there are many ways in which oil has had a negative impact on the people of the niger delta. for instance they were primarily fishermen. now the waters they used to fish are in degraded, the fish stocks are quite low. with farming a lot of the land has either been taken up by the oil works, the oil industry or the land has been polluted. so it's left the people with fewer opportunities in the traditional sense of how they survived and how they made a living. but the oil industry has not created a lot of jobs for the local people. they are living on basically $1 aay. the average niger deltan. while they might be sitting on land that is producing billions of dollars of wealth, on a yearly basis, they're receiving no benefits from that. on average, there's al an oil spill every day. they are not of the size of the bp spill in the gulf of mexico let's say but this is a constant problem. you have infrastructure that is not only 50 years old. but it's in a place that's quite inhospitable. the dangers and the impact of being near the oil industry, sort of hit on a number of levels.

in the niger delta most people live on $1 a day. in tonight's first person report we hear from a photo journalist who spent years documenting the struggle of the communities. >> in 1958 they started to pump oil. over the last 50 plus years, nigeria is one of the top 10 oil producers. at the beginning of oil and gas in nigeria, it was a poor country at that point. somewhat undeveloped. so oil was a - you know, a new comodd city that brought in temedz wealth. with it brought, you though, problems for the people. >> what happened in the niger delta is a classic case of something i have seen throughout most of the world where oil and gas is produced. except maybe in e gulf states. it creates tremendous wealth for the companies and the politicians, and business people who are involved in the trade, but for the local people on the ground, and quite often for the environment, it ravages them. there are many ways in which oil had a negative impact on the people of niger delta. they were fishermen. subsistence farmers and fishermen. many of

what's happened in the niger delta is a really classic case of something i've seen throughout most of the world where oil and gas is produced except maybe in the gulf states, the arab gulf states, it creates much wealth for the politicians and the credit government, but for local people on the ground and quite observ often for the e it ravages them. subsistence farmers and fishermen, now many of the waters that they used to fish in are degraded or the fish stocks are quite low. with farnlg a lot of the land -- farming a lot of the land has been taken up by the oil works the oil industry and the land has been polluted. it's less the people with fewer aopportunities in the traditional sense how they survived and made a living but oil industry has not created a olot of jobs -- a lot of jobs for the people. they are living on $100 a day the are average niger deltan. sitting on land that produce he billions of dollars of wealth -- produces billions of dollars of wealth, they are not of the size of the bp spill in the gulf of mexico let's say but this is a constant problem. you have infrast

i traveled to nigeria years ago and worked with sowore in the niger delta.talk about what has happened here. >> maybe i should start with the update. they foundmorning, eight more gals. >> in addition to the 300, eight more girls were taken? what has happened is two things. the abductions happened but the nigerian government does not want people to know this abduction took place. then the army came out and said the girls had been rescued. this was a big lie. then they retracted the story. nobody knows the whereabouts of the girls. doesn't even know where the girls were located. believeithin his do not this is some kind of conspiracy against the president. as a result, they should not be made a major issue. as a moral fact, it will be a must three weeks that the abductions have taken place. we're just putting pressure on him or he is responding to pressure two weeks after. it is not about the where about of the girls. just a lot of speculation as to where they are. what i know and i can tell the public is boko haram has begun to create his own territory. ther

and in the niger delta gunmen snatched three dutch nationals. arms kidnappings frequently operating there often for ransom. two men and women the woman did happen and i yell sustain the kidnappings happening as they were on route to the hospital operated to buy us all from chevron. a french national killed another wounded in yemen's capital there working as guards for the new mission in sonata current tax men aboard an suv with a mark licence plate to him and tries were also injured. in it. the ostriches stories trial region meeting in pretoria with a neighbor of the paralympics are testifying about the panicked phone call he received two minutes. the story shot dead his girlfriend and a lot more a neighbor who told the court he's convinced the shooting was accidental i hesitate to bolster the story of the worst or themes are unshakable thinking outside the court as everyday of his trial on monday they were there as usual as proceedings restarted after a two week recess. lancaster is a riot of course when you're a woman in britain at the end tho

just a few years ago there was a very serious rebellion in the oil producing region the niger delta and now for the last several years the country has faced this rebellion in the northeast by this group boko haram. >> brown: an how much when we hear discuss ams between north and south, how much does that play into the willingness or ability of the government to go and find these girls, to take more action. >> well, politicians certainly like to portray themselves and like to campaign on a national platform. i think that's certainly what the guy gerian citizens expect. but the truth is that the historical divide and cultural divide is one that the country is still grappling with. nigeria is in fact exactly 100 years old this year and over the last year or two there were a lot of commentary in the newspapers, for example, about the so-called mistake of 1914. having said that, i think many nigerians are hopeful about the future and would like to see their government invest a little bit more in that hope. >> brown: professor okome what about the strange juxtaposition that we have seen in th

of course supporting the federal government to work on the military problem and stability in the niger delta region. we would be supporting communities to seek dialogue over their differences, using their own local initiatives. also empowering more skills and knowledge particularly on conflict transmission to deal with those issues constructively. >> thank you, lantana. i'm going to yield to senator flake so he also has an opportunity to ask questions before we must return for our next vote. thank you so much for your testimony today. senator flake? >> thank you. i'm sorry if i'm asking questions already answered. with regard to the government's response to what's going on in the north, have there been any initiatives by the government that have been effective in diminishing the attractiveness of boko haram for recruiting or for their activities? is the government winning this battle or not at this point? >> over 200 young girls can actually be abducted right in the presence of the nigerian government and remain missing for 30 days, it means we have lost in some way. it's obvious there is st

of course supporting the federal government to work on the military problem and stability in the niger delta region. we would be supporting communities to seek dialogue over their differences, using their own local initiatives. also empowering more skills and knowledge particularly on conflict transmission to deal with those issues constructively. >> thank you, lantana. i'm going to yield to senator flake so he also has an opportunity to ask questions before we must return for our next vote. thank you so much for your testimony today. senator flake? >> thank you. i'm sorry if i'm asking questions already answered. with regard to the government's response to what's going on in the north, have there been any initiatives by the government that have been effective in diminishing the attractiveness of boko haram for recruiting or for their activities? is the government winning this battle or not at this point? >> over 200 young girls can actually be abducted right in the presence of the nigerian government and remain missing for 30 days, it means we have lost in some way. it's obvious there is st

people in the northern part of the country to live in abject poverty they wouldn't allow the niger river delta be completely and totally destroyed by oil and other types of pollution ultimately what it is when it becomes a problem for them when the stability becomes an issue then they want to try to find a security solution to contain the problem but not solve the problem because the roots of the problem as we discussed earlier go to the very heart of their entire method of ruling this kleptocratic type of regime and so it's only when groups like boko who are you know huge embarrassments to them on the international scene in situations like this this terrible situation with the young women abducted is when they claim to want to do something but other than that and oftentimes honestly and i both north and south you see a lot of these politicians are also heavily involved in the violence that's going on as well so they certainly benefit by being able to exacerbate conflicts and then let themselves be seen as the power brokers that need to be dealt with and this goes back a long time as we said t