Economics, Oil & Energy, Nigeria, Petroleum, Conservation, Environmentalism, African 

In 1995, the world was shocked by the news of the murder of Ken Saro-Wiwa, a writer, political activist, and leader of the Niger Delta's Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP). Yet his summary execution by Nigeria's brutal military junta was only the latest horrific event in the centuries-old pattern of human right abuse and environmental exploitation. MOSOP was formed out of a final, desperate need to protest the destruction of people’s land culture by two forces: a giant multinational corporation, Royal Dutch Shell, and a series of corrupt and repressive Nigerians governments. In this important book, Ike Okonta and Oronto Douglas presnt a devastating case against both Shell and Nigeria’s military regime of the 1990s.
Since Shell began to plunder Nigeria’s rich reserves of oil and gas in the 1950s, the environment and the economy of the country have been in steady decline, while Shell’s profits has continue to rise. Irresponssible practices- including gas flaring (the ignition of gas in the atmosphere), laying dangerous high-pressure oil pipelines aboveground, and polluting water sources –have degraded agricultural land in this once rich Delta and left local people destitute, often lacking such basic amenities as piped water and sanitation facilities. Although Shell’s “spin doctors” try to present a rosier image of the corporation’s presence in the Niger-Delta, Okonta and Douglas offer persuasive evidence to support charges of environmental degradation.
Compelling and angry, Where Vulture Feast will draw new attention to a grave injustice. The story of the Niger-Delta- one of the most endangered human ecosystems in the world-is a story that demands to be heard.
 

Since Royal Dutch Shell first struck oil in the Niger Delta in 1956, the environment and economy of the country have been in steady decline. The authors, a Nigerian journalist and lawyer, document the Nigerian people's struggle against the exploitation and destruction of their land and culture by Royal Dutch Shell and a series of corrupt Nigerian governments.
Okonto was part of the editorial team that founded Tempo , an underground newspaper in Nigeria. He is presently at St. Peter's College, England. Douglas is Nigeria's leading environmental human rights lawyer.
He is deputy director of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth in Nigeria. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) - from Amzon 

Acknowledgment........................................................p. ix

Foreword...................................................................p. xi

Introduction...............................................................p. 1

1 A People and Their Environment...................................p. 5

2 Soldiers, Gangsters, and Oil p.......................................p. 21

3 Colossus on the Niger .................................................p. 43

4 A Dying Land .........................................................p. 61

5 Where Vultures Feast .................................................p. 96

6 Ambush in the Night .................................................p. 116

7 A Game for Spin Doctors .........................................p. 157

8 Healing the Wound .................................................p. 190

Epilogue ................................................................p. 207

Appendix Justice on Trial .................................................p. 211

Notes and References .................................................p. 229