APCJ_1528_Win2010_00i_122_4 12/30/10 3:22 PM Page 42 42 AFRICA PEACE AND CONFLICT JOURNAL At the seminar in Aluu, a respondent had stated, ‘[A] nonkilling society in the Niger Delta is not possible until those who think that Nigeria is their personal property allow others like us in the Niger Delta to also taste the presidency’.35 Could Jonathan’s ascendancy be the beginning of a transition from killing to nonkilling, courtesy a shift in the political opportunity structure? Jonathan is the first Niger Deltan to hold the highest political office in Nigeria. As one opinion leader in the Niger Delta notes, ‘[A] sense of involvement in the politics of Nigeria at the highest level of governance has been injected into the people of the Niger Delta’.36 The political elite and the process that delivered the presidency to Jonathan involves a nonkilling strategy, for which members of the National Assembly, civil society, and citizens at large must be commended. A genuine transition from killing to nonkilling, however, requires a comprehensive and integrative approach that guides a shift away from killing associated with basic laws and policies that generate conflict or wars that lead to killing. For instance, laws or policies that deter rather than enable the oil-producing communities of the delta from participating effectively in decisionmaking processes in the political and economic systems are certainly inimical to peace. A valid transition away from killing in oil-producing communities requires socioeconomic and political reforms sensitive to the development needs of the Niger Delta. That continues to be the challenge for the Nigerian government. For the people in the delta whose living conditions remain dire, the need for substantive or material change cannot be replaced simply by the transfer of political power to a native of the area. Rather, they still need to see concrete alterations in their lives in the form of a cleaner environment, basic amenities and services, job opportunities, and access to the accoutrements of citizenship. When nonkilling is fully appreciated and practiced at governmental, nongovernmental, and inter-personal levels, it possesses the capacity to prevent violent conflict or transform and manage ongoing violent conflicts. 35. Telephone interview, youth and opinion leader (name withheld) in the Niger Delta, 15 October 2008. 36. Ibid.