HABERMAS’ DISCOURSE ETHICS AND MATTHEW LIPMAN’S CLASSROOM COMMUNITY OF INQUIRY AS A MODEL OF CONFLICT MITIGATION IN THE NIGER-DELTA REGION OF NIGERIA

By

Emmanuel E. Ette

&

Chidoziri Obioma Ihehuilo

Department of Philosophy

University of Uyo, Nigeria

Abstract

The Niger Delta region of Nigeria, the region that plays host to multinational oil companies has been embroiled in protracted conflicts between the people of the Niger Delta region (the host communities) and the multinational oil companies operating in the region. The conflicts are driven by the interplay of factors which include but not limited to oil exploration and revenue allocation, environmental degradation, unemployment and poverty, exclusion from decision making processes related to oil exploration, forced displacement by oil companies, distortion of the ecological livelihood of the people of the Niger Delta region, and resource control. The prevalence of conflicts in the region has highlighted the need for innovative and cultural effective approaches towards peace building and conflict resolution in the region. Several models, kinetic and non-kinetic aimed at mitigating conflicts in the region and changing the trajectory of relationship between the multinational oil companies and the host communities have been suggested and implemented. However, the contending issues are yet to be satisfactorily resolved as pockets of conflicts and agitations in the region still fester. Jurgen Habermas’ Discourse Ethics, and Mathew Lipman’s Community of Inquiry are models that seek to explore the effectiveness and possibility of addressing perceived societal dissatisfactions that could trigger conflicts through the engagement of stakeholders (multinational oil companies and people of the Niger Delta region) in constructive and collaborative dialogue. Adopting the qualitative design and methods of textual analysis, speculation and hermeneutics, this essay affirms a nexus between Habermas’s and Lipman’s models, and conflict resolution in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. It argues that insecurity and conflicts in the region can be mitigated if models that prioritizes inclusiveness, dialogue and collaborative inquiry which the two thinkers envisioned are adopted. The essay in conclusion posits that relief interventions and empowerment programmes should be based on the occupational demography of the people of the region where those with similar occupation are stratified and profiled.