But it's expensive. So, too, is staying. Air pollution from the flare stack erodes corrugated zinc rooftops more rapidly than in other Niger Delta communities. Many buildings, including one used by the school, have gaping rusted holes in the roofs that turn rooms into shower stalls during the six-month rainy season. Sometimes the flare soars when a well taps into a reservoir of highly-pressurized gas, causing the ground to shake and walls to crack.
Residents have their opinions, however.
Olimini says men sometimes urinate blood and many children have respiratory problems. The flare kills off fish and scares away game, he says, requiring extensive and arduous trade with neighboring villages so that Akaraolu residents can eat. Like the letters from Chief Job, telephone messages left at Agip's Milan headquarter go unanswered, so there's no telling what the company's reaction is to Akaraolu's demands. In other oil-producing countries, most of the gas associated with oil drilling is reinjected into the ground to keep the oil fields pressurized, making the crude easier to extract. Otherwise, it's captured and liquefied for sale on international or domestic markets.