The Day Nigeria Struck Oil

"They said they were looking for oil", remembers chief Sunday Inengite about the white explorers, mainly English, Dutch and German that came to his village, in the Nigerian River Delta, in 1953. They were part of a joint venture called Shell D'Arcy, between the dutch Royal Shell Company and the Anglo-Iranian oil, later British Petroleum.

People in Nigeria like Inengite thought they meant palm oil, which was produced in abundance in that part of the country. They only realised what they had really been looking for after the explorers got lucky one day in 1956, and he and the local villagers were invited to a party to celebrate. Along with food and drinks, there were clear glass bottles filled with the dark thick liquid on display. 

"Jubilation" is the word chief Sunday uses to describe the atmosphere of that particular day to the BBC's journalist Alex Last. His interview is a magnificent testimony featured in the Witness History Podcast.

The locals knew the foreigners had invested so much time and money, since the 1930's, but they really didn't know how much their discovery was worth. Three years later, Nigeria became independent. Since then, oil has been the country's main source of income. Instead of investing it, it has been a huge source of corruption. Billions have been stolen. 

For chief Sunday and his village, the discovery has been a curse, not a blessing. "Nobody eats crude oil". The leaks and spills from pipelines and wells have contaminated the ponds, the swamps and the creeks they fished in. They have payed the highest price for that stroke of luck which changed the country's history.