Niger Delta: Oil spills in perspective (Faridah Kasimu)

Environmental activists from across the world including Nigeria, Ecuador and Burma were prevented by Chevron from entering the shareholders meeting despite having legal shareholding proxies. Below activist Niger Delta Emem Okon spoke to Democracy Now! on the actions of Chevron and other oil companies operating in Nigeria – Shell, Mobil, Elf and Agip.       

            One point she raised in respect of the BP oil spill was the comparison between the news media’s reports and public outcry in the US and the relative lack of both in Nigeria where oil spills have been taking place for the past 50 years. For example the Exxon Valdez in 1989 spilled an estimated 10.8 million US gallons (40.9 million litres, or 250,000 barrels) of crude oil. Compare this with oil spills in the Delta…Up to 1.5 million tons of oil, 50 times the pollution unleashed in the Exxon Valdez tanker disaster, has been split in the ecologically precious Niger Delta over the past 50 years, it was revealed yesterday.

A panel of independent experts who travelled to the increasingly tense and lawless region said damage to the fragile mangrove forests over the past 50 years was tantamount to a catastrophic oil spill occurring every 12 months in what is one of the world’s most important ecosystems.

As well as threatening rare species including primates, fish, turtles and birds, the pollution is destroying the livelihoods of many of the 20 million people living there, damaging crops and fuelling the upsurge in violence, it was claimed.

Last year alone Shell admitted to spilling 14,000 tones of oil. However the oil companies in Nigeria have consistently blamed oil spills on poor farmers and fisher men and women and more recently on militants. Whilst this may be the true in a small number of cases a great deal of spills are due first to pipes which are old and rusted and irregularly maintained; and secondly the fact that the many pipelines run overground in front of built up areas even in front of peoples homes and are therefore more vulnerable to accidental damage. Their denial of responsibility also ignores why the pipelines are located in highly built up areas and near to fishing ponds / creeks and farmlands.

Oil spills are only part of the story. There is also the environmental and health impact of 50 years of gas flaring and again the oil companies have repeatedly denied any of the health claims by local communities. Common sense would tell anyone who has seen a gas flare pit [gas flares burn either on the ground in pits or in the sky] with red hot flames spewing black spoke, dust and grit that this must be a health hazard to anyone living or working nearby. Note the date to end gas flaring has been constantly delayed

            I believe that if one positive thing comes out of the massive personal and environmental assault that is taking place in the Gulf – let it be a wake up call for all of us in this oil dependent world and a call to action to stop the criminal and exploitative actions of transnational oil companies.

Gas Flaring in the Niger Delta (Chukwudumebi)

Apart from the oil spills on the Niger delta lands, the oil and gas burnt off into the atmosphere by oil companies like Shell, ExxonMobil and Elf cause local air pollution and contribute to climate change. The article says “More gas is flared in Nigeria than anywhere else in the world – in western Europe 99 per cent of associated gas is used or re-injected into the ground.” Why is this different in Nigeria? Is it because the laws and policies in Nigeria are not being implemented properly? If these oil companies have better ways of reducing the pollution, why are they not doing the right thing? The flares contain toxins such as benzene that can cause respiratory problems such as asthma and bronchitis. I really don’t know who is to be blamed more; the government or these oil companies but we can’t keep pointing fingers at each other. We all have to work together as a country to reduce the pollution in our atmosphere.
Referencehttp://www.platformlondon.org/carbonweb/showitem.asp?article=113&parent=73&link=Y&gp=3

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