DEEP within the labyrinthine creeks of Nigeria’s oil-producing delta, dozens of plumes of thick, black smoke tail into the sky as gangs of oil thieves labour at illegal refineries that are springing up all over the vast mangrove swamplands every day. Three years ago militants ruled the waterways and creeks of the Niger Delta, holding the government to ransom by kidnapping foreign oil-workers and damaging pipelines. An amnesty in 2009 persuaded them to silence their guns, while training and stipends have kept many of the 26,000 ex-militants busy.
