Pursuits
Pipeline Avengers Are Crippling Africa’s Largest Economy
- Nigerian militants launch violent campaign to claim oil wealth
- Brexit inspires demand for autonomy from former British colony
Broken pipework in Nigeria.
Photographer: George Osodi/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
They sound like superheroes from a Marvel movie, but the Niger Delta Avengers are real and they’re crippling Africa’s largest economy.
The militant group burst onto Nigeria’s political scene near the oil hub of Warri in February, shattering a seven-year peace with a campaign of pipeline sabotage that’s ravaged crude output and starved a government already reeling from depressed prices of even more revenue.