Army Steps in to Shut Down Illegal Refineries

Nigerian soldiers were sent in under government order to shut down nearly 500 illegal oil refineries in the Niger Delta region. Gun-boats and helicopters were sent in to stop the smuggling of oil refined in make-shift equipment; old metal drums connected by pipes and heated for days to create either petrol or diesel. The military commander in charge of the mission, Jafaru Ibrahim, said that no arrests were made during the raid but that, "this exercise is going to continue as often as possible so that [the bunkerers] do not have freedom of action to continues [these] illegal activities" which account for some 300,00 stolen barrels of crude oil every day. As oil prices rise not only in the United States, but also globally, smuggling of oil has increased (the price of oil per liter in Nigeria has increased by $0.98 over the past three months) the demand on the black market for oil in Nigeria has increased substantially. These actions in combination with the horrible environmental degradation have led to what is known as the "resource curse" of the Gulf of Guinea in which officials from such companies as the Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, and Agip claim almost the entirety of the wealth leaving little of the money to spread out to the surrounding communities where most people live on $2 a day or less. The smuggled oil is used primarily to heat homes in the surrounding region and because of the high petrol content of the gas there have been many explosions. President Goodluck Jonathan has promised to aid the Niger Delta region (where he is from) if he wins the upcoming election. In addition, the oil minister has said that their are reforms developing in parliament that, if passed, would supply some $600 million in dividends annually to the region to help protect and develop.

We talk frequently about how America and other democracies expect lesser developed countries to develop democratic institutions in two years rather than two centuries. Although it is apparent that Nigeria, a country that developed "democracy" only twelve years ago, has a long list of issues to deal with including regional cleavages, violence caused by religion, and the "resource curse" it is also encouraging to see the government take action to step in to protect it's citizens from the possible consequences of the selling of illegal oil and stop the prevalent smuggling in the oil industry. It also is a testament to the government of Nigeria's (possible) willingness to set aside millions in order to develop some of their most desperate regions. Yet again (sorry) much of the outcome of this issue will only be seen after the presidential elections in April because, according to Jonathan, he will take efforts to protect the Niger Delta which demonstrates the link between economic and political change.