Oil promises – how oil changed a country | DW Documentary

So you are listening to Gamma news from April 18, 2007. The UK's Talon Oil has announced the discovery of 600 million barrels of light oil offshore Ghana. Talos shares rose 10 percent. A treasure of black gold. One of the largest oil discoveries. in africa in the last 10 years president jokafor said ghana will be the exception to the african paradox of poverty and oil conflict the discovery of the

country

's first major oil deposit could turn the west african

country

into an african tiger with the oil like a shot in the arm let's blow up oil

promises

this is what I know from home I was born not far from the Nigerian oil fields we all know what a disaster this has become and now Ghana black gold from far away in the ocean is supposed that will change everything for everyone this is a story about the big world that suddenly comes to three small fishing villages here on the west coast of Ghana, marked by dirt roads and without electricity or running water, now they want to build a gas factory to five a star hotel and a refinery, a big industry, politicians and international investors visit the towns of the western coast.

I guess this is the first time an SUV has come to Princess Town. International investors come with local troops because you know that to gain trust you have to get started. from home people will really get their piece of the pie this time the purpose of today's meeting is to tell them how far the project has come we will need to employ up to 2 000 people and then just the hotel once the hotel is open we will need almost a thousand employees taylor woodrow uk is planning to have workshops to train young people from the city prince who are interested in basic construction skills, carpentry, metal working and that sort of thing, and the 18 kilometer dirt road we have traveled.

The assurances given will come to light when the hotel is ready to open. What would happen if all this came true? What if people's lives really

changed

not just empty words for some, but actions, developments, jobs, difficult paths, oh my adorable Ghana? on the right track in this is the area, so the capture of hormones has been acquired some near the lagoon, others outside the lagoon, that hotel can accommodate more than 3 000 people, hotel, golf park, park of football, hockey, etc., after that air trip they have also promised us. a lot, even during its construction, many workers will be removed from here, they would still like to open an anti-stress training center to train many people so that this proposal can work in their company, everything will change because I will get a job and my friends will get a job, so you will be able to earn more money to do everything that we like to do, yes, so everything will change, so now we are here waiting for Salomón Capital to arrive even.

I want to see Budd Rosa on site. and the creation of the blog I will be a part and the calculator I will be silent I am Matthew Asido I am a school teacher at the same time as a tourist guide when the project arrives oya there will be many tourists tourism The businesses here grow more and more, my dream becomes higher every year days. It was the Germans, they started this place in 1683 to trade in gold and ivory. They discovered that what comes through us belongs to us and they did it and it was perfect for them. oh yeah, the old fort built by the Germans they took gold and paid for it with cheap brandy and stuff, this was the business model back then, later they started trading with people and our bosses were part of the business, you have to take their last shower here and then use broken bottles to shave their hair with the view that when they are clean the price will skyrocket and then with their chains around their waist and neck they pass through this door and knock on this door of no return This is how it was in the old days foreigners cooperated with our leaders to exploit citizens and now yes listen to the news from ghana this is edwin nyakum bringing you the news.

In the afternoon, luxury beach resort Princess Town will bring much-needed world-class accommodation to the country. western region of ghana the site enjoys more than a kilometer of white sand beach the coastal landscape could be transformed to make way for the new industry farms and fishing communities will have to move although the government says they will receive compensation the deputy energy minister Mr Emmanuel Amaku Fibua has assured that the government will provide Ghanaians, especially local communities, the opportunity to benefit from the oil and gas industry. A foreign foreigner. Come on, what a great place for sun loungers investors might think, but will they consider their traditions?

People imagine that employees have to explain to hotel guests that they can't go swimming on a Thursday. The land for the hotel was sold without the consent of a small fishing village on the strip of sand between the ocean and the lagoon. They forgot to ask the Tobas. and now their traditions and livelihoods are at stake, but the

promises

shine like diamonds and it's hard to resist when someone waves money and job guarantees in your face. The Princess Towns assemblyman regularly travels the 18 kilometers of dirt road to the district office. stuck in the mud yes please princess needs a tired road to be connected and now listen the big world is interested in this region change is coming and the district administration is dreaming big hey you are welcome thank you sir , oh, that's great, let's welcome, good morning. to you, yes, good morning, thank you, yes, oh, yes, hello, you are welcome, thank you, so please take a seat, thank you, good suruma capita, from whom they also acquired land.

