PICTURES AND IMAGES FROM SCENES OF
OIL SPILLS, OIL FIRES, GAS FLARES
AND OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGES
IN NIGERIA'S NIGER DELTA
Editor's Introduction
There is no region of the world that is as much subject to
environmental abuses as Nigeria's Niger Delta. The main source of
these abuses comes from oil exploration. This profitable enterprise
began more than forty years ago and is in the hands of powerful
multinational oil companies. In the 1970s, the Federal Government of
Nigeria opened up its own operations in the oil industry. Unregulated,
there are no controls on the behaviours of the companies and
corporations handling the exploration of oil in the Niger Delta.
Many of the equipments and tools used by the oil companies and the
Federal Government's own companies are poorly maintained and are in
need of repair. Gas flaring was never regulated. The appetite of
Nigeria's government for oil is infinite, as it has emerged as
virtually the sole source of its income. It cannot control the oil
companies. Its own oil concerns are poorly run. The result has been a
series of disasters in recent years. Many of the scenes of these
disasters are not photographically recorded because they occur
rapidly, usually in fiery explosions. Occasionally, they have been so
recorded. We will feature as many of these scenes that have been
recorded in pictures as we can get.
The bulk of these pictures are from the archives of Environmental
Rights Action and Friends of the Earth Nigeria [ERA/FoEN] ,
Benin City, Nigeria, and are taken by its ace photographer, ISRAEL
ALOJA. We thank Nnimmo Bassey, Executive Director of Environmental
Rights Action, and Mr. Israel Aloja for allowing us to use these
photographs.
