Photo of the Day

This is probably the most surreal photo I've seen in weeks.


Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters


This is from Lagos, Nigeria after the gas pipeline exploded, killing 260 people.

Residents said a gang of thieves had been tapping the pipeline for months, carting away gasoline in tankers for resale.

Tapping is common in Nigeria, a major oil exporter, where many of the 130 million people live in woeful poverty amid widespread graft that makes a handful of people wealthy. One pilfered can of gasoline sold on the black market can earn the equivalent of two weeks of wages for a poor Nigerian.

This dismal situation needs to be addressed quickly. It is inexcusable for the US and other nations who are dependent on Nigeria's abundance of oil to turn a blind eye to the dire circumstances in which tens of million of people must survive on very little while vast wealth goes into the pockets of a select few.

Widespread corruption and mismanagement have left Nigeria’s refineries unable to meet demand, and fuel shortages are common. Christians heading home for Christmas and Muslims preparing for a feast day have jammed service stations for days across Lagos, a sprawling city of 13 million people. Many Nigerians contend they have gained little from decades of oil production in their country, saying natural gas flaring and oil spills have spread pollution, while they remain poor and a tiny elite grows rich.

“How can this be, that people are so poor in Nigeria that they will risk their lives for a little thing?” asked Bode Kuforiji, a university lecturer. “But boats leave for America every day filled with oil.”

And we don't seem to care as long as we can keep pumping our tanks full without waiting and at prices we can afford. I'll wager we'll hear not a peep of outrage from those Episcopalians who currently have a love-fest going on with the archbishop of Nigeria, Peter Akinola, an outspoken opponent of homosexuality who supports legislation in his country that would make it illegal for gay men and lesbians to form organizations, read gay literature or eat together in a restaurant.



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