around extractive narratives, silencing communities whose struggles fall outside the oil economy. The result is an uneven geography of environmental recognition, where access to attention and resources reflects power rather than ecological urgency. The paper calls for a broader understanding of environmental justice in the Niger Delta that includes all affected ecologies and communities.