I have befriended quite a few people from Nigeria over the years and they have told me a lot of things about Nigeria including Nigerian film industry, corruption, business scams, rubber production, and oil. But before watching the documentary 'Into the Niger Delta', I had no idea about the astronomical level of oil spillage the delta at the hands of the oil companies operating all the refineries. Over the past fifty years, the oil spillage into the Niger Delta has added up to 1.5 million tons of oil, which is fifty times the pollution caused by Exxon Valdez tanker disaster in Alaska in 1989 (source: blacknovemberthemovement.com).
One of the first things I mentioned about Nigeria was the Nigerian film industry, and ironically, the film industry has joined hands with some Americans from showbiz to turn the pressing issue of oil spillage into a social movement. Needless to say, the movement is doing a great job at the moment in raising wide-scale awareness about an environmental issue which has become crucial to the human rights of the people of Nigeria affected by the oil spillage. The pollution of the Niger Delta has resulted in dangerous carcinogenic substances contaminating the water, amounting up to 900 times above the WHO guidelines. The contamination of water has killed the marine life in the Delta and severely affected the livelihoods of the people residing in the areas who depended primarily on fisheries for their dietary needs and income generating activities. The oil seepage into the soil has also depleted any supplies of clean drinking water, as a result of which many Nigerians especially children are becoming sick and getting kidney diseases. The issue calls for the attention of international leaders to make oil companies like Shell accountable for their actions.
Since 40 % of the Nigerian oil is exported to the US, and Nigeria is one of the five top oil providers to the US (supplying up to 0.8 million barrels per day), the movement against these oil companies has called for the resolution no. 121 to be passed in Congress. The resolution will recognize the importance of the wetland and coastal ecosystem in the Niger Delta, and may result in the rehabilitation of the damaged infrastructure. The movement is being conducted through presenting the whole situation of the Niger Delta to different universities and global leaders (more recently at the UN plaza in New York).
The work being done by the current members of the movement is commendable, but I wonder about one thing; if the core issue being addressed or not. The things I mentioned about Nigeria included a corrupt state apparatus as well, and it goes without saying here that if the Nigerian government had been proactive in safeguarding the environmental rights of the people living in the Niger Delta, the oil companies would not have been able to do this level of damage today. One can argue then that the government gets money for these multi national oil corporations to operate in Nigeria, and it spurs economic growth- creating jobs and economic activities in the region, so the Nigerian government does not have any incentive to stop them. The answer lies in the weak government institutions facilitating these corporations. Since there is a lack of understanding of the factors affecting the livelihoods of the citizens of Nigeria at the hands of environmental and ecological disasters, the process of development itself will remain disrupted. For the same reason, I believe, that movement against the oil companies should be Nigeria-centric in such a way that the international leaders are urged to mobilize resources to strengthen the government institutions, and provide legal advice to the local communities to be self aware of their rights. This approach, coupled with the external pressure by means of resolutions like H.Con.Res 121, will galvanize the process of sustainable change vis-a-vis issues of human rights and development.
One of the first things I mentioned about Nigeria was the Nigerian film industry, and ironically, the film industry has joined hands with some Americans from showbiz to turn the pressing issue of oil spillage into a social movement. Needless to say, the movement is doing a great job at the moment in raising wide-scale awareness about an environmental issue which has become crucial to the human rights of the people of Nigeria affected by the oil spillage. The pollution of the Niger Delta has resulted in dangerous carcinogenic substances contaminating the water, amounting up to 900 times above the WHO guidelines. The contamination of water has killed the marine life in the Delta and severely affected the livelihoods of the people residing in the areas who depended primarily on fisheries for their dietary needs and income generating activities. The oil seepage into the soil has also depleted any supplies of clean drinking water, as a result of which many Nigerians especially children are becoming sick and getting kidney diseases. The issue calls for the attention of international leaders to make oil companies like Shell accountable for their actions.
Since 40 % of the Nigerian oil is exported to the US, and Nigeria is one of the five top oil providers to the US (supplying up to 0.8 million barrels per day), the movement against these oil companies has called for the resolution no. 121 to be passed in Congress. The resolution will recognize the importance of the wetland and coastal ecosystem in the Niger Delta, and may result in the rehabilitation of the damaged infrastructure. The movement is being conducted through presenting the whole situation of the Niger Delta to different universities and global leaders (more recently at the UN plaza in New York).
Great topic! You watched the on-campus documentary screening as well? The extent of pollution was shocking to me when I first learned the issue. And I agree with you that there is indeed a dilemma for the government of the balance between economic growth and ecological challenge, which is a common issue nowadays for most developing countries. The modes of economic rise of those countries are mostly investment-led, which reply greatly on external investors and global macro economy. Once such supplies termindates due to whatever reasons, such as the break-down of political relations or market fluctuates, the growth can no longer maintain. Therefore, the more significant question arises as how to keep such development sustainable.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, in this case, it is as important to remedy the damage as to prevent it. Before banning those oil MNCs out of the Niger Delta, it is imperative to pin down the responsibilities of cleaning up on them and require actions immediately.
This is a really interesting issue, and really begs the question of how should we hold these oil companies accountable for the damage that they have caused in the Niger Delta? I think you are correct that the problem really needs to be addressed by the Nigerian government before it can truly be solved. But there are obvious issues of the capability and issues of corruption at the national scale, that might impede the clean up of oil. But it should be very interesting to see how the pressure from first world countries like the United States will come into play.
ReplyDelete