Coalition Laments Oil Pollution In Niger Delta Ecosystem, Wants Tinubu To Visit Region

President Bola Tinubu has been asked to personally visit the Niger Delta region to gain firsthand knowledge of the devastating effects of oil spills in the area.

During a press conference on Friday in Abuja, a coalition of civil society organisations and stakeholders, Coalition for a Cleaned Niger Delta (CCND), stated that a billion
litres of crude oil equivalent have been released into the Niger Delta ecosystem as a price paid by local communities for Nigeria’s oil production.

The team was led to the press conference by the Executive Director of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Nnimmo Bassey, and the Executive Director of the African Centre for Leadership, Strategy, and Development (Centre LSD).
Otive Igbuzor stated, “We trust our president is well aware that the Niger Delta ecosystem has for approximately seventy years been plagued by unprecedented perennial pollution from petroleum production activities, enabled or worsened by a highly dysfunctional, conflicted, and compromised environmental regulatory system since the country struck commercial oil in the Oloibiri Province before Nigeria’s independence.” This festering devastation has projected and ranked Nigeria’s Niger Delta as one of the most polluted oil and gas regions in the world.

“According to the limited official records of Nigeria’s spill detection body (National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency – NOSDRA), there were 16,263 (sixteen thousand, two hundred and sixty-three) oil spills between 2006 and 2023.

According to NOSDRA data, approximately 823,483 (eight hundred and twenty-three thousand, four hundred and eighty-three) barrels of oil were spilt, which is equivalent to 4,103 (four thousand, one hundred and three) tanker trucks or 130,933,797 (one hundred and thirty million, nine hundred and thirty-three thousand, seven hundred and ninety-seven) litres of crude oil. These figures represent only a fraction of the reality because they exclude 5,456 (five thousand, four hundred and fifty-six) spills for which the spiller companies did not provide NOSDRA with spilt quantity estimates. Furthermore, estimates are frequently and “understandably” suppressed by operators. Data for some mega spills are also missing, such as the Aiteo blowout at OML 29, which lasted 38 (thirty-eight) days in November-December 2021.

Furthermore, it should be noted that NOSDRA’s conservative spill statistics cited above do not include data for the entire 50 (fifty) years between 1956, when Oloibiri Well 1 was spudded, and 2006 when NOSDRA was established. We also omitted gas volumes flared continuously for 68 (sixty-eight) years, as well as millions of barrels of toxic effluents/”produce water” discharged untreated into rivers, swamps, and mangroves as waste during production. Allowing for these omissions and non-disclosures, it is likely that one billion litres of crude oil equivalent have been released into the Niger Delta ecosystem as the price paid by communities there for Nigeria’s oil production.”

The Coalition, while narrating the plethora of infractions done to the environment in the Niger Delta for over six decades, said: “Considering the apparent failure of a long line of Presidents, Petroleum and Environment Ministers, and Chief Regulators to recognise the indescribable gravity of this ravage, its severe socioeconomic and security repercussions for Nigeria, and to comprehensively resolve it, we invite Mr President to pay a spot visit, along with the relevant

They warned: “Amidst the global dynamics of the twenty-first century, and particularly in the context of
Nigeria cannot continue to act as if it is unaware of the value of its biodiversity and ecological imperatives in the face of climate change. There are many countries we can compare that produce more oil, earn far more money from it, and still jealously and profitably protect their environment and ecosystems. Norway has a trillion-dollar sovereign wealth fund from petrodollars (and a population of 5.5 million, against
Nigeria, with a population of 228 million people, is a prime example of a country that keeps its waters clean, allowing for a robust fishing and marine industry. Scotland and the United Arab Emirates, among others.

The Coalition stated, “We trust that Mr. President and the government are aware of Nigeria’s numerous commitments to international treaties and conventions, including those on universal rights, environmental and indigenous peoples’ rights, and climate change.” Mr President’s commitments to a global audience at the United Nations Climate Conference (COP 28) in Dubai, UAE, just four months ago, are also fresh in mind. A genuine action to clean up the Niger Delta will provide an excellent progress report for Nigeria, and especially for Your Excellency, when the world gathers again at the next Climate Conference, COP 29, in about six months.”

They went on to say, “The protracted social injustice of funding national development at the extreme ecocidal expense of communities in the oil-producing Niger Delta region, or communities anywhere else in Nigeria, needs to be urgently redressed, without any pretences, as witnessed under previous administrations. With the major international oil companies (IOCs) continuing to divest of their remaining onshore holdings in Nigeria, and their massive outstanding environmental liabilities thrown into legal uncertainty, portending further risks and escalation of social tensions for communities, the time has come for Mr President to act as the Protector-in-Chief of Nigerian communities.”

The Coalition stated that, among other cardinal priorities, the following actions should be taken to resolve the environmental crisis and leave an unprecedented legacy in the Niger Delta and Nigeria as a whole:

The President should issue an Executive Order to establish a Niger Delta Environmental Remediation Programme and Trust Fund. This can be either independent of or incorporated into the existing Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), which is currently overseeing the cleanup of Ogoni Land, but with a separate Trust Fund from the Ogoni Trust Fund, an expanded Governing Council, and an unimpeachable Management system designed to avoid the contradictions that have historically plagued HYPREP and the questionable progress of the Ogoni Cleanup. The Programme’s tasks would include a definitive health audit, in addition to the standard environmental audit of impacted areas.

“Adoption of the National Principles on Divestment and Decommissioning in the Nigerian Oil Industry, as compiled recently by a broad coalition of community, civil society, and international organisations after extensive field missions and engagements in the Niger Delta.

“Panacea for Oil Theft and Asset Vandalism: To avoid or minimise re-pollution, optimise production, and abate associated insecurity, implement a carefully
An articulated approach to economic crime (based on broad and in-
In-depth stakeholder consultations (which we are willing to participate in if necessary). The new strategy should be preventative.
proactive, inclusive, accountable, and looking beyond current official reliance on state and non-state military methods, which can frequently be tragically counterproductive, as results have shown intermittently.”

To fund the interventions, the Coalition proposed a combined action with the Federal Government’s financial latitudes, with the primary funding coming from the operators and joint venture partners in oil/petroleum leases, based on credible costings for remediation within their respective acreages and in line with
The Polluter Pays Principle (PPP) applies universally.

“Additional funding sources could include: the Environmental Remediation Fund established but yet to be operationalised under the Petroleum Industry Act, gas flare penalties paid by operators, a portion of the existing Ecological Fund, at least to cover immediate region-wide impact and cost assessments; a portion of the statutory funds of the Niger Delta Development Commission, whose statutory mission expressly includes an ecological/pollution resolution mandate.
Since its inception, it has been decommissioning liabilities and restoring funds in oil mining agreements, as well as international environmental, climate, and impact funds/resources that can be leveraged through appropriate strategies and channels.