A Sociobiological Analysis Of Resource Control Issues

Abstract

One of the most acrimonious issues currently raging in Nigeria, and of the status of a threat to national unity, is the matter of resource control. There is an on-going rivalrous relationship between, first, resource host communities on the one hand, and the Federal government, on the other and then, among the host communities themselves in respect of who is to determine the pace at which resources should be exploited, and in what direction they are to be applied. The issues involved are often portrayed as being within the analytical framework of economics, politics and sociology alone. The present paper brings a novel and fresh insight on the resource control dilemma from the new discipline of sociobiology. Adopting the stand point that humans are part of the animal kingdom, the sociobiological phenomena of metamorphosis, aggression and territoriality are introduced into the fray. They are then juxtaposed to the issue of resource control and applied to improve understanding and, hopefully, management of the former.


JORIND Vol. 3 (2) 2005: pp. 108-110