Environment
Niger Delta Stakeholders Urge For Action Against Environmental Pollution
Residents of some oil-producing communities in Niger Delta, have called on critical stakeholders to join forces against incessant pollution and violation of the fundamental rights by oil multinational
The residents, who were from Odimodi and Forcados communities in Delta State, were in Benin City, the Edo State capital, , to join the Gelegbene community in Edo, in a meeting with the International Federal of Women Lawyers (FIDA), civil society organisations, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) and Community Development Foundation (CODAF).
The riverine communities appealed to the environmental activists and women lawyers to intervene and stop environmental pollution, as well as marginalisation and supersession due to the operations of the oil multinationals in their locals.
Narrating their ordeal at the gathering, themed “Niger Delta Legal and Strategic Meeting for Fishery Folks”, facilitated by the CODAF in collaboration with ERA/FoEN, Mrs. Mary Fedigha from Gelegbene lamented that since Dubril Oil company began operations in the area, the environment had been seriously impacted.
She expressed dismay that the fishes the residents used to catch before to make a living, are no more.
“You need to go several miles in search of fish before you catch a few,” she decried.
Fedigha also identified gas flaring in the middle of the community as another danger that the residents are constantly exposed to.
“All the buildings around the gas flaring site are in danger; the heat there is unbearable.
“Despite being an oil-producing community, Gelegbene has no potable water, no hospital, no road. We are benefiting nothing from the oil company,” she said.
Sharing a similar sentiment, a retired Deputy Superintendent of Police, Fred Obi from Odimodi community in Delta, related how he incurred losses, arising from the pollution in the area.
“I have a fishing yard and fish pond. I had my fishing pond at the bank of the river where I had different species of fishes, but when the river overflows it banks, it took away the fishes, so I moved upland to sink a borehole and continued with my fishing ponds, but due to the pollution all my fishes died.
“What we are passing through is like hell on earth in Odimodi community,” Obi said.
Also, Juliet Egbele, from Odimodi community, called the attention of the activists to an impending danger as a result of Trans-Raymond pipeline, whose lifespan, she said, had elapsed.
“There is a pipeline running through the town, called Trans-Raymond; it is a 42-inch transparent pipeline.
“They said the pipe has only a 20-year lifespan; when the pipeline was over 25 years; we wrote to them, but they didn’t respond.
“When it got to 30 years, the pipeline started giving problems. It burst in 2018 on its own due to old age. This incident affected us a lot. it got to an extent that we couldn’t breathe properly.
“We are dying, we breathe in hell, we are dying. They should come and do their clean up properly.
“Though Shell paid the community in 2018 for impact made, they refused to pay individuals for their claims.
“We are appealing to all human rights activists to help us. We can be a host community, without being sick.
“We are battling with sickness as a host community,” she lamented.
Other residents, who corroborated the issue, said the communities had remained the same without tangible development in spite of the oil exploration.
Responding, Executive Director, ERA/FoEN, Barr. Chima Williams, stressed the need for synergy, promising that his organisation would give every necessary support to make sure justice is served to the oil-producing communities
He asserted that he was passionate about their conditions.
On her part, FIDA Chairperson in Edo, Violet Olumese, said the federation was aware of the plight of the communities and would do all that is necessary to give the necessary support.
Earlier, Mr. Benin Richard, Executive Director, CODAF, expressed dismay with the situation, when he visited the Odimodi community, describing it as “devastating and very difficult to comprehend”.
He appealed to FIDA to add the environmental components to their work.
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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