...Ten years ago, I was in the Niger Delta...we noted how the oil companies involved were under siege and protected by armed forces, and how the increasingly restless communities were frustrated by the lack of economic development...In the years since, communities in the Niger Delta have continued their protests against all oil companies, and those companies are in turn protected by the military. The army takes its role seriously, saying oil is a strategic national asset, and disrupting oil production is unacceptable to the government...Oil companies have expressed their helplessness: Company officials said they lack the power to make the government change its policies. Activists do not always believe companies’ protestations...Twenty years after the executions in Nigeria, fear has not disappeared. Instead of dealing with the past and letting a process of healing begin, the Nigerian government seems to want to bury the past deeper.