Nnimmo Bassey, a renowned environmental justice advocate is the Director of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation, an ecological think tank and advocacy organisation. He also chaired Friends of the Earth International from 2008 to 2012. He spoke to Chineme Okafor on the challenges of oil pollution in the Niger Delta, its remediation, and the renewed insurgency in the region. Excerpts:
Thank you for accepting to share your time with us. The government just launched its plans to clean up the polluted Ogoni environment in the Niger Delta, would you consider this time appropriate for the request that had been on the table for a long time now?
The clean-up of the polluted Ogoniland and the entire Niger Delta has been long in coming. The exercise should have started decades ago, and every delay has meant an increase in the scope of the problem including the accumulation of new toxic dumps, oil spills and gas flares.
There is at least one oil spill that occurred in the early 1970s and is yet to be re-mediated. That spill is at Ebubu Ejama and anyone can visit and see it. The site is fenced off and guarded, but it is right there as a sore thumb crying for attention.
There is at least one oil spill that occurred in the early 1970s and is yet to be re-mediated. That spill is at Ebubu Ejama and anyone can visit and see it. The site is fenced off and guarded, but it is right there as a sore thumb crying for attention.
So, what is the appropriate time to detoxify a contaminated environment? Pollution should not be tolerated for one day. However, as they say, it is better late than never. The impact of pollution from petroleum exploration and extraction in the Niger Delta is so extensive that the region has earned the ugly reputation of being one of the top most polluted places on earth today.
In fact, we can say that what has been done to the environment amounts to ecocide and requires to be treated as such. We always talk about oil spills and gas flares but beneath the radar is the dumping of hundreds of thousands of barrels of produced water daily into the Niger Delta environment. So, my point is that today is a better day to commence the clean-up process than tomorrow.
In fact, we can say that what has been done to the environment amounts to ecocide and requires to be treated as such. We always talk about oil spills and gas flares but beneath the radar is the dumping of hundreds of thousands of barrels of produced water daily into the Niger Delta environment. So, my point is that today is a better day to commence the clean-up process than tomorrow.
We are seeing insurgency come up again in the Delta, crude oil pipelines are again broken and products spill into the environment, what is the implication of this?
The renewed incidence of third party pipeline rupturing is a great concern. They are massively polluting the environment and increasing the miseries of the local communities. The insurgents may claim that they are not killing people, but every polluting act in our fragile ecosystem has health and life expectancy implications. This is especially so because our people are condemned to drink water from polluted streams, eat polluted fish and farm in polluted lands. Belligerent groups should consider the impact of their actions on the people and even future generations.
A point that we must make is that it is sickening when analyses of the impact of the pollution of the region is tied solely to loss of revenue. This rather unfortunate position discounts the lives of the people and all efforts to contain conflicts are aimed at keeping a steady flow of crude oil, maintaining production quotas and ignoring the blood, tears and sorrows of the communities.
A point that we must make is that it is sickening when analyses of the impact of the pollution of the region is tied solely to loss of revenue. This rather unfortunate position discounts the lives of the people and all efforts to contain conflicts are aimed at keeping a steady flow of crude oil, maintaining production quotas and ignoring the blood, tears and sorrows of the communities.
Would you then consider such renewed pipeline breaks as a perfect storm for stakeholders to ride on in remedying the polluted environment of the Delta?
This is an interesting question. My short answer is that the clean-up is a perfect retort to the destroyers. We can only overcome evil with good, not with more evil.
I see a clean-up of the Niger Delta as the best foot any government can put forward. This is why the present government should not only commence the marathon but lay down strong structures that will ensure that no one plays politics with the exercise.
I see a clean-up of the Niger Delta as the best foot any government can put forward. This is why the present government should not only commence the marathon but lay down strong structures that will ensure that no one plays politics with the exercise.
From your assessment as an environmentalist, how bad is the environment of the Delta, has the UNEP Report provided adequate measures to clean up this environment?
The UNEP report was an assessment of the environment of Ogoniland. That report was published five years ago and to our shame nothing substantial has been done about implementing its recommendations. While that was a fair assessment of the state of the Ogoni environment five years ago, the situation in other parts of the Niger Delta has not been assessed.
Agreed, we can see the UNEP report as a template or snapshot of the overall Niger Delta context, but we must not lose sight of the fact that pollution is going on unabated in places like Ikarama in Bayelsa State and Ibeno in Akwa Ibom State, to mention a few. So, if the UNEP report revealed a horrific state of an environment where oil extraction was stopped 23 years ago, we can only imagine what the situation is at other places where routine pollution has reined since the 1950s.
We should also add that naming Oloibiri oil well, which is acclaimed as the first oil, as a monument, is not an answer to the non-decommissioning of dried wells in the region. Mining agreements have allowances for decommissioning at the end of the lifespan of the mines. The same is the case with oil wells as contained in EGASPIN. We have abandoned oil wells begging for decommissioning and others drilled, capped and ignored until they rupture and spill crude into already bastardised environments. We have to wake up from this nightmare and do the right thing.
The UNEP report made recommendations for short, medium and long term measures. Although there are gaps in the report itself, it provides sufficient grounds to begin emergency measures, like provision of potable water in highly polluted areas, as well as training centres to raise the manpower that would be needed to support the clean-up efforts.
We should also add that naming Oloibiri oil well, which is acclaimed as the first oil, as a monument, is not an answer to the non-decommissioning of dried wells in the region. Mining agreements have allowances for decommissioning at the end of the lifespan of the mines. The same is the case with oil wells as contained in EGASPIN. We have abandoned oil wells begging for decommissioning and others drilled, capped and ignored until they rupture and spill crude into already bastardised environments. We have to wake up from this nightmare and do the right thing.
The UNEP report made recommendations for short, medium and long term measures. Although there are gaps in the report itself, it provides sufficient grounds to begin emergency measures, like provision of potable water in highly polluted areas, as well as training centres to raise the manpower that would be needed to support the clean-up efforts.
Delta news room
No comments:
Post a Comment