Militants from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) patrol the creeks of Bonny river near the LNG plant in the oil rich Niger delta region of Southern NigeriaFrom The Independent:
Nigeria is one of the world's biggest oil producers. But the scramble for riches has brought ruin to the region and its people. Report by Steve Bloomfield
This should be paradise. A land of plenty. The finest schools and hospitals, gleaming infrastructure that shames the West, a place where wealth literally oozes out of the marshy undergrowth.
This was the dream, anyhow. To say it has turned into a nightmare doesn't do justice to the horror that the Niger Delta has become; it doesn't even begin to describe just how disastrous the discovery of oil more than 50 years ago has been for the people who live here.
A sweaty, heaving melting pot of 30 million people from 40-odd ethnic groups speaking more than 200 different languages, the Niger Delta lies on the southern banks of Nigeria, Africa's most populous country.
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My Comment: 30 million people broken into 40 odd ethnic groups, speaking 200 different dialects and languages .... and they all are hostile to each other. Talk about ethnic tension.
Oil is not the cause for their misery .... it is the people in the Delta region who cannot get their act together that is the cause of their misery. If it was not for their oil and deposits and pressure from international forces to keep the peace .... this part of Nigeria would have fallen into the typical African "fail state" status a long time ago.
Unfortunately for Nigeria, their culture is too corrupt and their political class is even worse.
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