A long area of ​​Princess Princess Town of 100 pieces was acquired for the purpose of establishing an Oil Refining If there is an oil refinery around here, there will be other allied activities, activities that will also create jobs and provide opportunities to our people and others who come We would not want to go down the Nigerian path where local communities would have to do it. take up arms to fight the oil companies no, we have already emphasized our willingness our willingness to involve local communities in addressing these problems we need a new mandate because we are anticipating that a lot of people will come to our district, so it is going to be a combination of Korean and Ghanaian and then these are some of the animations of what we want to have at the same time, they also want our name to be in the history books of history because we are going to be the first. uh environmental city, yes in Ghana we are going to have a new city whose project will provide adequate office space for companies.

The many companies that will come will provide presidential accommodation for all the people who will come. You know we wait. not less than five hundred thousand people in the next yes, the next in the next five to ten years not like Nigeria, okay, but 500,000 new inhabitants, this is almost 10 times the number of people living here right now. Korean bridges. Nice and elegant houses like in a fairy tale city, yes everything seems possible, it's six o'clock, this is Ghanaian radio technology, bulk oil storage in the bankruptcy of the transport company is to build a terminal oil terminal on a 300-acre site on Pompune Reef, the country's largest oil terminal and strategic deposit that will create 500 new permanent jobs will be connected to real railcars, offshore pipelines and other transmission devices to receive and transmit natural gas processed oh send me a message now crashing they can't stay near the arabian gulf oil refinery today that's why we are moving them to a new site and we are here to immunize the area so we can plan the resettlement of the two villages, from the top here from the line, the top here which will be the new settlement area here is where we are now. now, although in a foreign school there are modern bathrooms for fishermen and farmers, that sounds great, the old village will disappear, no one complains after all, who will miss the mud houses, who will miss fetching ocean water to shower, there are a constant sound of helicopters flying. to the oil rig this here is a new era for adom his family my hey oh blah blah blah here we go I'm fine will symbolically press the button to officially start large scale oil production in the jubilee fields in the western region today my brothers and sisters today Wednesday December 15, 2010 is a special day in the lives of Ghanaians today we are spilling our first oil from the jubilee field we must ensure that the oil is a blessing and not a case that the flow of oil has caused began better than nigeria is the order of the day we Nigerians know that gas flaring is one of the biggest crimes against nature but geek super duper Ghana wants to stop it from the beginning by building a gas processing plant right on the coast where oil is extracted. course that includes jobs for locals like Gifty um yes foreigner whatever I am about 38 years old very very fresh yes after children oh daughters goodbye every family grows coconut prayer they plant coconut which is our main crop at about six six years seven years you can get a fruit however if you didn't plant coconut then you are going to be lost you are going to die because there is no other job you can do we are going to use it for oil sometimes we sell it they send it they transport it to other countries so when you are visiting to listen to the audio, you make noise.

My dream for the future is to be a great man, but everything depends on money. To be a great man, it is not easy, it depends on money, without money, you can't do anything and you can't be a great man and that's why my future is to be a great man, great man, can a coconut farmer like Francis or a fisherman become a great Ghanaian man? They are usually struggling to get food for their family and pay school fees. Well maybe I should forget about my doubts for a moment maybe everything will come true it's 17:30 GMT live from our studios here in alabaca in accra gas flaring still continues in the jubilee oil field of ghana working fishermen near the jubilee oil field 60 kilometers off the coast of ghana seen in large oil slick floating towards land fishermen in the western region face food insecurity amid an algae infestation the shores of many fishing villages surrounding ghana's jubilee oilfield are now covered in decaying sargassum synchronizing the fission nets and boat engines of local fishermen oh my goodness it's been two years since the old tanks were opened and millions have been supplied of barrels worth several billion dollars.

There is no sign of the oil money either in the town of turbulence or in any of the towns along the western coast. How about sending someone to solve the suffering? from fishermen, whether it's oil related or not, the West Coast is waiting for promises to come true. Princess Town is waiting for the hotel and 2,000 jobs and Professor Matthew is waiting for tourists to supplement his meager teacher's salary. wait all day and then notorious for the hotel projects, I'm not sure what time they will start the project, but I hope it starts early so I can enjoy my business, the topic we are going to consider this morning. it's false the issue is what perfect strength can and at the same time have more mass okay so they're going to pull it so ready pull it pull it right yeah that Patrick and Charles so for them again , a fishing boat carried 687 fish before.

