IRIN Focus on the Niger Delta environment

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.