For those of you who do not know what these terms mean, these were names given to blacks who helped the white master further oppress other blacks. These Negroes received special favours from their masters for keeping other blacks in check, snitching (reporting) on others just to make the Massa (master) happy. The Nigerian oil fields are like plantations, and Obasanjo and his ruling buddies continue to watch over it for the European and American oil interests.

What if I may ask have the Niger Delta people gained from the oil drilling that has been going on in their land since it was discovered? For an area that boasts of the highest percentage of exploration in Nigeria to be so poor and depressed is unacceptable by any standard. Sometimes I wish all the oil wells in Nigeria would dry up completely. From the American Department of Energy comes the following analysis of how Nigeria has fared since oil was discovered.

Ever since the discovery of oil in Nigeria in the 1950s, the country has been suffering the negative environmental consequences of oil development. The growth of the country's oil industry, combined with a population explosion and a lack of environmental regulations, led to substantial damage to Nigeria's environment, especially in the Niger Delta region, the center of the country's oil industry.

Furthermore, it says,

The Niger Delta region remains fraught with ethnic unrest. The Ogonis, an ethnic group that predominates in the region, have protested that not only have foreign oil firms degraded the local environment, but that the Nigerian federal government also has acquiesced by not enforcing environmental laws and regulations. Clashes between tribal groups and security forces have resulted in numerous deaths, as well as periodic disruptions in oil production. Protest actions occur with regularity, with local youths seizing oil platforms or taking hostages and forcing oil companies to withdraw their staff and/or to halt oil production until their demands are met.

The same memo also has this to say:

These protests are the result of the environmental degradation that has occurred--and is perceived to be continuing to occur--in the region as the result of oil development by multinational oil companies.

There have been over 4,000 oil spills in the Niger Delta since 1960, and gas flaring from oil extraction has resulted in serious air pollution problems in the area. One of the most visible consequences of the numerous oil spills has been the loss of mangrove trees. The mangrove was once a source of both fuel wood for the indigenous people and a habitat for the area's biodiversity, but is now unable to survive the oil toxicity of its habitat. The oil spills also had an adverse effect on marine life, which has become contaminated, in turn having negative consequences for human health from consuming contaminated seafood. The damages caused, and the continued exploitation of the people of Niger Delta leaves no doubt as to whom the terrorist and criminal is.

The other two negative by-products that the discovery of oil has brought about in Nigeria are; the almost near total abandonment of a once booming agro economy, and the three year civil war between Nigeria and Biafra.

Chibuzo Onubogu writes from the USA