Niger Delta's window for change

The largest militant group in Nigeria's volatile oil-rich region called for a truce this week after the country's new president promised improvements for the people.

from the June 7, 2007 edition

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Anger directed at oil companies

Anger in the delta is as palpable as the humid heat that hangs over its labyrinth of mangrove creeks. "We need development. When we have development, when we have employment, then we are OK," says Anthony Borgbara, who subsists on farming and fishing. "But when there's no money, we're angry."

Much of the fury is directed at oil companies. Aid workers say this is because the oil companies are a physical presence in communities – their pipelines and gas flares standing high above the trees – while neither the Nigerian federal or state government has had little or no direct impact on people's lives.

Since 1997, Shell has contributed to development efforts in Nigeria that vary from providing for basic needs to building costly infrastructure projects. But 10 years later, communities like Umuechem say they have little to show for it.

Shell promised the people of Umuechem schools, a new clinic, and clean drinking water, says Kelvin Agbam, chairman of Umuechem's Community Development Committee. Strolling through the village, he points out a line of water taps that have not flowed for years, an incomplete secondary school where a lesson has never been taught, and the site for the village clinic where he says no one has ever been treated.

"This is all we have from Shell since 1958," says Mr. Agbam, standing in the half-built secondary school. There should be science classrooms, toilets, and accommodation for the school principal, says Agbam.

Shell blames the lack of progress on theft and "internal community crisis."

"The armored [water pipe] cable was dug up and stolen twice between 2003 and 2006, and [Shell] replaced it on each occasion," wrote Diezani Alison-Madueke, external affairs director of Shell Petroleum Development Corporation, in an e-mail.

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Click to enlarge Rich Clabaugh – Staff