THe ijaw in the 21st century: Experiences from the historic past and imperatives for Bayelsa state

The Ijaw people are the aboriginal to the Niger Delta, having lived and grown with the Delta for between eight to ten thousand years. In the course of their existence from ancient to modern times, they have evolved sophisticated economic, socio-cultural and political institutions by which they have existed and prospered in the often-inclement geographical conditions of their homeland in the Niger Delta. The sophistication of the Ijaw civilization and the lessons that its most homogeneous modern state yet, being the State of Bayelsa in Nigeria, could derive, is the thrust of this treatise.