Since 1998 over 2500 people have died and thousands more injured from oil pipeline fires. That is the official figure. The real numbers of deaths and injured will never be known as they happen in and around small villages in the Niger Delta on a regular basis. The latest has so far claimed between 300 and 500 lives and who knows how many injured. Given the state of the hospitals and the fact that those injured are the poorest members of the community it is hard to be convinced that they will receive anything like adequate health care or compensation from the government.

The official story is the pipe lines were damaged by oil thieves who took what they wanted then left the leaking pipeline. As has happened before, local residents fled to the scene to try to collect as much oil as possible and then the explosions. It is easy for the government to blame the explosion and deaths on oil thieves but one needs to look below the surface to find the real causes none of which are new to Nigerians. The problem of petrol scarcity and rising prices of petroleum products on the one hand and on the other 40 years of corruption and mismanagement of the petroleum industry by the government and the oil companies.

Democracy Now has an excellent interview with Sandy Cioffi, the director of the film “Sweet Crude,” who has just returned from the Niger Delta region and discusses oil, the multinationals and militancy in the region.

Tags: Nigeria; Oil