The Niger Delta is a Sacrifice Zone.... How that devastation manifests itself not historically,  but right here, right now. Here’s a snapshot of what it is like, from my research and observations over 12 years as an insider and an outsider. Around two million people are living within three miles of gas flaring sites across Nigeria. Exposed to the black fumes and toxic smoke they emit, to their excessive heat and roaring noise. Imagine that. In communities close to gas flaring, residents frequently report respiratory problems, severe skin rashes and eye irritations, and worse, increased cancers, health problems experienced by over two-thirds of the population there. If you want more facts and figures, then know that the average life expectancy in the oil and gas-bearing communities in the Niger Delta is just 41 years, 10+ years below the national average. Amongst this gathering, that means about half of us would already be dead, including myself. Imagine that. Know that conceiving a child within seven miles of an oil spill site increases neo-natal and infant mortality by 100%.These are not just numbers, they are real people, with lives and loves, and families, and communities around them. Like Alice, a community leader, who says......"Our lives will never be the same because of Shell’s gas flaring."Gas flares have destroyed everything we have in this community, the flares are an oppression. Oil spills have caused massive destruction. Our rivers are polluted, families have been robbed of fishing, their main source of livelihood. The water is no longer safe to drink or able to support farming, but there is no choice for us.....read on https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/04/nigeria-government-must-halt-shells-sale-of-its-niger-delta-business-unless-human-rights-are-fully-protected/