LAGOS
More than 4,000 oil spills officially recorded in Nigeria's Niger Delta in over four decades of oil production attest to the level of degradation of probably the most endangered oil-bearing environment in the world.
Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo, who revealed these statistics during
a recent visit to Norway, blamed the situation on the 'dismal' performance
in the delta of oil multinationals, which he accused of not meeting
international standards in their operations in the area.
The result is that things have now reached a point where both
environmentalists and inhabitants of the region believe urgent steps need to
be taken to contain the situation before irreversible damage is done.
The governor of Bayelsa, one of the Niger Delta states, recently raised the
alarm over the deteriorating ecological situation in the 70,000 km2 region of over seven million people, where the River Niger splits into a maze of rivers, creeks, rivulets and swamps, before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean.
Speaking at a ceremony to mark this year's World Environment Day in the
Bayelsa capital, Yenagoa, Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha declared that
"the Niger Delta is sinking".
"If something is not done urgently, our children may not have a place," he
said. "Whatever we can do to protect our environment, we should do it
collectively and with patriotic zeal."
Comprising mainly mangrove swamps and rainforest, the entire region has a
delicate hydrology and the ripples of any disruption reach far. Oil
exploration and production are by their very nature disruptive of the
environment, and poor standards over the years in the Niger Delta have meant
even more severe degradation.
“Until the early 1990s there were no standards at all of how oil firms
should operate with regards to the environment in Nigeria,” a senior
official of the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA), which has
statutory responsibility for Nigeria’s environment, said.
“What most did was to conduct simple baseline studies. Often they were not
objective and avoided costs wherever they could,” he added.
But cutting costs has been at the expense of the environment.
“Over the years Nigeria’s oil has had a reputation in the oil industry
worldwide of being the cheapest to produce at the cost of under two dollars per barrel compared to up to eight dollars per barrel elsewhere,” Nigerian oil industry analyst Johnson Abisoye told IRIN.
”How much of it is due to costs saved due to poor environmental standards I
can’t say, but it is obviously a factor,” he said.
Since it was set up in 1990, FEPA has had to enforce a law requiring
environmental impact assessments (EIAs) for all major projects nationwide, especially in the oil and gas industry. But many people in the oil region believe it is too little too late and question its impact so far.
Others also point to the fact that some of the more devastating forms of
environmental damage often escape FEPA EIAs, either because they are not
considered major or because they do not come to the notice of the agency at
all.
“Apart from spills, one cause of environmental damage in many oil
communities is through dredging of waterways by oil companies moving heavy
equipment to various operational locations,” oil region environmental
activist Obudu Waritimi told IRIN.
“Primarily it leads to the introduction of brackish water into fresh water areas and the flooding of farmlands and rain forest areas with terrible consequences for the local people,” he said.
Waritimi said the sudden change in ecology often causes several varieties of plant and animal species to die, and with them the livelihoods of many
people in the Delta's mainly fishing and farming communities.
Besides, with the government as the main joint venture partner of the oil
multinationals, querying projects that have this type of environmental
impact often meant – especially under military rulers - a challenge to the
government that appointed FEPA.
But officials of the agency point to the fact that at least there are now
standards. On being elected into power Obasanjo created a new Ministry of
Environment whose main challenge became the situation in the Niger Delta, apart from other serious environmental problems elsewhere in the country. The minister, Hassan Adamu, has repeatedly pledged to hold oil companies accountable.
However, Obasanjo’s stated resolve to deal with the troubles afflicting the
volatile region are currently being undermined by the slow progress of his
Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Act, part of his master plan to
redress decades of neglect in the region.
Sent to the legislature in the early days of his government last year, it
was passed in March 2000 in a form including amendments not acceptable to
Obasanjo.
And since the legislature decided to override his veto in May to pass the
bill into law, he is yet to respond with efforts to implement it. The delay
has been at a great political cost - the president's popularity has dipped
in a region that had high expectations when it voted massively for him last
year.
Meanwhile, in several law courts across the country lawsuits instituted by many communities against oil companies for environmental degradation are grinding their way through the judicial process.
Only last month the Ebubu community of the Ogoni minority was awarded 4.5
billion naira (US $1=102 naira) by a high court for a major spill in the
late 1960s. However, whatever succour they expect from the suit may have to
wait because the oil giant has appealed against the judgment.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions