Oil riches bring blood to Nigerian villagers

In the midst of an African oil boom, many expect increasing oil revenues to better the lives of so many Africans who suffer from grinding poverty. However, the potential development of the oil-rich region of Obioku in Nigeria has created a frenzy of conflict over land claims that have brought theft, escalating inter-community violence, and even lethal intervention from the Nigerian military. Dozens of people are dead, and far more have fled their homes.

At first glance, it is hard to imagine anyone fighting over this place.

Approached by a creek, the only way to get here – a day’s journey by dugout canoe from the nearest town – it presents itself as a collection of battered shacks teetering on a steadily eroding beach.

On Sunday morning, the village children shimmy out of their best clothes after church and head to a muddy puddle to collect water.

Their mothers use the murky liquid to cook whatever soup they can muster from the meager catch of the day.

Yet for months a pitched battle has been fought between communities that claim authority over this village and the right to control what lies beneath its watery ground: a potentially vast field of crude oil that has caught the attention of a major energy company.

The conflict has left dozens dead and wounded, sent hundreds fleeing their homes and roiled this once-quiet part of the Niger Delta. It has also laid bare the desperate struggle of impoverished communities to reap crumbs from the lavish banquet the oil boom has laid in this oil-rich yet grindingly poor area.

“This region is synonymous with oil, but also with unbelievable…

Posted by Colin
"When I gave food to the poor, they called me a saint. When I asked why the poor were hungry, they called me a communist." - Dom H. Camara