Tensions in the Niger Delta

Tension is building in the Niger Delta swampland ahead of the expiry at the end of the year of an amnesty aimed at stabilising Nigeria’s volatile southern region. The towns and cities are mostly calm, but residents say kidnappings and armed robberies are increasing in the mangrove swamps where most oil wells are located. President Muhammadu Buhari, a Muslim northerner, said in May he might "streamline" the amnesty, set up in 2009 by his predecessor Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian like most Delta people. The deal aimed to pacify militants fighting for more of the oil revenues, and included paying $300 million a year to 30,000 youths to discourage them from blowing up pipelines or kidnapping oil workers.

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  Boys paddle a canoe near the banks of the Nun River in Yeneka village in Nigeria's Bayelsa state October 8, 2015.
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  People ride in canoes and speedboats at Swali jetty on the Nun River on the outskirts of the Bayelsa state capital, Yenagoa, in Nigeria's delta region October 8, 2015.
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  A woman hangs out clothes on a rope to dry outside her home beside the Nun River in Yenagoa October 8.
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  Women peel cassava pods outside a kitchen in Yeneka village on the outskirts of Yenagoa, October 8.
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  The deputy community chief of Yeneka village, Douglas Oguta, poses for a portrait in his home on the outskirts of Yenagoa, October 8.
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  A rack holding electronics equipment, including two televisions, is seen in a mud house in Ikarama village on the outskirts of Yenagoa, October 8.
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  A boy holding a sword stands in a street in Ikarama village on the outskirts of Yenagoa, October 8.
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  A petrol pump attendant sits on a floating fuel station on the banks of the Nun River near Yenagoa, October 8.
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  A man washes himself with river water outside his home on the banks of the Nun River close to Yenagoa, October 8.
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  Children return from school in mid-morning in Ikarama village on the outskirts of Yenagoa, October 8.
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  A man walks near a 'No Parking’ behind a line of three-wheeled vehicles outside a police station in Yenagoa, October 7.
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  A building belonging to the father of former petroleum minister Diezani Alison-Madueke in Yeneka village on the outskirts of Yenagoa, October 8.
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  A church tower is seen behind houses on the banks of the Nun River on the outskirts of Yenagoa, October 8.