Flames as tall as 10-storey buildings burn day and night in the village of Ebedei, in Nigeria's Niger Delta. The constant noise sends wild animals fleeing, and people must shout to be heard over the roaring flames. Fields of crops, once green, have turned yellow or stopped growing entirely. The village no longer enjoys the respite of cool or darkness of night.
In the oil-rich Niger Delta of southern Nigeria, 2 million people live within 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) of a gas flare. Below the flames, oil is being extracted. With the oil comes gas — considered by the oil industry to be a dangerous waste product to burned off in a process called gas flaring. And this flaring is on the rise again, despite promises to reduce it. Although gas flaring was officially banned in 1984, the government has repeatedly failed to fulfill promises to end the practice. Exposure to air pollutants released by gas flaring have been linked to cancer and lung damage, as well as neurological and reproductive problems.
The gas flaring caused a rise in soil temperature and declining crop yields for Nwaiku and other farmers. "You plant, and before you know it, everything is dead," he said. "It is a disaster."
Edward Obi, co-founder of the civil society group GASIN, said the Nigerian government "has not made sufficient efforts to insist that oil and gas companies put down the necessary infrastructure to capture the gas and utilize it." Nigeria has set itself a deadline to end routine flaring by 2020. But Obi does not believe this will be met. "Nothing on the ground suggests a realistic 2020 deadline — absolutely nothing."
https://www.dw.com/en/gas-flaring-continues-scorching-niger-delta/a-46088235
In the oil-rich Niger Delta of southern Nigeria, 2 million people live within 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) of a gas flare. Below the flames, oil is being extracted. With the oil comes gas — considered by the oil industry to be a dangerous waste product to burned off in a process called gas flaring. And this flaring is on the rise again, despite promises to reduce it. Although gas flaring was officially banned in 1984, the government has repeatedly failed to fulfill promises to end the practice. Exposure to air pollutants released by gas flaring have been linked to cancer and lung damage, as well as neurological and reproductive problems.
The gas flaring caused a rise in soil temperature and declining crop yields for Nwaiku and other farmers. "You plant, and before you know it, everything is dead," he said. "It is a disaster."
Edward Obi, co-founder of the civil society group GASIN, said the Nigerian government "has not made sufficient efforts to insist that oil and gas companies put down the necessary infrastructure to capture the gas and utilize it." Nigeria has set itself a deadline to end routine flaring by 2020. But Obi does not believe this will be met. "Nothing on the ground suggests a realistic 2020 deadline — absolutely nothing."
https://www.dw.com/en/gas-flaring-continues-scorching-niger-delta/a-46088235
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