The natural resource curse, aka: Dutch Disease, combined with a historical degree of plunder by successive, misdirected, and tainted leaders, both military and civilian, have left the citizens of Nigeria
in worse living conditions than 40 years ago, despite many hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue accruing to the federal state. This looting and mismanagement has been well-documented, and there is no need to reiterate points already made clear on the misuse of natural resource revenue; however, in looking at the increasing environmental damage, the recent Shell oil spill that is now covering 350 square miles and approaching the fragile, mangrove shores filled with subservience fisherman, one can not ruminate on how much better off these people would have been had oil never been discovered within their territorial borders. The press coverage of this newest environmental catastrophe has been minimal; I think back to the Gulf of Mexico spill dominating world press for months and it paints a pale comparison to this newest spill. The story did not register in a roll call of world news on Google. Another environmental catastrophe bestowed upon some of the world's most vulnerable and underserved citizens by large, Western, multinational chemical companies. Certainly not the first time, and with increased drives for energy exploration and globalization, this will not be the last. Are these people's lives and livelihoods somehow worth less than those of the citizens of the Gulf coast of America? Are their lives not worth the same level of regulations and press coverage that lives in the West take for granted? Despite the common multitude of statements to the contrary, this certainly seems to be the case, reinforced, once again.
