The term #occupy__ (<—insert location there) is now synonymous with revolution. Very recently the movement #OccypyNigeria has begun to monopolize a great proportion of the hashtags postings on twitter by Nigerians. The viral vehemence of Nigerians in protest to the indefinite cancellation of the fuel subsidy has tipped over past precarious and tumbled into an abyss of violence,which can only grow deeper. Fires have been lit, shots fired, at least one death has been reported. But, #OccupyNigeria has overshadowed a different protest in the villages…the protest against oil spills blamed on Royal Dutch Shell the biggest oil producer in the coastal region. Lively-hoods ruined, local health compromised, these places could use a little less oil, couldn’t they? But their protest is less violent and apparently not twitter worthy; I havent seen a single ‘#’ in representation of this yet.

Previously, I posted about the the cumulative total of the oil spills that have happened in Nigeria and the detection of benzene, a known carcinogen, at levels reaching over 900 times the safe level in the drinking water of some parts of the Nigerian Delta region (in this post : Oil, Money, Pollution, Public Health). That is, if you consider guzzling benzene-flavored water to be safe at any level. The public health problem has been recognized globally, but what I seem to gather is that until it hurts the pockets of the majority of people directly, we remain pre-occupied rather than compelled to commence the occupying. Its understandable…the pocket is where it hurts the most. While some parts of Nigeria are protesting a harrowing hike in the price of fuel, others in the nation lament oil’s destructive effects on their livelihood and eventually will lament the deterioration of health unless the cleanup takes considerably shorter time than the 30 years predicted. Is there a bigger paradox right now than this?

If the Nigerian federal government was going to revoke the fuel subsidy for the reasons as stated for “projects for the development of the country”, it would be more convincing if they did the following, (full post @ www.uchennaonyekwere.)