The community of Finima on Bonny Island in the Niger Delta. This village was relocated to make way for the the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas plant. Photograph © Ed Kashi
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Curse of the Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in the Niger Delta documents the profound cost of oil exploitation in West Africa. Photographer Ed Kashi and professor Michael Watts trace the environmental, economic, political, and social degradation of Nigeria following its independence from colonial rule. This is a new kind of humanitarian disaster, one to which the world turns a blind eye as they fill their pockets with profits.
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Ed Kashi graciously agreed to speak about just some of the problems plaguing the nation, which is number 4 (following Canada, Mexico, and Venezuela) for U.S. Foreign crude oil imports with 948,000 barrels per day imported in 2010—which is nearly double the 473,000 barrels per day imported in 2009.
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In the Ogoniland village of Kpean, an oil well head that had been leaking for weeks has turned into a raging inferno. The local youths keep watch, waiting for Shell to come and put the fire out. This is an environmental disaster for the local people, as it effects their crops, their water and air. Near the village of Kpean in Ogoniland, a Shell oil wellhead leaks oil into the surrounding farm lands. Even though Shell has not been allowed to pump oil from its 125 wells in Ogoniland since 1993, they sill have wells that are leaking and often unattended or maintained. This lack of action, which pollutes the lands and forces farmers and fishermen out of work, makes relations between the local communities and Shell very fractious. This Shell oil well is more than 30 years old and this scenerio is typical of the kinds of ongoing problems with the oil works of the Niger Delta. Photograph © Ed Kashi
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It’s funny (actually, not so funny) that when we were initially working on this book, the media response was fairly quiet, despite the importance of examining the practices of this industry. Now that the BP disaster has brought home just how dangerous this industry is, maybe there’s the opportunity for us to reexamine the way in which oil production destroys the environment in very really ways. What do you think has been the most dangerous aspect about oil production in Nigeria?
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Ed Kashi: The most dangerous aspect of oil production in Nigeria is probably flaring of gas. The Niger Delta produces the largest amount of pollution in the world associated with gas flaring. Besides it being a waste of energy resource, it also creates acid rain for the local environment, air pollution and heat pollution. I would venture to say that the environmental problems don’t stop there and the local people might consider the pollution of their lands and waters, which as traditional fishermen, they were dependent on, carries the greatest burden.
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At a Total gas drilling installation in Rivers State, a Chinese contracter, ZPED, works with Nigerians and the French company to drill for gas. This field is part of the only onshore oil exploitation that Total has in the Niger Delta. Total started here in 1968 and this is the 125th well they have drilled. The Chinese have started to make inroads in the delta and this is an indication of that. Photograph © Ed Kashi
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I remember when you were giving a talk about this subject, you explained how difficult, if not impossible, it is for changes to be made, given the political and economic powers that support oil production. Please talk about the situation in Nigeria; how do U.S. interests support—if not exploit—Nigeria’s natural resources?
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EK: American and British interests in the oil and gas resources of Nigeria have a tremendous impact on the ground in the Niger Delta. There is this unholy alliance between the international oil companies, the Nigerian government and military and in essence and practice the US and British governments. As long as the oil and gas flows outbound to American markets, which incidentally take 50% of Nigeria’s oil, then there is a nasty tendency to look beyond the troubling issues of the Delta. This is an insidious trend in most places in the world that produce sizable quantities of oil and gas.
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For me it more profoundly prods one to want a change of how we do business. A change away from fossil fuels and towards renewables. Let’s face it, the profits are too huge and our dependency too great to stop this ugly alliance, but it’s certainly not sustainable for the long haul.
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Militants with MEND (Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta) brandish their weapons in the creeks of the Niger Delta. Here they check a former Nigerian Army floating barracks that they had destroyed in March of 2006. 14 soldiers died in that attack and due to acts like this by MEND, 20% of Nigeria’s oil output has been cut. Photograph © Ed Kashi
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How has the struggle on the part of the Nigerians to fight against the oil industry played out over the years? Is it possible for an internal rebellion to drive out the oil companies?
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EK: While an internal rebellion could have grave consequences on the oil industry and hence, on the stability of the Nigerian government, I don’t think it’s possible to completely shut down the oil and gas industry in the Delta. Before that would be allowed to happen I suspect that American military force would be brought in. And even before that, the Nigerian military would go to even further lengths to snuff out any insurgency. This scenario would create an ugly and destructive situation that would destabilize Nigeria. To consider that Nigeria is the most populace country in Africa with over 140 million people, it’s unthinkable for this to occur. Before the oil companies would be forced to leave, there would be much worse consequences for all of West Africa.
