The Niger Delta
Nigeria's Premium Times has a nice article on Nigerians struggling with oil’s toxic legacy. It's difficult to say the last six decades of oil production has been good for Nigeria. Some years in the future, people will look back and say the oil era wasn't much good for the entire planet either.
The article deals with the people of Ogoniland in the Niger Delta trying to reverse the devastation and destruction the oil industry inflicted over the years. The article states,
One of the world’s largest mangrove ecosystems is found in the Niger Delta, where people have coexisted for years. However, the mangrove forests declined with the introduction of oil extraction, which the Nigerian government has grown to rely on for the majority of its income.
In the past, the Nigerian government has attempted several strategies for the clean-up such as the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Process (HYPREP), introduced in 2016 to address issues of degradation and pollution in Ogoniland and other communities facing the crises.
The project is targeted at discovering the methodology and strategies suitable for cleaning up contaminated soil and ground water in affected communities. However, many residents are not convinced of its efficiency and impact even after years.
The article continues,
Ken Henshaw, a climate change advocate and executive director of We the People, said Niger Deltans have taken their future in their hands and chosen to secure it, knowing the government doesn’t care about them.
“I disagree that the Niger Delta is seeking a new phase. The Niger Delta is not seeking a resuscitation or re-energising of the region? No, not. What’s happened is that people are taking their destinies into their own hands, and they’re working to restore their environment,” he said.
Nigeria's oil policy was always backwards. For decades, they exported two to three million barrels a day, using little for themselves. With the end of the era of cheap oil, Nigeria's oil and environmental policy should end exports, using the oil for themselves, understanding that unlike, for example the United States, they will not have a seemingly limitless supply of cheap oil to use to “develop.”
Of course using the word “develop” is problematic. In large part, the world defined development for the past century based on the utilization of cheap oil. Removing Nigeria's two-million barrels a day off the global market will help the developed world better understand this.