Environment
Stakeholders Want Commitment To End Gas Flaring
Stakeholders in the Niger Delta region are urging for a firm commitment by the government to end gas flaring and other forms of pollution in the region.
The stakeholders said this at a forum organised by the institute of strategic management Nigeria, Rivers State Chapter in Port Harcourt.
In his lecture entitled: “Critical Environmental Challenges in Rivers State, Exploring Strategic Solutions,” Dr Sofin Peterside said that billions of dollars have been flared inform of gas since the discovery of oil in the country.
“Every year, millions of dollars are literally going up in smoke in the Niger Delta as companies burn off unwanted gas released during oil production.
“The Government at a time fixed December 2012 as the new deadline to end all forms of gas flaring in Nigeria.
“This was not to be feasible as the country is still rated the second worst flaring nation in the world.”
According to him, an estimated $2.5 billion was reportedly lost yearly due to lack of infrastructures to harness gas.
Dr Peterside, who is the Director of the Centre for Advanced Social Science (CASS) listed the health implications of gas flare to include climate change which leads to increase in temperature which affects the human skin.
“The sea level rise, precipitation, direct solar radiation and its resultant depletion of the ozone layer.
The university don also decried the incident of the black soot in the state.
“It is now common knowledge that since late November 2017, strange black soot has been present in the atmosphere, scaring residents of Port Harcourt City and other neigbouring Local Government Areas such as Eleme, Oyigbo, Ikwerre, Obio/Akpor, Khana, Gokana and Tai.
“The clouds became hazy and grey, if you hang your cloths before you know it, they have become black,” he said.
The university don also decried the non cleanup of Ogoniland, stressing that oil contamination in Ogoniland is widespread and severely impacting many components of the environment.
“Although the oil industry is no longer alive in the area, oil spills continue to occur with alarming regularity,” he said.
Also speaking on Human and Economic Cost of Environmental Challenges in Rivers State, Mr Eugene Abels, described the pollution of the Niger Delta as alarming.
Mr Abels said that the advent of illegal oil bunkering in the region has set the region back educationally, stressing that presently, the region is witnessing a high school dropout.
According to him, “instead of being in school, young men, women and children take to the creeks to make quick money from illegal refining.
“Even children who are not able to go to the creeks move about with jerry cans hawking bunkered fuel,” he said.
Some stakeholders in Okoroagu community in the Etche Local Government Area of Rivers state have blamed the perennial erosion in the community on the poor conditions of their road.
They are therefore calling for the rehabilitation of their road.
They said this in an interview with The Tide, at okoroagu.Speaking to The Tide,the Ochimba of Okoroagu community, Eze Marcus Amadi said the poor conditions of their road has retarded the growth and development of the community.
According to Eze Amadi,”The government has neglected us, they have forgotten about us, we have been writing letters to the government, both to the NDDC to come and repair our road for us, we are on our knees pleading to them to come help us out, at least they should just dredge the road for us”
Continuing he said”If the government comes today to repair our road, nobody will say they shouldn’t.
“Nobody will obstruct them. We have been shouting and crying that our road is not good, the road is affecting the community economically and socially in the sense that, there is no way we can carry our crops out because of erosion.
“Erosion have taken over the road, making it difficult for us to access other communities especially during rainfall you see people falling down and getting injured inside the river which we call Mmiri Ehe in our language, which reaches our waist line during raining season. Our people can not go to other market to sell their products due to the bad road”he saidAlso speaking,Chairman Community Development Committee( CDC )Okoroagu , Hon. Elvis Nwaobasi decried the situation of the road, stressing that economic activities are being affected as movement of goods and services have gradually slowed down in the area.
” The road have affected our women so badly, they are no longer going to the other neighboring markets to sell their Agric produce because of the nature of the road.
“This road has also affected us in many ways, it has affected our educational system, security system, it has also affected our health system, because with the nature of that road, people cannot access our health facilities in the community, with the nature of that road, people cannot access our school, with nature of the road, people cannot come in and do business in our community, we cannot access the road because of the neglect of the road.
“People are using our road for excuses to come in and invest and do businesses. People who come to our market to buy our products are no longer coming because of the nature of the road.” I am pleading with the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayig Fubara to please come to the aid of Okoroagu and repair our road. I am pleading with the Rivers State House of Assembly, we are suffering too much because of this road. We have been neglected and abandoned for years, the government should please come to our aid” he said.Also the women leader of Okoroagu community, Mrs. Anthonia Nweke blamed some politicians from the area for abandoning the people of Okoroagu
“Our road has been abandoned, overlooked, with no attention, mostly the higher politicians of the place, we have been abandoned for years”
In furtherance to the commitment of the Federal Government through the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation (HYPREP) to the full implementation of the recommendations of the UN Environment Programme Report on Ogoni Environment, the Project has commenced processes to designating Ogoni Wetland as a Ramsar Site.
Labaran Ahmed, National Focal Point for Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance and Assistant Director in the Federal Ministry of Environment, who is leading the process for collection of field samples, said the move will converse biodiversity, enhance livelihood, attract ecotourism and further earn global recognition for Ogoni Wetlands.The UNEP Report envisages that this would provide the Government with a roadmap for restoration and sustainable management of the Ogoni wetland, bring the site unto international among others.Project Coordinator, Professor Nenibarini Zabbey, represented by Director Technical Services, Professor Damien-Paul Aguiyi said the project further attests to the Federal government’s commitment through HYPREP to implementing the UNEP Report simultaneously.Nigeria is a signatory to the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction(BBNJ) Agreement for how research on marine genetic resources must be conducted and documented, ensuring transparency and the equitable distribution of benefits.
Environment
Tribunal Acknowledges losses in Rare species Across the globe …urges for government Action
It was noted that the choice by the Brazilian government to host COP30 serves as a symbol of the importance of the Amazon. They denounced the current and future impacts of the expansion of the extractivist frontier, deforestation, fossil fuels and large-scale mining. It was urged that the Amazon, with its ecosystems, animal, plant species, and rich biodiversity, natural medicines and its vital and reproductive cycles, should be considered as a subject of rights together with the Indigenous Peoples, and other communities that inhabit it.
The co-president and judge of the tribunal, Nnimmo Bassey, while delivering the verdict, noted that the defence of the rights of Nature is the right way to carry out real climate action and that there is no climate justice without the rights of Nature.
The tribunal stressed the need to phase out fossil fuels and quickly move to renewable energy as a way that protects both communities and ecosystems from false solutions that merely benefit financial speculators and compound climate injustices. The Tribunal also urged the United Nations to adopt the pledge as a blueprint for international environmental law.
A copy of the declaration obtained by The Tide revealed that,Judges at the Tribunal included Ana Alfinito of Brazil, Nnimmo Bassey ( Nigeria), Enrique Viale (Argentina), Shannon Biggs (USA), Casey Camp Horinek (Ponca Nation, USA), Tom Goldtooth (USA), Princes Esmeralda (Belgium), Cormac Cullinan (South Africa), Patricia Gualings (Ecuador), Francesco Martone (Italy) Tzeporah Berman (USA), Ashish Katharine (India), Osprey Orielle Lake (USA), Pooven Moodley (South Africa) and Felicio Pontes (Brazil)
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