BEAUTIFUL NONSENSE is the story of the human and environmental consequences of oil extraction in Nigeria’s Delta region. 

With 606 oilfields, it is estimated that Nigeria has suffered the equivalent of one Exxon Valdez oil spill every year since oil production has begun in 1958. Oil production has polluted the region’s ecosystem to the point where the once vibrant equatorial swampland is now a silent dead zone. 

The Niger Delta is a place of stark contrasts and imbedded corruption. Despite producing tens of billions of dollars worth of oil every year – and supplying 40% of its oil to the United States and Europe - the delta remains one of the poorest and most underserved regions in the world. Most people live on less than $1 a day and have no power, potable water or other basic services. Life expectancy for those living in the delta is around 40 years of age. Since its independence, Nigeria’s leaders have stolen or wasted more than $380 billion. This squandering of oil funds and wholesale neglect has created growing unrest. 

BEAUTIFUL NONSENSE also tells the story of one of the heroes of the resistance to Big Oil in Nigeria, a charismatic activist from the Ogoni tribe named Ken Saro-Wiwa. Mr. Saro-Wiwa was a driving force in the formation of a group called the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People—MOSOP—that tried to stop the oil industry from destroying the land. 
 

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