BCC Coverage of Niger Delta.

This BBC news story will give you a good idea of the crisis of the Niger Delta. What surprised me the most is how most of the violence and kidnapping are being performed by children young enough to still be in school. Over 200 people kidnapped, being held for ransom. It almost seems like Nigerian children do not have much of a choice. With a lack of efficient education and health, they become rather easy targets for gang recruiters. I also was also astonished with how reliant fishing use to be in Nigeria, and how it almost completely vanished along with the birth of oil.

”PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Nigerian youths attacked guards protecting three oil flow stations operated by Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday to push demands for more funds for the local community, security sources said.”

The gunmen were identified as loyal to the militant leader “Kitikata.” They wrote a letter demanding “they be given a contract to guard facilities at Nembe Creek, a hotspot for criminal raids, or else they would carry out further attacks.

Increased demand for community compensation of the Niger Delta’s vast amount of petroleum exports has led to numerous instances of violence. The oil facilities’ operations have resulted in many problems for the communities of the Niger Delta including environmental damages (oil spills, unpleasant stenches, etc.) and unemployment. This has led to an increase in gang activity, kidnappings of oil factory workers, and attacks on major pipelines. Violence in the Delta has cut a fifth of the country’s oil output in the last few years.

Niger Delta Crisis

This blog aims to bring global attention to the issue of poverty in the Niger Delta in Nigeria, Africa. While oil spills in most places around the world are all over international news stations, the Niger Delta very seldom receives media attention despite it’s average of around 4 spills per years.

Oil in Nigeria was first discovered in 1958. The Niger Delta has accounted for over three-fourths of the countries’ export earnings since 1975. Despite this 70% of the Delta’s 31 million people live below the poverty line. Instead of putting forth plans of action to decrease the lack of surplus in the Delta, the Nigeria government puts more spending towards expanding it military presence.

Judging by the amount of resources in the Niger Delta, Nigeria should be one of the wealthiest countries in Africa. I intend to dive deeper into this issue to discover how this irony came forth. Please feel free to post whatever you like and feed me whatever information that will assist.