South South

The South South (often hyphenated to South-South) is one of the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria. It designates both a geographic and political region of the country's eastern coast. It comprises six states – Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, and Rivers.
The zone stretches along the Atlantic seaboard from the Bight of Benin coast in the west to the Bight of Bonny coast in the east. It encloses much of the Niger Delta, which is instrumental in the environment and economic development of the region. Geographically, the zone is divided with the Central African mangroves in the coastal far south while the major inland ecoregions are–from east to west–the Cross–Sanaga–Bioko coastal forests, Cross–Niger transition forests, Niger Delta swamp forests, and Nigerian lowland forests.
Although the South-South represents only ~5% of Nigerian territory, it contributes greatly to the Nigerian economy due to extensive oil and natural gas reserves. The zone has a population of about 26 million people, around 12% of the total population of the country. Port Harcourt and Benin City are the most populous cities in the South-South, and the fourth- and fifth-most populous cities, respectively, in the country. Port Harcourt and its suburbs, together called Greater Port Harcourt, form the largest metropolitan area in the zone, with about 3 million people. Other large South-South cities include (in descending order by population) Warri/Uvwie, Calabar, Uyo, Ikot Ekpene, Ugep, Sapele, Buguma, Uromi, Ughelli, Ikom, and Asaba.
The South-South Region was created from parts of both the Western and Eastern regions of Nigeria in 1997 through the recommendation of the Alex Ekwueme panel, by the national regime of General Sani Abacha.
Edo, Delta, one-quarter of Bayelsa, and the Ndoni section of Rivers states were from the old Western region. Three-quarters of the area of Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River states were from the old Eastern region.
On a federal level, the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and its parastatal — the Niger Delta Development Commission — cover the South-South in addition to three other oil-producing states (Abia, Imo, and Ondo). Unlike the development authorities of other zones like the North-East Development Commission, the present authorities are responsible for the areas outside of the South-South as the NDDC was created in response to protests and conflict in the wider Niger Delta region. Nonetheless, the creation of a South-South Development Commission has been repeatedly proposed by some lawmakers in the late 2010s and 2020s, with proponents advocating fairness with the other zones' commissions while opponents deride the proposal as redundant. The remit of the current development agencies includes ecological protection and infrastructure development; however, both the ministry and commission have long been beset by corruption and mismanagement that has led to the abandonment or failure of many projects.
Although the areas that now comprise the South-South were electorally competitive during the first, second, and aborted third republics, every state in the region consistently voted for the nominees of the Peoples Democratic Party in fourth republic presidential elections from 1999 to 2019. After Olusegun Obasanjo won the South-South by substantial margins of victory in 1999 and 2003, Goodluck Jonathan — an indigene of Bayelsa State — expanded PDP margins greatly in 2011 and 2015. However, PDP margins of victory decreased in 2019, when Atiku Abubakar was the party nominee. In 2023, with Abubakar again as the PDP nominee, four South-South states broke their streaks of PDP voting — with Rivers being won by Bola Tinubu (APC) amid widespread irregularities while Cross River, Delta, and Edo voted for Peter Obi (LP).
Presidential votes in South-South states in the Fourth Republic: