Nigeria’s oil hope and despair

The west African state of Nigeria is the continent’s biggest oil exporter. But despite its huge energy reserves and potential wealth, millions of people live in extreme poverty.

Each Nigerian state has its own number plate slogan. Lagos, the pulsating home to 15 million-odd people, traffic jams and frequent armed robberies, is the Centre of Excellence, while Delta state has the tagline The Big Heart. This, I was later told by a Delta resident, is because of the courage of its people.

For 50 years oil has been pumped from beneath the creeks, swamps and forests of the Delta, an area about the size of Scotland. It has earned the Nigerian government billions of pounds. Yet the communities in the Delta say they continue to live in poverty.

More at the BBC.