July 6, 2005

In the Niger delta oil region, a gang of young men shut down an oil pumping station for a day, and left only after extracting money and jobs from the oil company. This kind of extortion is becoming more frequent, despite the larger number of police and security guards employed in the region. For decades, most of the oil income has been stolen by politicians, and little of the benefit has reached the people living in the oil producing areas.