JESSE WINTER: November 6, 2015
For decades, poor residents of the oil-rich Niger Delta have fought the pollution of their lands with little success. Now, writes Jesse Winter, a town ravaged by oil spills has changed the game with a historic court victory against Shell.
The Yamaha outboard coughs indignantly but refuses to catch.
John Agava mutters under his breath, removes the motor’s cover and flips it over. He siphons a splash of gasoline into it, strips the spark plug from the engine and swishes it around in the gas.
The former fisherman’s hand-carved boat rocks gently, alone on the expanse of slate-grey water of Bodo Creek in Nigeria’s Niger Delta.
Agava replaces the plug and hauls on the engine’s pull cord. It coughs and finally catches. He tosses the gasoline rinse overboard, where it mixes with the rainbow sheen left from a massive oil spill that changed his life — and thousands of others’ — seven years earlier.