The number of casualties after an oil product pipeline explosion in Nigeria has reached 200, local media report , as people from local communities have gathered to protest the negligence of the Nigerian national Petroleum Corporation, which, they said, was the reason for the explosion. The pipeline exploded after it caught fire near the Aba Depot last week. NNPC at the time blamed the explosion on oil theft, which is still rampant in the Niger Delta despite many attempts by the government to put an end to the dangerous practice. The cause of the fire, the company said, could have been oil thieves trying to divert some of the fuel flowing along the pipeline from Port Harcourt to Aba. Protesters, however, claim that NNPC’s negligence led to leaks in the pipeline and it was these leaks that caused the explosion. Some 2,000 young people from communities in proximity to […]