Overtime people have used the term Niger Delta and South South interchangeably. I took my time to do extensive research and I consider it wise to share with the public.
Niger Delta
The Niger Delta is the delta of the Niger River at the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean in Nigeria. Historically and cartographically, the Niger Delta region consist of present day Rivers and Bayelsa states and Warri in (Delta state). These areas/states collectively is sometimes called Oil Rivers, as it was then the British Oil Rivers Protectorate established in 1884. The area was called Oil Rivers Protectorate because it was a major producer of palm oil. The area would be later part of the larger Niger Coast Protectorate after it was expanded in 1893 with Calabar as administrative office.
South South
The "South South" is an artificial geo-political zone created in 1995 by Gen Sani Abacha, and consist of Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Cross river, Akwa Ibom and Edo states. IBB had created six zones for "effective allocation of resources"
Historically, the "South South" has never been a single administrative entity. Let me explain...
Edo and Delta states
Though Warri (previously known as Delta Province) is/was part of the Niger Delta, the British in 1939 created the Western Region as a subset of Southern Nigeria and included Benin and Delta provinces in the region. The MidWest referendum of 1963 led to the creation of MidWest which included the Benin and Delta provinces from the Western Region after years/decades of agitation started by Benin Kings Oba Iweka II(in 1924) and Oba Akenzua II, Omo-Osiagie, Dennis Osadebe, Dalton Asemota, Okotie-Eboh etc and backed by super majority of Benin-Delta people. However, agitation by the "Niger-Deltans" within Bendel state for the creation of Warri State for the Niger Deltans(old Warri province), as well as call by the ANIOMAs for the Creation of ANIOMA state from the old Benin province led to the creation of Edo and Delta states in 1991.
(IBB forced Warri and ANIOMA people into one "Delta" state)
Akwa-Ibom, Cross river, Rivers and Bayelsa states
The four states were part of the Eastern Region in 1954 along with the present day 5 South Eastern States. Rivers and Bayelsa later formed "Rivers" State in 1967, while Akwa Ibom and Cross River became South Eastern state(later renamed Cross river state in 1976). Akwa Ibom state and Bayelsa state were splitted from Cross river(1987) and Rivers (1996) respectively.
Official "Niger Delta" States
President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2000 "expanded" Niger Delta to include SW Ondo state, SE Imo and Abia states , and SS Akwa Ibom, Edo and Cross river states. Thus, official Niger Delta states are the aforementioned plus the historical and cartographical Niger Delta (Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta states). All 8 states are the oil producing states in Nigeria.
Summary:
1. The Niger-Deltans in the "Real Sense" are people in the present day Rivers and Bayelsa states (old Rivers province), and Warri in the present day Delta state (old Warri/Delta province).
2. The “official” Niger Delta is an expression for the oil producing states of Ondo, Imo, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Edo, Cross River, Rivers, Delta and Bayelsa states. It is not exclusive to South South.
3. "South South" consist of 4 old Eastern states (Rivers, Bayelsa, Cross river and Akwa Ibom) and the old Midwest (Edo and Delta).
4. No single ethnic group can speak for "South South", as historical interests differs. For instance,
I) In Delta state, the Itsekiris are majorly pro-Yorubas. They majorly voted against Midwest region(preferring to be with the Yoruba Western region), and opposed the creation of Warri state. The Akoko-edos in Edo state are also pro-Yoruba and also opposed the creation of Midwest region.
III) The Binis, Esans, Ijaws, Igbos etc of Edo and Delta states have always lived harmonously since the fall of Benin Kingdom in 1897, formed alliances and supported each others interests. In fact, it was an Igboman(Anioma) Denis Osadebe that proposed Benin city to be the capital of MidWest/Bendel in 1963.
5. There is ethnic Igbo population in Delta (ANIOMA) and Rivers states. There is Ijaw ethnic population in Edo(Toru-Ibe Ijaws), Akwa Ibom (Eastern Andonis/Ibolo) and Ondo (Arogbo Ijaws) in addition to those in Rivers, Delta and Bayelsa states.
6. While the term "Niger Deltans" refers to people from Rivers, Bayelsa and Warri, the term "South Southners" refers to people that falls into the six states within the South South.
I hope we find this piece educating and Informative.
God Bless Us All
References:
dailyindependentnig.com/2014/01/ethnic-groups-geo-political-regions-nigeria/
www.african-volunteer.net/niger_delta.html
www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/ng_orp.html
www.vanguardngr.com/2011/02/the-true-story-of-delta-state-creation-by-otobo-akpeki-tosanwumi/
http://www.waado.org/nigerdelta/ethnichistories/
EgharevbaLectures/Fifth-Omoigui.htm
