Environmental Destruction and Human Rights in the Niger Delta (Ugochukwu)

   David-Campbell.org

 The Nigerian Delta states are blessed with rich resources in natural oil and gas. A blessing that can sometimes turn into a curse, especially when looking at the oil extractions in the Niger Delta from a human rights perspective. The Niger Delta region has a rich and diverse flora and fauna: there are vast mangrove forests and a wide variety of animals that are specifically native to the particular ecosystem prevalent in that area. The oil in the region is being extracted, mostly by international companies, by way of drilling, a technique involving unavoidable oil spills and uncontrolled gas flaring.

          This alone, however, could be manageable, since there are guidelines that the international oil extracting companies operating in Nigeria have to observe. The Environmental Guidelines and Standards for the Petroleum Industry in Nigeria (EGASPIN), describe the rules to keep environmental pollution down to a minimum while extracting oil. However, in the past there have been several cases involving international corporations that did not observe those rules strictly enough, and situations in which environmental pollution was not cleaned up at all by the waste producer. Amnesty International describes several examples in which international corporations have left oil spills unattended for weeks, even after the local population had made several complaints in that regard. The fact that natural gas, a by-product of oil extraction, is still currently being burnt by the oil companies, which again causes air pollution, is only one of the problems. When it comes to the consequences of oil extractions on the environment of the Niger Delta, several human rights are being violated. First of all, the right to health and a healthy environment, which is stated in the International Covenant of Social, Economic and Cultural Rights, in the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Because the oil makes its way into the water system of the Delta, drinking water becomes polluted and fish die. This obviously has negative implications for the local population of the Delta, which mainly live off fishery and farming. Moreover, because of the environmental pollution caused by the oil drillings and the fact that oil companies are moving into the lands of the native population, who, in most cases have no legal means to withhold them from doing so, the right to an adequate standard of living, including the right to food and water, are also severely endangered.

           However, it is clear that the fruits of the natural resources and the consequent development can be fully enjoyed only if environmental pollution and resulting human rights abuses and corruption come to a halt. To reach this end, stronger international cooperation and monitoring is needed so that the “abundant human and natural resources” in the Niger Delta will finally have “an impact on poverty” and on human rights.. As UNDP rightly puts it, “rigorous enforcement of environmental laws and standards” is crucial. Moreover, all the relevant legislation in respect of human rights is there, it only has to be properly enforced. With enforcement fully in place, we can restore the Niger Delta to its former glorious beauty and once again see water lilies and fresh untainted water bodies as seen in the picture above.

References: (1) This article is based on a paper written for the Yale University Press by Alan Bacarese  

                          and Anja Roth in December 2009