The paper is an incisive theoretical overview of the continuing conflict between oil companies and host communities in the Niger-Delta of Nigeria. It examine the contending issues around the substantive functions of oil companies and the latent consequences of environmental degradation which has remained a constant source of friction between oil companies and host communities. The paper adopts structural functionalism or holism as a theoretical model for understanding and creating a threshold for peace in the Niger Delta. The methodology adopted for this paper is rather crypt and largely ethnographic, involving long drawn interviews and on-participant observation of both oil workers and indigenes of the host community. Finally, the paper fosters synergy and recommends a
scenario for reciprocal empowerment between oil companies and the host community in the Niger-Delta of Nigeria.