Niger Delta: in Nembe, pollution makes its inhabitants fear poverty (1/3)
Audio 02:09
A fishing community near their boats along the Niger Delta.
© AP/Sunday Alamba
By: Moïse Gomis Follow
1 min
The Niger Delta, in southern Nigeria, is shaken by a new disaster linked to oil production.
Several towns and villages in Bayelsa State are currently being ravaged by an oil spill and gas pollution.
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According to the spokesman for the governor of the state of Bayelsa, two million barrels of crude would have been poured into the Santa Barbara River, polluting the flora and fauna of this region suffering from a degraded environment for several decades.
This figure of two million is disputed by Aiteo, owner of the Santa Barbara No. 1 well, which it bought from Shell in 2015. Considered one of the largest private oil companies in Nigeria, Aiteo took 32 days to stop this leak. which officially started on November 5th.
Our correspondent first joined in Nembe, about fifty kilometers from Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa State.
From Nembe, he took a motorboat to go to fishing communities along the Santa Barbara River where these women and men fear falling into poverty, because of contaminated fish resources for several years.
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Nigeria
Pollution