The Price of Oil
Nigeria should be a massively rich country. It's the
most populous country in Africa, and is the world's
sixth leading oil producer. Over a quarter trillion
dollars in oil has been lifted from Nigerian soils and
waters in the last 40 years. But after
years of military rule and rampant corruption, fueled
by these oil monies, the country is mired in billions
of dollars in debt and is wracked with poverty.
This especially is the case, ironically, in the region
where 100% of Nigeria's oil comes from — the Niger
Delta region. Filled with dozens of traditional
farming villages and ethnic minorities, the Delta
region has almost no representation in government and
yet provides 80% of Nigeria's revenues with its oil.
Villages without basic services watch helplessly as
billions of dollars in oil flow from their lands — and
then are left to deal with the environmental and
health effects of oil spills and towering gas flares.
Huge amounts of natural gas emissions are an
inevitable byproduct of oil drilling, and there are
several options for dealing with it. Gas can be
harnessed for power, or, if that's not possible, be
re-injected into the ground. The cheapest — and most
destructive — alternative is flaring, simply setting
the gas on fire. Gas flares never go out — there's
enough gas from even a modest oil well to burn off for
decades, day and night.
Gas flares are everywhere in the Niger Delta region of
Nigeria. But
few are dramatic as the Oshie flare, owned by the
Italian oil company Agip. The Oshie flare is almost on
top of a village of 1,700 families, the traditional
farmers and fishers of Akaraolu. The villagers were
promised jobs and money when Agip first erected the
flare in 1972. But none of it materialized, leaving
Akaraolu with foundering fishing and agriculture and
health problems as a result of the 200-hundred-foot
high roaring column of flame in their midst. Constant
appeals to Agip and the Nigerian federal government
for respite have gone unheeded. Most villagers don't
even remember a time before what they simply call "The
Fire" loomed over their lives.
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Dagogo Joel's arm was burned by the Oshie gas
flare when he was a child. The flare--lit
since early 70s and adjacent to Joel's home
village of Akaraolu -- occasionally spews out
flaming liquids on the countryside, and burned
Joel's arm while he was fishing with his
father. |
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