The National Geographic Society has trained young people from the Niger Delta in visual storytelling and documentary photography as part of efforts to achieve authentic narratives about the environmental realities of the oil-producing region and empower local communities to tell their own stories.
The five-day storytelling boot camp, held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, was organised by the Washington D.C.-based international media and education nonprofit (NatGeo) in collaboration with civil society organisation, We The People, with support from the Ford Foundation.
Speaking at the end of the training, Executive Director of We The People, Mr. Ken Henshaw, said the initiative was conceived to counter decades of misinformation and distorted narratives about the Niger Delta and its people.
According to him, the region has long been portrayed through narratives that fail to reflect the realities of communities affected by decades of oil exploration and environmental degradation.
“What you see here today, this storytelling boot camp is a collaboration between National Geographic and We The People. National Geographic has over 130 years of experience in storytelling and has built a reputation for telling authentic stories about people, places and the planet.
“We considered it important to collaborate in shaping this programme because the Niger Delta has suffered from wrong narratives, narratives that are neither true nor authentic. The region has become a product of manipulated disinformation about its people, culture and history,” Henshaw said.
He argued that the people of the Niger Delta have often been portrayed as perpetrators rather than victims of the environmental and socio-economic consequences of oil extraction.
According to him, the training offers an opportunity to reclaim the narrative by enabling young people from the region to document their lived experiences through photography and storytelling.
“We saw this collaboration as an opportunity to seize that narrative and reshape it, not from the perspective of oil companies that have distorted history, but from the perspective of resilient communities and people who continue to survive despite enormous challenges.
“It is important that these stories are told by young people who live with the consequences of oil extraction every day. They have the opportunity to tell authentic stories through their own lenses,” he added.
Henshaw described the initiative as the beginning of what he called “a narrative revolution” aimed at changing global perceptions of the Niger Delta.
He noted that the programme comes at a critical period when the effects of climate change are becoming more evident, while multinational oil companies are divesting from the region after decades of operations.
On the impact of the training, Henshaw said participants were equipped with cameras and practical storytelling skills to enable them to continue documenting issues affecting their communities.
Also speaking, Senior Director of Storytelling Programmes at the National Geographic Society, Prof. Paul Nwulu, said the organisation believes storytelling has the power to inspire change and that communities should be empowered to tell their own stories rather than relying on outsiders.
He explained that the Port Harcourt training formed part of the organisation’s global efforts to build storytelling capacity among young people.
“We believe effective storytelling can change the world. One of the biggest mistakes in storytelling is allowing outsiders to define the experiences of communities. It is always better when the people within the community tell their own stories.
“That is why we travel around the world training young people because they are the future. This week, we have worked with young people from the Niger Delta, teaching them how to document and communicate the realities of oil exploration and its impact on their communities,” Nwulu said.
He explained that participants underwent intensive classroom sessions and practical field exercises during the five-day residential boot camp.
“It has been an intensive programme running from 7 a.m. to about 9 p.m. each day, combining classroom instruction with fieldwork and practical photography assignments,” he said.
Nwulu expressed confidence that participants would continue using the skills acquired to document issues within their communities long after the training.
One of the participants, Ms. Sarafina Lesi-Ngbara from Ogoni in Rivers State, said the training transformed her understanding of the region by exposing her to the realities confronting many communities affected by oil exploration.
According to her, prevailing narratives often focus on militancy, oil theft and violence without acknowledging the socio-economic conditions that have shaped those realities.
“When people search for information about the Niger Delta, they often see stories about violence and illegal oil bunkering. But what we discovered is that many of these actions are reactions to years of neglect, environmental degradation and loss of livelihoods.
“This training has given us the opportunity to understand the insider perspective and tell the stories of people who have been neglected despite contributing immensely to the country’s economy,” she said.
She urged the federal government to engage communities in the region more constructively and address longstanding environmental and developmental concerns.
“The government needs to sit with the people of the Niger Delta as equals and ask how these problems can be resolved. Communities deserve to be heard, and they deserve practical solutions that improve their lives,” she said.
Lesi-Ngbara also acknowledged that while some acts of environmental sabotage by individuals contribute to pollution, communities equally have a responsibility to discourage destructive practices among youths.
She, however, maintained that sustainable solutions would require meaningful dialogue, improved livelihoods and greater accountability from all stakeholders involved in the region’s oil industry.
Blessing Ibunge
