N’ Delta May Experience Epidemic If …Amnesty International

An International Human Rights Organisation, Amnesty International says Ogoniland and the entire Niger Delta region may experience epidemic if nothing is done on the magnitude of oil pollution in the area.

Amnesty Business and Human Right Campaigner Joe  Westby who said this during the presentation of the report of the 2008 oil pollution in Bodo at the weekend also said that the organisation plans to mobilise its members across the world against the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) over the company’s failure to clean up the region.

He described the Bodo incident as one of the several cases of  oil pollution in the region which SPDC has refused to address.

Also speaking, a researcher with Amnesty Miss Asten Van Kregten said that the Bodo oil spill would have been checked if the company had not neglected to perform its duty.

She said that the people of Bodo and the entire Ogoni deserve compensation from the company.

Meanwhile the centre for Environment Resources and Human Development (CERHD) says more than 69,000 indigenes of the community were affected by the oil spillage.

Presenting the report, Mr Yorid Varaba also said that community’s flora and fauna are going into extinction, while the people are being exposed to health hazards.

He said that the traditional occupations of the people which are fishing and farming have gone into extinction as a result of the pollution.

Earlier, the Executive Director of the Organisation Mr Patrick Naagbanton  said that SPDC is bound by the decision of a United Kingdom High Court to pay compensation to the community.