Actualising The Ogoni, Okrika Water Schemes

Recently, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) presented a historic environmental impact assessment report on Ogoniland to President Goodluck Jonathan. Presented by UNEP’s Director of Environmental Policy Implementations, Ibrahim Thiaw, the report criticised Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and the Federal Government for contributing to 50 years of oil pollution in Ogoniland, especially the contamination of underground water systems.

While receiving the report, President Jonathan assured that the issues raised in the report, especially the issue of water pollution, would be urgently addressed to assuage the feelings of the affected people.

But, while the international community, Nigerians and indeed, the people of Ogoniland are awaiting the Federal Government’s action, the Rivers State Government has benevolently intervened in the provision of potable water in the area.

Speaking in a live radio programme, and later at an interactive forum with professionals in Port Harcourt last week, the Rivers State Governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi said the government was bent on protecting the lives of the ordinary people and would commence distribution of potable water within the affected communities through water tankers in the meantime. Beyond that, he said the government, in accordance with the UNEP report, was seriously working out measures to install a permanent water scheme in the five Local Government Areas of Gokana, Eleme, Khana, Tai and Okrika, in which benzene has been identified in the underground water systems.

According to the Governor,  the State Government would liaise with the Federal Government and Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) on ways to provide safe drinking water in the next few weeks. His words: “The Rivers State Government is ready to carry out a water scheme that would go round all the affected communities in the State to ensure that they are insured from drinking contaminated water”.

To clear the doubt over its planned water supply in Ogoniland, the government, last Thursday, began the supply of water in tankers to Ogale community in Eleme Local Government Area of the state. Reports say other communities in the area also benefited from the water tanker distribution over the weekend.

In swift response to Governor Amaechi’s proactive step to provide clean, potable water to negatively impacted communities in Ogoni and Okrika the Minister of Environment last week lauded the State Government for leading the way in this effort, even as she reasoned that the Federal Government was working frantically to evolve a blueprint for the holistic implementation of the UNEP Report.

The Tide joins the minister and other well-meaning Nigerians to commend Governor Amaechi for this bold initiative. We believe that this strategic step to provide potable drinking water to the long deprived people would not have come at a better time than now, especially given the veracity of the pollution and contamination of the entire ecosystems and underground water aquifers in Ogoni, Eleme and Okrika circumference.

We, therefore, urge the State Government to ensure that all communities affected by the impact of oil and gas exploration and production in the identified communities are provided with drinkable water as quickly as possible. In fact, the government should quickly direct its water engineers to move into the affected communities, without discrimination, and begin dialogue with relevant stakeholders on how the interim water strategy should reach the people.

While we reckon that there may be noticeable lapses in the execution of such policy directive given human imperfections, we challenge those tasked with the responsibility of executing the governor’s mandate to ensure that identified gaps are bridged as soon as they  occur. This way, government objective for initiating the process of tackling this issue would be achieved.

On the other hand, we implore all impacted communities to remain calm while government works out better strategy to meet its goals. We make this plea bearing in mind that certain overzealous persons may want to take advantage of government’s benevolence to cause unnecessary tension and bickering in Ogoni, Eleme and possibly, Okrika communities, over perceived attempts to undermine or deny them this government intervention measure.

The Tide agrees that the task ahead is challenging, especially when it has to do with the provision of basic need as critical as water in an area already known to have been badly endangered by pollution. We also know that every community would want to get the first delivery of the water consignment, even as they all know that they cannot all get it at the same time. We, therefore, urge all the communities to maintain law and order, conduct themselves in very peaceful fashion, and reasonably cooperate and support government in this endeavour.

Having said that, we worry over alleged reactions trailing the yet-to-be-executed water scheme in Ogoniland. In fact, we note that a group in Eleme Local Government Area has already issued a statement, alleging that the local government was side-lined in the UNEP report on Ogoniland and its environs.

While we make haste to believe such wild claims, we advise the agitating communities in Ogoniland to sheath their swords so that the water scheme can take off smoothly without any delay. That way, the dreams of the State Government to provide succour over the environmental degradation of the area, would be actualized in no distant future.

Perhaps, it may not be out of place to advise the aggrieved Ogoni communities to bear in mind that any agitation or revolution that veers to the extreme destroys itself. Therefore, the hot-headed youth of the aggrieved villages must know that they need the wisdom of their elders over the matter in question.

Beyond that, government must on its part, listen to the agitations of the communities, especially the oil-bearing villages that may have been badly affected by the oil pollution saga, as contained in the UNEP report.

Government’s effort in this regard, is an interim measure to cushion the effect of the contaminated water in the area, and we urge all stakeholders, including community youth, women, elders and chiefs to ensure that this government’s bold step is not truncated, but supported so that future decisions on the UNEP Report would be implemented without delay.