Liberation Theology and the Nigerian Church’s Engagement with Structural Poverty in the Niger Delta

This study critically analyses the applicability and limitations of liberation theology as an analytical and activist framework for the Nigerian church's engagement with structural poverty and environmental injustice in the Niger Delta region of South South Nigeria. The Niger Delta presents one of the world's most acute cases of resource extraction paradox, where immense oil wealth coexists with extreme poverty, environmental degradation, and systemic marginalisation. Drawing on the foundational texts of Latin American liberation theology alongside African political theology and Niger Delta contextual scholarship, the research examines whether and how churches in the region have adopted liberationist frameworks in their preaching, advocacy, and community mobilisation. Data are gathered through fifteen interviews with theologians and church leaders, document analysis of twenty denominational social justice statements, and ethnographic observation at three ecumenical advocacy events in Bayelsa, Delta, and Rivers states. Findings indicate that while individual church leaders espouse liberationist concerns, institutional church bodies in the Niger Delta have largely avoided confrontational advocacy against extractive corporations and complicit state actors, preferring charitable amelioration to structural transformation. The study argues for a contextual Niger Delta liberation theology that incorporates indigenous ecological knowledge and community self-determination alongside biblical justice mandates. Keywords: liberation theology, Niger Delta, structural poverty, environmental injustice, prophetic theology