‘Environmental destruction in Niger Delta terrible’

By Akanimo Sampson

Bureau Chief, Port Harcourt

Environmental rights activist, Patrick Naagbanton, says there is still a long and terrible record of environmental destruction and human rights violation in the Niger Delta, Nigeria’s oil and gas-producing region.

Naagbanton, an Ogoni, who operates mainly in the mangrove forests, told our correspondent at Nchia-Eleme in Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State, that the gross level of environmental degradation caused by oil exploration and extraction in the oil region has gone unchecked for about 50 years.

“Evidence within environmental rights groups tend to show that the oil companies operating in the Niger Delta region do not only disregard their responsibility towards the environment, but have been acting in complicity with the armed security forces to repress the oil communities,” he said.

The activist informed that he personally took some foreign activists on a research tour of the Niger Delta. “Some of them spent close to 14 days in the mangrove swamps, visiting communities that have been affected by the operations of the transnational oil and gas corporations,” he said, adding that, “a number of individuals interviewed on such occasions freely gave their accounts indicting the oil companies for their involvement in killings in the oil region.” According to him, the research tours always involved meeting with community people, their leaders, groups and state and local government officials.

“Often, based on the testimonies of those we met as well as on our own observations, the conclusion is always that oil extraction and the related operations of oil companies pose a serious threat to the livelihood of the people of the Niger Delta,” Naagbanton stated.

“Many communities,” he went on, “frequently report that they rarely receive any or sufficient compensation for land taken by oil companies, or rendered useless by oil spills, acid rain, and other forms of pollution.”

He is of the view that oil companies in the region seriously threaten the livelihood of their host communities, adding, “due to the many forms of oil-generated environmental pollution evident throughout the region, farming and fishing have become impossible or extremely difficult in oil-affected areas, and even drinking water has become scarce.”

Pointing out that malnourishment and disease are common, he said the presence of oil companies has had additional adverse effects on the local economy and society, including loss of property, price inflation, prostitution, and “irresponsible” fathering by expatriate oil workers.

In a similar vein, another activist, Effiong Etuk, said in addition to a clear lack of access to this locally produced resource, the oil communities have seen few benefits from the large-scale operations carried out in their areas.

http://www.independentng.com/nigerdelta/ndjan030605.htm