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The home of Papa Isamu lays sunken in sand since 2004, when the encroaching waters of the Niger Delta creeks eroded the unprotected shoreline. In this town of 20,000 located in the middle of the Delta, hundreds of homes have been lost to this same fate. The local residents are bitter about the lack of protection that the oil companies and government have provided for them, while the oil industry has been allowed to protect their facilities and been allowed to dredge the nearby waters, which has only exacerbated the problems of the local communities. Erosion is one of the main environmental impacts of the oil industry. Photograph © Ed Kashi
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Please talk about the standard of living in Nigeria, and how this compares to the value of the product that is exported. Why do you think the Nigerian government does not support its infrastructure and its people with the possible earnings of its major product?
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EK: The Niger Delta is a very poor and underdeveloped place. In fact, since the discovery of oil in the late 1950s the standard of living for the people there has gone down. It’s unimaginable to consider that in the past 51 years more than 700 billion dollars of wealth has been generated from oil and gas in Nigeria and the fate of the people and environment in the region where that rich resource comes from has been hurt economically.
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The reasons are many but mainly stem from a lack of consideration for the people of Nigeria. Let’s face it, the Niger Delta is not any poorer than the poorest parts of Africa. What makes the lack of development and economic gain for the people of this region so profound is this “poverty amidst plenty.” Successive governments in Nigeria has plundered the region, disregarding the needs of the people. Certainly corruption plays a central role in this sad fate. Both systemic and personal corruption on a scale that is hard to imagine.
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Further is the ethnic racism that informs this dynamic. The people who control Nigeria tend to be from the Muslim north, or at the very least from different ethnic groups in this diverse and divisive nation. This further fuels the lack of desire to create parity, let alone share the wealth to a degree that would enable the locals to develop their region. To consider that in 50 years not one technical institute has been created in the Niger Delta to train the locals says it all.
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Ogbaland is a tribal area of the Egi people and is comprised of 20 communities nearby each other. They all consider King Egi their leader. He has been king for 25 years. This clan is in the Ogba/Egbemoa/Ndoni local government area. Celebration of the Egi New Year, which is tied to the harvest season and lunar calendar, takes place in August. It is also the New Yam Festival, which augers in one month of relaxing before farming and fishing begin again. The King and Queen of Ogbaland are the centerpiece of the event, which involves families from all 20 communities of the clan. They bring burning shoots and offerings to the King and the scene is one of mayhem, drunken fun and mock violence with guns, knives, axes and machetes brandished. The crowned prince, Chika Elenwa, is in the black longcoat and brandishes a sawed off pump action shotgun. Photograph © Ed Kashi
Scenes of daily life in the oil city of Warri, in the Niger Delta. Warri is a troubled town, with rampant poverty, unemployment, angry and violent youth and a crumbling infrastructure. Yet oil wealth is created in and around this area. In the tiny village of Ubeji, which is an ethnic Shakiri community near an NNPC (Nigerian National Petroleum Company) refinery, collect sand from the creeks for sale. Photograph © Ed Kashi
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G. Ugo Nwokeji’s essay, “Slave Ships to Oil Tankers” draws a parallel between the two major industries of Nigerian history that were designed to service Western interests, and asserts “A time may come when oil will be viewed in a manner not unlike eighteenth-century slavery, the greenhouse gases emitted from hydrocarbons perhaps akin to slave-produced sugar, and free labor as a parable for renewable energy.” Do you believe it is possible for our global economy to function without oil, or would it take something like the Civil War for change to happen here?
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EK: I dream of a day where we have moved past oil and gas. I know that dream will not be realized during my time on this earth but it is possible to witness the first steps of this dream to be realized. What it will take is the vision, strength of leadership and coordinated efforts of many nations to realize the need for this to happen. A civil war would not bring this change, nor will a collapse of our economic system. Unfortunately nor will the catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico we are helplessly watching develop.
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I fear we are destined to be cursed by our addiction to a drug that is destructive at every point of it’s process. We don’t seem to learn from our mistakes and the greed of humans continues to hold sway over reason. But isn’t this how addicts behave? Furthermore, who is willing to give up the lifestyle we have become accustomed to in large parts of the world? The hydrocarbon myth has been beautifully perpetrated on us all, especially in America were the cost of this addiction is relatively cheap.
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