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The Delta is home to 7,000sq km of the continent’s remaining 9,000sq km of mangrove; and scientists believe some sixty percent of West Africa’s fish stocks breed in the rivers and swamps along the coast. A report compiled by the World Conservation Union, representatives from the Federal Ministry of Abuja and the Nigeria Conservation Foundation, concluded that the Delta is one of the five most polluted spots on the planet. Experts have said that far from benefiting local people, rural communities have borne the brunt of the environmental and social costs of development. In 2009, environmental activists from across the world including Nigeria, Ecuador and Burma were prevented by Chevron from entering the shareholders meeting despite having legal shareholding proxies. Niger Delta activist, Emem Okon spoke on the actions of Chevron and other oil companies operating in ________

Nigeria –Shell, Mobil, Elf and Agip. One point she raised in respect of the BP oil spill was the comparison between the news media’s reports and public outcry in the United States and beyond, and the relative lack of both in Nigeria where oil spills have been taking place for the past fifty years. For example in 1989, the Exxon Valdez spilled an estimated 40.9 million liters (250,000 barrels) of crude oil; however up to 1.5 million tons of oil- fifty times the pollution unleashed in the Exxon Valdez tanker disaster, has been split in the ecologically precious Niger Delta over the past fifty years. A panel of independent experts who traveled to the region said damage to the fragile mangrove forests over these years was tantamount to a catastrophic oil spill occurring every twelve months in what is one of the world’s most important ecosystems.

As well as threatening rare species including primates, fish, turtles and birds, the pollution is destroying the livelihoods of many of the twenty million people living there; damaging crops and fueling the upsurge in violence. In 2009 alone, Shell admitted to spilling fourteen thousand tons of oil; however the oil companies in Nigeria have consistently blamed oil spills on poor farmers, fishermen, women and in addition, on militants. Whilst this may be true in a small number of cases, a great deal of spills are due first to pipes which are old and rusted and irregularly maintained; and secondly the fact that the many pipelines run over ________

ground in front of built up areas or people’s homes and are therefore more vulnerable to accidental damage. Their denial of responsibility also ignores why the pipelines are located near fishing ponds, creeks and farmlands. In addition to these oil spills, there is also the environmental and health impact of fifty years of gas flaring but yet again, the oil companies repeatedly deny any of the health claims by local communities. Common sense would tell anyone who has seen gas flares burned either on the ground pits or in the sky with red hot flames spewing black smoke, dust and grit that they are health hazards to anyone living or working nearby.

In Oloibori, the first oil village where drilling began in 1958, youth unemployment runs at about fifty percent. The cost of the leaking crude, much of it from outdated equipment and pipes, is estimated to be costing Nigeria millions of dollars a day. The report concluded that the impact of oil and gas drilling was a significant contributor to the violence, sabotage of pipelines, installations and instability in the region. Due to this, protesting against oil productions; seizing of oil platforms by gunmen seeking ransom; and sadly enough, loss of lives dominate this “not an end in sight” problem leading to the shut down of oil companies. Shell is one of the biggest players in the region and one of the most heavily criticized. Its role came under the international spotlight following the execution of the playwright turned minority rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa in 1995 by the then military dictatorship. The company, which boasted profits of over twenty-two billion dollars, extracts hundreds of thousands of crude oil barrels a day from its activities in the Niger Delta. Environmentalists accuse the company of failing to meet promises to replace ageing pipes ________

and swamp flow-lines that steadily leak oil into the once pristine waters of the Delta. Nevertheless the company insists it is meeting its commitments and continuously monitors equipment (although it has not been able to meet all its targets due to limited to no access to land areas such as Ogoni). Old drilling equipments in other areas officially thought to have been cleared up, were discovered to be still leaching oil into the environment.

As a result, the report accuse the oil companies of double standards by using technologies not in line with more advanced practices carried out elsewhere in the world. It called for international action to implement an immediate rescue plan, backed by the oil and gas industries, which have exploited the region for up to half a century. If one positive thing comes out of the massive personal and environmental assault that is taking place – let it be a wake up call for all of us in this oil dependent world and a call to action to stop the scandalous and exploitative actions of transnational oil companies.

by Tosin Abraham Carons