New Oil Spill Contaminates Nigerian Communities
This is considered to be “one of the worst in the last 16 years in Ogoniland”, according to Fyneface Dumnamene, an environmental activist who monitors spills in the Delta region. The volume of oil spilled has not been established, but the leak has been contained and the tides have sent the oil sheen about 10 kilometers (6 miles) to creeks near the nation’s oil business capital, Port Harcourt. For decades, the Niger Delta region of Nigeria has endured environmental pollution caused by the oil industry, and a new oil spill at a Shell facility has added to the destruction.
For decades, the Niger Delta region of Nigeria has endured environmental pollution caused by the oil industry, and a new oil spill at a Shell facility has added to the destruction. The National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) confirmed the incident at the Trans-Niger Pipeline, which crosses through communities in the Eleme area of Ogoniland. Activists have reported polluted farmland, water surfaces tainted by oil sheens, and dead fish that have been mired in crude.
This is considered to be “one of the worst in the last 16 years in Ogoniland”, according to Fyneface Dumnamene, an environmental activist who monitors spills in the Delta region. The volume of oil spilled has not been established, but the leak has been contained and the tides have sent the oil sheen about 10 kilometers (6 miles) to creeks near the nation’s oil business capital, Port Harcourt.
Shell stopped production in Ogoniland more than 20 years ago amid deadly unrest from residents protesting environmental damage, but the Trans-Niger Pipeline still sends crude from oil fields in other areas through the region’s communities to export terminals. Response to the spill has been delayed due to protesting residents, and the apparent deadlock stems from mistrust and past grievances in the riverine and oil-abundant Niger Delta region.
Africa’s largest economy overwhelmingly depends on the Niger Delta’s oil resources for its earnings, but pollution from that production has denied residents access to clean water, hurt farming and fishing, and heightened the risk of violence, activists say. Shell has stated that it is working with a joint investigatory team to identify the cause and impact of the spill, which includes regulators, Ogoniland residents, and local authorities. Hundreds of farmers and fishermen who have been cut off from their livelihoods would insist on restoration of the environment and then compensation, Dumnamene said.
At the request of the Nigerian government, the U.N. Environment Program conducted an independent environmental assessment of Ogoniland in 2011, and the government announced the cleanup in 2016. However, there is still little evidence of restoration on the ground, as the government says community protests and lawsuits by local activists have hampered progress. Ledum Mitee, a veteran Ogoni environmental activist, believes that “it is a cover-up, and we do not see the impact.” The Niger Delta region of Nigeria has suffered from environmental pollution caused by the oil industry for decades, and the recent oil spill from the Shell facility at the Trans-Niger Pipeline is a grim reminder of the consequences of unchecked exploitation of the region’s resources.
The incident has contaminated farmland and a river, impacting the farming and fishing communities in the region and cutting off hundreds of farmers and fishermen from their livelihoods. Until the region is restored and the people are compensated, the Niger Delta will continue to suffer from the consequences of unchecked exploitation of its resources.