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A Swamp Full of Dollars: Pipelines and Paramilitaries at Nigeria's Oil Frontier
The largest <!--? prefix = st1 ns = "" /-->U.S. trading partner in sub-Saharan Africa, petroleum-rich Nigeria exports half its daily oil production to the United States. Like many African nations with natural resources coveted by the world's superpowers, the country has been shaped by foreign investment and intervention, conflicts among hundreds of ethnic and religious groups, and greed. Polio has boomed along with petroleum, small villages face off with giant oil companies, and scooter drivers run their own ministates. The oil-rich Niger Delta region at the heart of it all is a trouble spot as hot as the local pepper soup. Blending vivid reportage, history, and investigative journalism, in A Swamp Full of Dollars journalist Michael Peel tells the story of this extraordinary country, which grows ever more wild and lawless by the day as its refined petroleum pumps through our cities. Through a host of colorful characters--from the Area Boy gangsters of Lagos to a corrupt state governor who stashed money in his London penthouse, from the militants in their swamp forest hideouts to oil company executives--Peel makes the connection between Western energy consumption and the breakdown of the Nigerian state, where the corruption of the haves is matched only by the determination and ingenuity of the have-nots. What has happened to Nigeria is a stark warning to the United States and other economic powers as they grow increasingly frantic in their search for new oil unbridled plunder eventually rebounds on those who have done the taking. A Swamp Full of Dollars --shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award--shows that if the Arab world is the precarious eastern battle line in an intensifying world war for crude, then Nigeria has become the tumultuous western front.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 20, 2013
Enthralling tale of the impact that oil has had on the development of Nigeria since independence. I particularly enjoyed the way that author used his own experiences whilst living in Nigeria to hammer home the points that he was making about the wider issues and themes that the book discusses, a tactic that many use yet few pull off successfully.
This book would be useful to those reading it for a variety of reasons, whether hoping to gain an insight into the Delta Insurgency movement or looking for a discussion as to the practices of the oil corporations who are active in the area. Throughout the book the author highlighted numerous times that the situation was not as clear cut as many would like us to believe with the corruption distributed widely throughout society and for example the ambiguous feelings many of the militant groups have for the state.
The reason that I've not given this five stars was that I was hoping for a discussion of how the oil wealth, despite it not trickling down as liberal thinkers would have us believe, has had differing effects on the south of Nigeria and the less oil rich north. further more I would like to have seen a discussion of connections between the militant groups active in the Niger Delta and whether these have any connection with those active in conflicts in the north such as Boko Haram. While I appreciate the importance of the north of the country to this narrative is something that has developed since this book was published I would argue that there is certainly room for another edition exploring tentative connections between the struggles throughout the country whether ideological or economical.
This book would be useful to those reading it for a variety of reasons, whether hoping to gain an insight into the Delta Insurgency movement or looking for a discussion as to the practices of the oil corporations who are active in the area. Throughout the book the author highlighted numerous times that the situation was not as clear cut as many would like us to believe with the corruption distributed widely throughout society and for example the ambiguous feelings many of the militant groups have for the state.
The reason that I've not given this five stars was that I was hoping for a discussion of how the oil wealth, despite it not trickling down as liberal thinkers would have us believe, has had differing effects on the south of Nigeria and the less oil rich north. further more I would like to have seen a discussion of connections between the militant groups active in the Niger Delta and whether these have any connection with those active in conflicts in the north such as Boko Haram. While I appreciate the importance of the north of the country to this narrative is something that has developed since this book was published I would argue that there is certainly room for another edition exploring tentative connections between the struggles throughout the country whether ideological or economical.
January 25, 2012
A straightforward journalistic effort about the delta area of Nigeria, it is easy to read and provides of small snapshot of some of the forces at work in this area. Worth a quick read if you want to get your feet wet in trying to understand an area that sends a million barrels of light crude to the US per day. The author also touches on the level of graft in corruption that permeates the entire culture and, appropriately, calls into question whether democratically elected leaders perform any better than the vilified autocrats of the world.
May 15, 2017
Although the way this book is written can be a little tedious at times, it's an honest and open minded account of problems that international readers as consumers of Nigerian oil and gas should be much more aware of. Micheal Peel manages to poignantly illustrate the complexity of the Delta's issues with sense of respect, admiration and hope for it's people and their struggles. Overall, an inspiring read and vital journalism in an area that is unexposed and misunderstood.
June 17, 2023
Is this country, one of great natural riches (oil) and potential, sliding towards being a failed state? Time will tell.
What is certain is that despite, even maybe in part due to, its oil reserves, the political economy is struggling. Corruption lies at the core of the problem. The scandalous disparity in income and wealth between the ruling kleptocracy and the common folk is glaring, and reinforces the belief permeating society that only by cheating can one get ahead.
