So rich in oil, yet so poor they slaughter domestic goats for food and dry their clothes on gas pipeline that carries fuel worth billions: Stunning images capture raw brutality of life in Niger Delta
By LEON WATSON
Despite billions of dollars worth of oil flowing out of Nigeria south east, as these stunning pictures show life for the majority of Niger Delta's inhabitants remains unchanged.
Most people live in modest iron-roofed shacks, and rely on farming or fishing, their only interaction with the oil industry being when they step over pipelines in the swamps - or when a spill blights their landscape.
A man lifts a roasted goat on his shoulder in an abattoir in Swali, in Yenagoa, the capital city of Nigeria's oil state of Bayelsa
Gas pipeline passes through the Eleme community near Nigeria's oil hub city of Port Harcourt
The world's third largest wetland, the Niger Delta is diverse and rich with mangroves and fish-rich waterways. But oil drilling has also turned it into one of the most oil-polluted places on Earth.
Some two million barrels (320,000 m3) a day are now extracted in the Niger Delta but local indigenous people have seen little if any improvement in their standard of living while suffering serious damage to their natural environment.
According to Nigerian federal government figures, there were more than 7,000 oil spills between 1970 and 2000 which has led to the waterways are blighted and fish stock killed off.
There has also been an upsurge in oil theft and opposition to SPDC – oil giant Shell’s joint venture with the Nigerian government. The government has had to send in troops on numerous occasions and Shell alone spent £242m in four years to maintain a 1200-strong private militia to protect its installations.
But that still hasn't stopped thieves siphoning up to $4.5billion (£2.8billion) of oil out of Shell’s pipelines in the Niger Delta last year.
A girl walks on a gas pipeline running through Okrika community
A man carries a cow head at the Swali abattoir in Yenagoa, the capital city of Nigeria's oil state of Bayelsa
Butchers work preparing meat for sale in an abattoir near the Swali market in Yenagoa
A man roasts a goat in a steel drum at the Swali abattoir in Yenagoa
Roasted goat meats are placed in a wheelbarrow at the Swali abattoir in Yenagoa
A man lifts a roasted goat on his shoulder through the Swali slaughter site in Yenagoa
People walk through an abattoir in the Swali district of Yenagoa before the meat market gets going
A man walks through farmland polluted with oil in the Kalaba community, near Yenagoa
A boat guide drives a speed boat as oil slick splashes on the water through the Bodo creek in Ogoniland near Nigeria's oil hub city of Port Harcourt
Boat guides carry people through polluted water as passengers disembark from a speedboat at the shore of Bodo creek in Ogoniland
Women fish in a creek near the River Nun in Nigeria's oil state of Bayelsa
Youths take part in a traditional boat regatta for the burial ceremony of a local chief in the coastal town of Twon Bass
A boy pours out water from a canoe conveying members of a Christian sect as they sing and conduct a church service on the River Nun
A canoe conveys members of a Christian sect as they sing and conduct a church service on the River Nun
A church is seen in Kainyabiri village on the banks of the River Nun in Nigeria's oil state of Bayelsa
People travel on a locally built passenger boat loaded with oil containers through a creek on the River Nun
A woman coated in oil perches near a mangrove after fishing in a creek
Speedboats are arranged along a jetty in Yenagoa
A vendor pushes a cart filled with clothes along a street in the coastal town of Twon Bass
View of a jetty in Yenagoa, Nigeria's oil state of Bayelsa
Most people live in modest iron-roofed shacks, and rely on farming or fishing
A view of the Swali market alongside the river Nun, in Yenagoa
1 comment:
What a deep shame and embarrassment to Bayelsa state,upon all the Bayelsa corrupt politicians taking a lot of the nation oil money you look like where dogs live.
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