I've been to Nigeria a few times, namely Port Harcourt, to work with the UNEP on the "
Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP)" in the Niger Delta. This unique opportunity brought me back to the early days of my career when I was a researcher of environmental and human rights abuses in the extractive energy sector.
Years earlier, when I lived in Thailand, I worked with an NGO called EarthRights International that brought a
lawsuit against Royal Dutch Shell for the torture and execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other activists known as the "Ogoni Nine" because they protested the atrocious environmental pollution from oil exploitation on their lands. After the lawsuit, Shell and the Government of Nigeria established the HYPREP project to clean up oil pollution in Ogoniland, with the support of UNEP. So, even though I'm not a lawyer and didn't work on the lawsuit, I spent years hearing about the situation in Ogoniland, and here I was, finally seeing it firsthand.
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| Rainy view from my office, Port Harcourt |
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| Rainy market, Port Harcourt |
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Meeting with His Majesty King Festus Babari Paago Bagia JP. AMB. P. Erebamene Erebagiãã Gberesaakoo XIII in the Kingdom of Gokana, Ogoniland.
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| Port Harcourt |
Port Harcourt is one of the rainiest places I've ever been to. No matter the time of year I visited, it was monsoon season. It's part of the charm of the Niger Delta, even if it does cramp my love of poolside tanning in the tropics!
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Endlessly raining in Port Harcourt.
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| Chilling poolside on a rare sunny day, Port Harcourt |
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Ogoniland Clean-up: Implementing the UNEP Report
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One of my biggest surprises in Nigeria was the food! Before visiting, I'd never been exposed much to West African cuisine, but I discovered a gastronomic palate full of bitter leaves, sour herbs, spicy peppers, and pungent dried fish. Interestingly, lots of these flavors reminded me of the jungle salads and curries of Myanmar (Burma) that I'd developed a taste for years earlier. So, even though the foods were new, they often tasted familiar, and I always looked forward to a good egusi with fufu when I landed in Port Harcourt.
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Egusi Soup: melon seed curry with bitter leaves, scotch bonnet peppers, dried fish, and fried chicken, Port Harcourt
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Jollof Rice and fried chicken with plantains, Port Harcourt
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| Afang: bitter leaves curry with fried chicken, Port Harcourt. |
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| Port Harcourt |
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