So only a few people go to school. Now they have discovered that the world is dynamic. Now the children have a new dream. They have discovered that in the near future there will be a job for the children, so they are planning the case well. I really like teaching, but since there is no support from them, that's why I want to drain any other business. I want to get more, little money. It looks the same two years after Adom and the villagers cleared the land for their new village. There is no refinery and there are no new pompuni with luxurious bathrooms for the dormitory and its neighbors it is time for elections time for foreign demands you see something better I listen to you this is something better okay um my several kilometers further west big changes in atuabo the ground is prepared For new gas processing plant, do you want to be one of the few Ghanaian experts at the top of the Ghana oil industry?

Discounted training fee of 850 US dollars, please call 024 606. We will show helicopter escape and rescue on a board by lowering your light board and we will also show you skills in advance, so I would like to invite you all to the new training center. global training from world-class platforms to see exactly what we can offer. Mama Cosmetics is now driving this rollergigantic. Nigeria would have enjoyed this kind of female empowerment and a great future. The man Francis, the coconut farmer, has been sent with the help of the entire family to be trained as a welder. time for action, the world moves forward we the youth wanted to train ourselves, we spend a lot of money so I wonder where it comes from, we also get a job to make some money in our pocket and feed our family and our brothers in Nigeria people from other places they will come and do their job and whatever they come out then the citizens are there, nothing happens oh this is what you are seeing Here we are training them just because we don't want problems to happen in Ghana.

What they have given us. We can do everything related to welding, fabrication and other things. We have the manufacturers. We have climates. We have five feet. Even us. electric cars, they are all here so that every time they take us to our camps, wherever they take us, we can do something that happens to me, this is definitely new, this is progress just four years after the first oil was produced, a new home for adom gifty francis matthew and the other villagers no no no no this is only for engineers and businessmen from accra and abroad it is foreign my across the country with news the final welding of the land distribution gas pipeline project at the plant Gas processing at Afghambo in the Western region has been successfully carried out by the Chinese company in the project Synopek Energy Giant Center Pack says it is committed to supporting Ghana will develop its oil and gas industry so that a West African country can obtain the maximum benefit from its rich hydrocarbon resources.

Wait a second. What's going on here? Where's Gifty who trained to drive a steamroller? a welder, a Chinese company got the contract to build their own coastal pipelines at the guards factory in the western region and guess what they brought in their own workers in 2014. Only very few Ghanaians work in the oil and gas industry. Neither Gifty nor Francis We. We spent a lot of money on the wedding but the man failed us, he told us that after we have finished the welding he will employ us in the business after we have finished the wedding, we never see the man again and when we call his line is out of line, you feel very disappointed, but still we hope we can do something better.

The foreigner is the one who decides the rule of this game for centuries, the traditional leaders have been in charge now part of the region is upside down. I want to see. statistics to find out how many of the employees the people who say they have already hired them a long time ago how many are from this area because there are people who are going to buy the branch look, you can't have an apartheid situation where people burn out and become into a second citizen because there are people from other places working here and then the people from here have to fold their hands in the distance, it is a big problem.

Sometimes I feel like a big goliath is coming and I'm just David, my eldest son and I because this is an international industry and our people are just normal rural people. Each fisherman feeds about seven people in his family, so if they can't make a living, then we know it's not just them, but we also have other people who are suffering, so it's very important for us to look at it. Everyone here should randomly help them. Not yet, it's as difficult as repeating your fishing activities here. With this, they will never be able to go when they do.

You are tangled at night, you can't get them out, so there is no need to go and then have your neck smashed, that's why you can't be an official at this time. Well, a few kilometers away, fishermen in Pompuni are also hoping for better times. The pump still looks good. Same thing, no changes, no electricity, no water, no bathroom for a dormitory, the land that was cleared for their new modern village was reclaimed by nature, a foreigner, this is a good job, okay, hallelujah, whatever It drives me crazy is that no one is protesting. is saying that what is happening is not right, so how about we demand a nice piece of cake instead of a few crumbs? good morning and welcome to the news 5. since 2010 more than 300 million barrels of crude oil have been extracted from the jubilee field worth 24 billion dollars tallow oil announces that it expects to obtain revenues of around 900 million The company is expected to deliver at least $100 million a year to shareholders in 2018.