The book takes the reader into the Niger River Delta where the oil is! Stories related about contacts there with rebels/criminals, politicians, and simple people, interspersed with historical flashbacks, and a number of rather scary even life threatening incidents for the author, helps us understand better a key driver of the problem - much (maybe a quarter?) of the country's oil disappears into the hands of the corrupt and the criminal - which "fuels" many of the institutional failures that prevent sustainable economic and political development.
With each passing year, the realization of this grand theft further wets the appetite of the ambitious, stifles economic efficiency, retards development, and worsens national welfare.
It will only get worse.
What is certain is that despite, even maybe in part due to, its oil reserves, the political economy is struggling. Corruption lies at the core of the problem. The scandalous disparity in income and wealth between the ruling kleptocracy and the common folk is glaring, and reinforces the belief permeating society that only by cheating can one get ahead.
The book takes the reader into the Niger River Delta where the oil is! Stories related about contacts there with rebels/criminals, politicians, and simple people, interspersed with historical flashbacks, and a number of rather scary even life threatening incidents for the author, helps us understand better a key driver of the problem - much (maybe a quarter?) of the country's oil disappears into the hands of the corrupt and the criminal - which "fuels" many of the institutional failures that prevent sustainable economic and political development.
With each passing year, the realization of this grand theft further wets the appetite of the ambitious, stifles economic efficiency, retards development, and worsens national welfare.
It will only get worse.
February 24, 2013
Michael Peel is a journalist who spent 8 years in or connecting with Nigeria as correspondent for the Financial Times. His prose is readable and compelling, and his commentary damning of both Nigerian and Western behaviours. He makes an effort to highlight the complexities and legacies that contribute to the hideous state of the Niger Delta. It is a place of utter poverty and despair, yet its people maintain an optimism in the future through a finely honed skill of survival that makes one feel humbled and privileged - and complicit. Peel does a very good job of showing the financial ties that enmesh the oil delta, global financial institutions and the rampant corruption of Nigerians and Westerners alike. In reading it, one wonders whether the century of resource exploitation and corruption can ever be righted - in Lagos, the Delta, London and Washington DC. A valuable read for anyone interested in the geopolitics of oil.
March 3, 2015
The descriptions of Nigeria's turmoil and the west's role in it are pretty good but this guy's view on development and "progress" is too mainstream for me. He seems to think that the existence of the oil industry isn't a problem, just the corruption within it. He also seems to think the current economic model can continue functioning if everyone rejected materialism. I don't remember any mention of peak oil and global warming is mentioned only one time that I can recall. I also find it annoying when people use anarchy as a synonym for violence and chaos. As soon as I picked this up and saw that the author writes for the Financial Times I was worried. Since most of the book focuses on describing what he's seen in the country and not so much on what he thinks should be done about it though, it is actually better than I expected.
January 1, 2011
Employing the classic combination of the investigative journalist's personal anecdotes alongside more conventional historical narratives, former Financial Times Nigeria correspondent Michael Peel paints a vivid portrait of petropolitics and graft in Nigeria. Refreshingly for a writer tied to a business broadsheet, he also links Nigeria's well-documented troubles to First World lifestyles, greed, and tolerance of inequality.
Standout sections: Chapters 4 and 5 deal with the peculiar world of Lagos transportation, tracing the everyday nature of graft in Nigeria. And Chapter 2 is a very useful briefing on the links between oil (whether palm or petroleum), colonialism, and corruption, as well as the roots of the Nigerian state and its failure to fulfill its promise.
Standout sections: Chapters 4 and 5 deal with the peculiar world of Lagos transportation, tracing the everyday nature of graft in Nigeria. And Chapter 2 is a very useful briefing on the links between oil (whether palm or petroleum), colonialism, and corruption, as well as the roots of the Nigerian state and its failure to fulfill its promise.
July 23, 2014
Meh. Well written, but the writer appears to spend too much time touting his own hypothesis (Western oil and the West in general is responsible for Nigeria's problems). In my opinion, the book wasn't as balanced as it could have been, and it ended up just feeling like an agenda push. Still well written, with interesting-as-always Nigerian characters. It's good if you have an interest in Africa/Nigeria, but that's about it.
December 11, 2015
This book is full of anecdotes, but not a serious work on the challenges to governance and justice in Nigeria. It is written in a breezy pseudo intellectual style. The author is trying to hard to be George Plimpton. As an American, reading it will occasionally make you uncomfortable, because the author betrays a very typical anti-Americanism with snarky remarks, typical of people who travel in the international NGO circuit.
May 15, 2012
Great overview of Nigerian problems and mind-set.
September 2, 2014
Nice read I wish I had read it when it first came out in 2009. I liek Michael's writing style. Very crisp informative and humorous.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews