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Meet the Nigeria team

Julia Hahn / soDecember 31, 2012

For one week, Katrin Gänsler and Jan-Philipp Scholz recorded interviews, filmed and photographed for DW in the NIger Delta. What challenges did they face while they were there?

https://p.dw.com/p/17Mxf
Black smoke rising in the Niger Delta
Image: Katrin Gänsler

Katrin Gänsler: "The biggest challenge was not to become a part of the "oil money-machinery” ourselves. Everybody in the Niger Delta wants to have some of the profits. Where the money comes from is irrelevant. What became clear for me while I was there is how divided Nigeria is. Somebody who has his or her roots in the north does not speak with somebody from the south. They all speak English but they talk past one another. There is no feeling of national unity in Nigeria.”

DW reporter Kathrin Gänsler with interview partners. Photo: Jan-Philipp Scholz
DW reporter Kathrin Gänsler with interview partnersImage: DW/J.-P. Scholz

Jan-Philipp Scholz: "After every off-the-record conversation and every interview, the dissatisfactory feeling remained that it would never be possible to fully understand the complex situation in the Niger Delta. There is a hardly bearable cynicism amongst those who profit from the business. On the other side, among the losers, there is a mixture of anger and bitterness. Everything circles around making quick money. And even the “good guys”, the activists and environmentalists, often want to know what is in it for them, if they disclose their knowledge. Under these circumstances, it is not easy to hope for positive developments.”

DW reporter Jan-Philipp Scholz.
DW reporter Jan-Philipp Scholz.Image: Katrin Gänsler