The Petroleum Commission approved contracts worth $420 million, but only one-sixth went to indigenous Ghanaian companies. Fewer prices have risen steadily over the past 32 months. a cumulative increase of 50 over the period, while the same cannot be said for consumers' income, oh, by 2019, almost 10 years after the first oil gift left his village, moved to Accra, no He drives a forklift or a road roller, he doesn't even get hurt. already but he is looking for a job and a place to stay my hey um m good foreigner this is the story of an oil company that has declared its commitment to the principle of shared prosperity cosmos is a company that respects the communities where we operate the benefits of our patients are shared between us and our communities more than 30,000 people in the western region now have portable water sustainable and cost-effective water systems completion of construction of 24-seat toilet facilities kindergarten is part of Telugana's ten-year limited commitment After the first oil production began, there is oil money, there is gas money, but where is it?

There are very well paved streets that lead to their turbo gas factory and since they had some tar left, they got tired of atuabo although no one in the town has a car, no one can afford one. you know what we call these white elephants the oil companies say they are paying people but these are small projects crumbs from the teacher's table just tranquilizers it was made by the ganagas company covers about eighty percent of the streets natural gas is the only change in the town so from now on you can maneuver anywhere the last time it was not like that the last time you came it was like this but now I can leave with a car and even some of the companies have provided me with drinking water for some of the communities was a promise and then they brought the tanks, they brought the machines, but now even some of the materials are rusting, it does not work in many places, a great promise and we see partial signs that everything is coming to nothing.

Last time you came it was there, but it wasn't as bad as it is now. What's more, there are more oil activities every time they start drilling, they are very far away, those are the activities we knock down. This thing is reduced as a result or because of the abundance there and when we asked them they said no, which you know for sure says that the activities that bring this to the coast, okay, they are making money at the expense of their local communities here because our source of livelihood has been taken away from us and they are making billions of dollars, so we are actually very, very frustrated here.

Oil and gas had not been a blessing to us. I thought it was more a case of resting abroad. We did our thing. Best for oil and gas training. Unfortunately, the job we were promised did not arrive. People are doing agriculture without it, they can't survive, so people are doing it and at the same time waiting for oil work waiting waiting we will. About five years ago, I think it was five years ago that you came here, they told us that the carp will come for five years, it has never arrived, so if you depend mainly on the company that comes here, you will always die, you will die, yes, this one is good .

God for him, okay, pronounce them one by one, start from here. Yes, I don't have money, but I am trying my best to send them to school so they can learn a very good job. I don't want them to suffer like me. In fact if I say I'm suffering I'm suffering to get the money for someone to go to college it's not a joke so I don't want my kids to be like me I want them to be better than me I uh we failed at something we couldn't be a great man and we couldn't be a great man because the job didn't get here we won't make soup until everything spoils we're still waiting for your promises and we're still waiting we wait until we die and if not, if we're not dead, we won't lose hope 14 14 14 13 14 10 17 and then 16. for the mood, what's going on with your life abroad?

A little electricity at times, but Adam's new village. 10 years of great promises never materialized so much about doing better than Nigeria the big world has brushed past the western coast and has already moved on without leaving anything good behind it is not like Nigeria it is fine, but it is not what I expected I expected promises finally come true keeps instead of dreams disappearing again why am I here Princess Town actually has a bit of tar but the road still ends halfway Princess Town is still sleeping the hotel was never built and Matthew is waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting since morning I waited for some hours if you know even a tourist here.

Well, it was a very big promise and everyone was waiting to see it happen. They failed us. There is no work here. Most of the young people traveled outside of Princess Town. Just a math talk. We are going to give you 1000 jobs 5000 factories and nothing has been done, nothing has been done today, people of Princeton, same old story, nothing has

changed

, nothing has changed, it's like bringing good, having a drink or a drink, the same as taking away our oil. giving us algae the same story regardless of a foreign government b told the foreigner this is radio will have to ignore our channels across the country with news a norwegian company aka energy announced a new oil discovery can't production of oil will double to 400,000 barrels per day in the In the next four years, the country could become the fourth largest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa.

Big names like France's tutor, at least enough, Ireland's tallow and USB's cosmos, whether running for blocks, I'm sure Ghana's prospects are very bright. One of the largest fines. in Africa, the second largest oil discovery in Africa, enough to make anyone believe, I could tell you.