The contribution of gas flaring in nigeria to global warming.

• Author: Ikari, Ben Wuloo

The presence of oil in a given region should be a blessing. Unfortunately, it is a curse in the Ogoni/Niger River Delta, considering the horrific experiences of the people at the hands of the Nigerian government and Shell Oil. Problems oil has brought to Nigeria range from Draconian laws, reckless handling of the environment, government and oil company insensitivity to the plight of the people, injustice, and roles of the international community.

Nigeria is said to be a federation of ethnic nationalities. However, the country is run as a unitary system where the central government is overly strong and dictatorial. It gained its style from the British colonial government that invaded, fought and conquered the already independent peoples who lived around the River Niger. So by 1960, after the forceful amalgamation of the so-called southern and northern protectorates, Nigeria, which is the most populous country in Africa, was born by becoming independent. At its birth about 300 different ethnic nationalities or groups were forced against their wishes to form the union, like in the former Soviet Union which had about 120 ethnic groups.

Among these ethnic groups are three cultures, the Hausa/Fulani, Yoruba, and Igbo, who have been in power since independence. Minority ethnic groups did not know what crude oil and gas were until Shell Petroleum Development Company, for merly known as Shell British Petroleum, struck oil in a small village called Oloibiri in 1956. In 1958, the same company struck oil in large commercial quantities in Ogoni. Shell came to A Nigeria with the British as their commercial vehicle at a time when the British government and people embarked on massive exploration and exploitation of African resources for the expansion of their empire. Since this discovery, the once peaceful and beautiful Ogoni/Niger Delta environment has no longer been a source of fresh air, green vegetation and bountiful harvest.

The exclusion of the peoples of the Niger Delta from the political process from the very beginning gave the so-called majorities the audacity to treat the Niger environment with indifference during the extraction of oil. Since 1956 there have been no environmental assessment, social or health impact studies done in the region where over $600 billion have been received by the federal government from oil. Shell, Chevron, Exxon Mobil, and many others, which are all Western and American, have likewise carted away uncountable oil...