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| A boy after taking his ‘bath’ in what remains of a river at Goi, in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State |
THE Niger Delta region is known all over
the world for one thing – the production of crude oil in large
quantity. It is this product that has been the mainstay of the Nigerian
economy. And though about 95 per cent of the country’s wealth is from
this region, most of the oil bearing communities are in a
sticky
situation, what with the choking air pollution and life-threatening
contamination of their rivers and streams.
Residents of the communities hit by
environmental pollution occasioned by oil spills have no water to drink
or farmlands to cultivate again. Theirs has been a slow, agonising death
through privation.
Though displaced on their own soil
through environmental pollution, there’s no available low cost housing
scheme to serve as alternative. Indeed, in all of these communities,
standard of living is so low that most of the fishermen still dwell in
shanties built on soils contaminated with oil seepage.
Indeed, based on physical evidence, the
communities have suffered loss of aquatic organism and wildlife, in
addition to having been prevented from farming activities – another
source of livelihood aside from fishing. The sources of their fresh
water have been damned, with the attendant air pollution. Indeed, it is
difficult to get fresh air as one traverses these communities.
The damage to farmlands is such that no less than 157 hectares of arable lands have given way to environmental degradation.
Other observable effects of the spills
are the destruction of economic trees and cash crops. Worse still, some
residents claimed that there has been increase in death rate since the
first quarter of the year, as well as acute and general health problems
which they said were traceable to the effects of the oil spills.
Affected communities include Egita in Ogba/Egbema Ndoni Local Government Area, Ejama Ebubu, Goi and Bodo in Gokana LGA.
Again, in April, the communities
suffered gas eruption, at the end of which the soil in affected places
turned to muddy substance where plants can no longer grow. In Gokana,
for instance, an entire portion of a community was polluted with crude
oil. In response, Shell Petroleum Development Company carried out a
remediation by having sand tipped on the surface of the soil to cover
the spilled oil.
At Goi, the entire river has been
contaminated by crude oil. Unfortunately, the community was said to have
been omitted by the United Nations Environment Programme during its
assessment of polluted areas in Ogoniland.
Here, residents are either ignorant of
the implications of using polluted water, or they can’t be bothered
anymore by the likely effects, as they continue to live their life as if
things were normal. A six year-boy-old was seen taking his bath in the
polluted water, while an old woman was processing cassava by the river.
When the boy came out of the water, his body was covered with crude oil!
At Edagberi-Betterland, comprising
Inedua and Engenni communities in Ahoada West LG, apart from the
ubiquitous oil spills, over 1,000 persons have been displaced by floods.
The flood forced farmers to harvest their cassava prematurely in order
to save them from rotting away.
In Ejama Ebubu (Ogoniland) where oil
exploration activities were said to have been discontinued decades ago,
the soil is still heavily soaked in oil.
These and other environmental issues
took the Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology to oil spill sites
in some parts of Rivers State, recently. The chairman of the committee,
Senator Bukola Saraki, lamented that though oil companies had always
given the impression that most of the spills were as a result of
sabotage from community members, the committee had come to realise that
equipment failure was at the centre of the tragedy that had befallen
most of the oil bearing communities.
In Egita, the Community Development
Committee Chairman, Mr. Benson Ugochukwu, told the Senate committee that
the community remained one of the 16 communities in Egi clan playing
host to Total Exploration and Production Limited. He said Egi had
suffered the effects of oil exploration and exploitation activities
directly.
Ugochukwu said, “We wish to bring to the
fore that the menace of oil and gas eruption in Egita community was
noticed on April 2, 2012 by the community and was immediately reported
to Total E&P Nigeria Limited. In response, the Total team worked
tirelessly in their effort to contain the eruption palaver, which took
about three months to control. The eruption threw the community into
confusion for fear of what might be the aftermath. The trauma was heavy
on the people.”
He called for a proper remediation of
affected areas in Egita, compensation for loss of lands, economic trees
and crops, aquatic organisms and wild life; while residents should be
awarded contracts and employment opportunities.
Ugochukwu, who read the community’s
address to Saraki and his entourage, urged the Senate committee to
prevail on Total E&P to commence necessary negotiation for
compensation to be paid for the recent gas eruption in Egita, while also
noting that the communities got some relief materials from the oil
company.
He said, “We wish to categorically state
that Total E & P Nigeria Limited has responded to some of the
problems during the period in review, such as the supply of relief
materials once to Egita community in May 2012 and the entire Egi clan in
June 2012.”
The Senate committee members also
visited some of the gas eruption points, and the Bomu Oilfield in
Kegbara Dere, in Gokana LGA, which was gutted by fire in 2002 and 2009
as a result of equipment failure.
One of the spokespersons in Ogoniland,
Mr. Bariala Kpalap, alleged that Shell did not manage the spill
according to internationally accepted standard, calling on the oil firm
to clean up the place for the benefit of the affected community.
Goi indigenes who trooped out to welcome
the Saraki-led team, described the area as the most impacted in terms
of environmental degradation in Ogoniland. One of their leaders, Mr.
Tony Digbara, expressed regrets that UNEP visited Ogoniland without
considering the plight of the people whose sources of livelihood have
been destroyed by years of water and air pollution.
The State Commissioner for the
Environment, Dr. Nyema Weli, said government had not been informed about
the development. Weli promised that the state government would put
measures in place to ensure that those affected by the floods were given
relief materials, while a formal request would also be made to the
National Emergency Management Agency to assist the people.
At the end of their fact-finding
mission, Saraki, who led members of the committee on a courtesy visit to
Governor Rotimi Amaechi, said, “The Senate will call oil companies to
account and make them take responsibility for their actions. We want
things to change because it has taken a lot of patience on the part of
the people affected.”
In response, Amaechi thanked the
committee for the visit and charged them to take steps towards putting
an end to the pollution of the environment by oil companies.
-Punch
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