Conflict in the Niger Delta rose sharply in the early 1990s resulting from deteriorating environmental conditions for local inhabitants stemming from major oil spills and other petroleum extraction activities of foreign Big oil companies and their contractors. Many of the Niger Delta's inhabitants, including minority ethnic groups, particularly the Ogoni and the Ijaw people, feel they are being exploited and their ability to earn a living on their land is being undermined. Ethnic and political unrest continued throughout the 1990s despite the return to democracy and the election of the Obasanjo government in 1999.