Pages: (49-61 )
Abstract
Oil extraction in Nigeria’s Niger Delta has caused extensive environmental degradation, which disproportionately affected girls’ access to education between 1956 and 2020. This study examines how oil spills, gas flaring, deforestation, and water contamination led to the collapse of agricultural and fishing livelihoods, thereby intensifying gender inequalities in schooling. Adopting a historical-descriptive approach and drawing on primary and secondary sources, the paper argues that environmental degradation deepened household poverty and compelled many families to prioritise boys’ schooling. As a result, girls were frequently withdrawn from school to take on domestic labour, caregiving, farming on degraded lands, petty trading, and the task of sourcing water over long distances. In heavily polluted communities, especially in Bayelsa, Delta, and Rivers States, girls experienced significantly higher rates of absenteeism and school dropout than boys. Although national programmes such as the Universal Primary Education (UPE) of 1976 and the Universal Basic Education (UBE) of 1999 increased overall enrolment, these policies largely failed to address the ecological barriers affecting educational access in oil-producing communities. The study concludes that environmental injustice remains a critical yet overlooked barrier to girl-child education and argues that achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 will require integrated environmental remediation, livelihood restoration, and gender-sensitive development policies in the region.
Keywords: Niger Delta, Oil pollution, Girl-child education, Gender inequality, Sustainable development,