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Nigeria Bans Occupy Video About Its Oil Curse, Video Obviously Goes Viral

Now more people will learn about Nigeria's oil curse than ever would have before.

Occupy Nigeria was one of the biggest international protest movements to be inspired by the action in Zuccotti (which in turned had been inspired by the action in Egypt and so on). But instead of protesting financial institutions that had left the economy in ruins, Nigerians turned out in droves to protest the removal of a fuel subsidy that kept gasoline affordable for the public—and also threatened to destroy Nigeria's economic stability.

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The subsidy, as many commenters have pointed out, was really the only aid the government gives to the poor. Collapsing the benefit meant that tens of millions of people—Nigeria is Africa's most populous nation—suddenly couldn't afford gasoline. Meanwhile, one of the Nigerian government's biggest sources of income is oil cash, yet most of the revenue only serves to enrich a few elites. Very little makes its way to the public. This is why Nigeria is the poster child for the oil curse—despite having the fortune to sit atop a vast resevoir of oil, it remains poor.

The 28-minute film, 'Fueling Poverty' documents all of above. Replete with commentary from a Nobel laureate, it offers a pretty even-handed look at the economics of the subsidy, the protests, and the political situation in Nigeria. But when it was submitted to Nigeria's National Film and Video Censors Board for approval it was promptly banned. The film was obviously nixed because it casts the government in a critical light; but, of course, banning a controversial film without blocking it online is a surefire way to make it go viral.

Nigerian blogger Usman explains what happened next:

Ironically, the move by the government to ban the documentary from TV stations in Nigeria, simply fuelled people’s interest in it – those who had never heard of it prior to this incident and others, like myself, who only just got round to watching it. Now the film has gone viral! Nigerians are sharing the link to the YouTube video via Blackberry Messenger, Facebook, Twitter and other social media tools. Soon, counterfeit DVD copies will be sold freely at traffic jams in Nigerian cities. Thanks to the internet, the days of media censorship are long buried in the past.

The documentary is well worth watching, too. Give it a look if you've ever been curious about the economy of the biggest nation in Africa, or what the world's most powerful oil curse looks like in action.