It is estimated that more than 3,000 oil spillages have so far occurred in the Niger Delta, leaving a legacy of hundreds of contaminated sites such as farm lands, streams, brooks and underground water that would cost at least over $500million to remediate.
The disclosure was the highpoint of the works of Isaac Asume Osuoka, director of Social Development Integrated Centre (Social Action) at a conference, ‘Petroleum and Communities in the Niger Delta: Setting the Policy Agenda Following Two Decades of Civil Rule’ held at the Hotel Presidential in Port Harcourt in Rivers State, which x-rayed the challenging times for residents of the Niger Delta area.
It is said that an environment blessed with goldmine but with death seal is regarded as a curse to its inhabitants. This seems to be the fate of the oil-rich Niger Delta geographical landmass and its natural inhabitants.
The oil-rich region of Nigeria is said to have an estimated population of 30 million in an ecologically sensitive area of 112,110 square kilometers. It is one of the most densely populated regions of the world.
Unfortunately, the oil pollution burden has increased in the entire region where about 5,300 oil wells with 257 flow stations and about 700km of pipelines that often leak or burst due to combination of operational flaws, excessive service lives and vandalism/sabotage. Those sympathetic with oil interest say the number one cause is sabotage.
“The situation may have got worse in the build-up to and aftermath of the 2019 general election. It would seem that 20 years after the return of civilian rule in Nigeria, we are experiencing worsening human security conditions in this resource-rich region”, Osuaka noted.
The former president of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) wondered, “When a country or state, irrespective of the political system in operation, fails to protect the rights, livelihoods and security of its citizens, then we have crisis. What do we do to address the crises that confront us today as a country and in the sites of petroleum extraction in the Niger Delta region in particular?”
Osuoka noted that 20 years ago, as Nigeria was transiting from military dictatorship to civilian rule, the most pressing challenge for the new federal administration was the ecological, human and livelihood crises in the oil-bearing Niger Delta. He said members of communities in the Niger Delta have borne the negative impacts of petroleum extraction.
According to him, the oil companies operating in the area have historically operated most recklessly, pointing out that they had continued to spill more crude oil into the natural environment and flared more associated gas here than in any part of the world, resulting in the destruction and degradation of fishing and farming livelihoods and the increase in diseases and deaths.
He also pointed out that the 1990s witnessed the escalation of conflicts between the Nigerian state and petroleum-bearing communities. The oil companies, working with the military regimes at the time, waged a campaign of repression against the community victims of pollution. “In our midst today are representatives of the Umuechem community who organised a peaceful protest against the pollution of their environment and destruction of their livelihoods by Shell.
“The community members demanded alternative means of livelihoods and social amenities such as better healthcare. Shell and the Nigerian government responded by sending the Mobile Police to burn down the entire community and kill everyone that they could find in the community”, he lamented.
He further alleged that the soldiers spared not even domestic animals in the community. The only survivors of the Umuechem massacre are people that managed to escape into the bushes, he claimed. “Although a government enquiry made recommendations for compensation for the survivors, neither the government nor Shell made any restitution. Nobody was charged for the crime, and no one has apologised to the community.
Following the alleged Umuechem massacre, the government oil company’s repression of peaceful community resistance also continued in Ogoniland where many community members were killed, including the leaders of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP). “All over the Niger Delta region, communities have suffered different forms of human rights abuses and killings because of petroleum. In some cases, such as Rumuekpe in Rivers State, entire towns have been destroyed due to conflicts engineered by oil companies that paid thugs within the community as the companies tried to prevent the people from uniting to demand compensation for pollution and bother deprivations.”
He said that as the theme of their conference suggested, it was essential to review the impact of the democratic transition on the environmental, human rights and development crisis in the Niger Delta region.
He noted that “Following the general election of 1999 (20 years ago), community members and others expected robust changes in government and companies’ policies and practices to protect the environment, health, livelihoods and other human rights. However, we find that old problems have persisted while new challenges have emerged. An example is in the form of artisanal crude oil refineries, which have provided employment for some youths while exacerbating pollution and insecurity in the region”.
He went on: “We also note that the Federal Government, since 1999, has made some policy and legislative changes and created new institutions such as the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, and the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP). We need to examine the impacts of these institutions and programmes.”
Meanwhile, in 2011, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) released a report of its environmental assessment of Ogoniland. (This was however at the request of the FG and the Shell). “This report, which confirmed widespread contamination of Ogoniland, made recommendations for immediate environmental and social remediation. The community members hoped that the findings would catalyse fast-tracked action towards ameliorating the problems. However, government response in Ogoniland has been slow and tardy. Elsewhere, there is little or no effort by the federal government to address increasing pollution. Recently, the Bayelsa State Government launched an independent commission to examine the impact of oil spills in the state. What is not clear is what role that state governments could play to address an issue under federal jurisdiction.”
What is clear, however, he went on, is that no tier of government — federal, state and local — has been able to apply all its petroleum revenues accountably in meeting the development needs of the area. There is a need to examine what communities and civic organisations should be doing to encourage better accountability in government — beyond participation in voting during elections.
Regrettably, there is still no legislation that bans gas flaring and protects residents even when communities do not have access to electricity which could be generated from flared gas. The reality of continuing gas flaring underscores the failure of democratic institutions to adequately address the environmental challenges faced by communities in the Niger Delta. The FG, since 2017, signed an international memorandum on gas flare out and has created a special purpose vehicle to drive it in Nigeria through a new gas policy.
“The Senate, according to Osuoka in particular, aborted attempts to pass legislation against gas flaring. Also, efforts to pass the Petroleum Industries Bill (PIB) have failed since 2008 in part due to contentions over rights of communities in sites of extraction. Later, the Petroleum Industries Governance Bill (PIGB), which contains many problematic provisions, was passed by the National Assembly but rejected by President Muhammadu Buhari. Our organisation called on the President to reject the PIGB, which contains many provisions that would undermine environmental regulations and increase corruption in the petroleum sector.
“Other bills (that were part of the original PIB) that are still pending before the National Assembly include the Petroleum Host and Impacted Communities Bill (PHICDB), Petroleum Industry Administration Bill (PIAB) and the Petroleum Industry Fiscal Bill (PIFB). Part of what we will be doing today is to examine those proposed legislation, particularly from the point of view of the communities, and make recommendations”, he added.
He earlier made reference to Umuechem, which like numerous other communities in the Niger Delta demands justice. He said; “With the historical and continuing failings of the executive and legislative arms of government, oil-bearing communities continue to seek justice through the judiciary with limited results. Communities do not always have the resources for prolonged litigations in Nigeria while a few, often with the support of international NGOs, have attempted international litigations in the home countries of foreign oil companies, with varied results.
“Recently, a court in the Netherlands ruled that it had jurisdiction to determine the complicity of Royal Dutch Shell in the Nigerian government’s murder of the Ogoni nine leaders of the MOSOP who were campaigning against widespread environmental pollution, and for community self-determination. That ruling opens up possibilities for other victims of pollution and human rights violations.”
The Social Action Director further said that the Nigeria Resource Justice Conference, 2019 also provided a platform for interaction among community members and leaders, citizens groups, scholars, government agencies and elected representatives of the people. Unlike other conferences of this nature, they had organised panels to include experts, activists, agencies and the victims of environmental pollution from the communities.
Godwin Egba
