Description

For fifty years, Nigeria has been an El Dorado for oil companies around the world. An El Dorado and a hell. As the fourth largest producer in OPEC, the profits are huge and the conditions extreme.

Hostage-taking, corruption, attacks, massive pollution and environmental destruction are the flip side of this industry. The Niger Delta is now one of the most dangerous regions of the world. One of Africa’s most populous country is a very sick giant.

The films takes us to meet the people, the activists, and the hostage takers. We board an oil rig, off the coast, where engineers and technicians dig ever deeper under the water’s surface in the search for oil. On land, we discover an incredible underground refinery, pirated pipelines and villages without water, electricity or gas, yet crisscrossed by dozens of pipelines.

Buried for millions of years, Nigeria’s oil is now the world's energy. It is the treasure and the curse of the country. It enriches the oil companies, allows economies to grow further, to fuel our factories, our cars, our planes and our rockets, but does not feed its own people.