Fifty years ago oil was discovered in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Today, at 2.1 million barrels per day, Nigeria is the sixth largest oil-producing country in the world and a major oil partner of the United States. Although its oil industry generates millions of dollars in revenues daily, the average Niger Deltan struggles to survive on less than $1 per day. The Curse of the Black Gold exposes the enormous costs and devastating impact of oil exploitation in the region. The impassioned voices of Nigerian environmental and human rights activists and Nigerian poets describe how the convergence of government corruption, irresponsible practices of Big Oil and abject poverty, has created a militant movement for redress.
—Anonymous