OIL PRODUCTION AND CHANGING CULTURAL PATTERN IN IKWERRE ETHNIC NATION; A CASE OF OBIO-AKPOR

Since oil was discovered in 1956 in commercial quantity in Oloibiri a town 90 kilometers west of Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State, life has not been the same with the people of the area. The importance attached on oil production varies from society to society, depending on whether a society is a consumer or producer nation. This study systematically structures the area in order to get a representative sample on how the oil production activity has impacted the area. Theoretically, dialectical materialism is employed since it will enable us to understand how the contradiction observed in the productive pattern of the people and the multinational oil production corporations (MNOPCs) located in the area brings about change in the culture of the people. Records show that oil production is the major economic base of Nigeria and it accounts for over eighty percent of total revenue; over ninety percent of export earnings of the federation and eighty-eight percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This work shows how oil production activities by the MNOPCs in the area contribute to the perceived changing cultural pattern of the people, for it is true that the production style of a people is a window to the people’s way of life.