It’s been three years since the United Nations Environmental Programme asked Royal Dutch Shell, an Anglo-Dutch oil and gas company, and the Nigerian government to clean up the oil spill in Ogoniland, but that has not happened for a surprisingly long time. Adeola Akinremi and Solomon Elusoji visited Ogoniland and report that its people are a living sacrifice amid a barren landscape of devastated forest and farmland, ruined livelihoods of farmers and fishermen amidst the massive damage to the environment
In Goi, a Niger Delta community in Ogoniland, the air carries the whiff of death. It’s a desolate place and its inhabitants have long deserted their homes. They became sick of pain and struggle for existence. They deserted their homeland just because Shell and the government conspired to leave them fluttered.
Really, it is not uncommon for visitors to the community to choke at the chest and be assailed by bouts of headache, nausea and stomach trouble on breathing in the deadly particles flowing freely and invisibly in the atmosphere. And while the villagers have all fled for dear life, the nature itself has faltered, tottering with weak steps. A riverine area where the water once bubbled with varied sea creatures and the soil produced bountiful harvest, Goi is now a barren land with a canopy of tragedy hanging over it ominously like a bleak firmament. “This is as a result of the spilled crude oil on our land,” said Chief Tomi, the crown head of the coastal communities in Gokana, and an indigene of Goi.
“It is true that we don’t have oilrigs or pipelines here anymore, but every oil that gets spilled around here flows down to Goi, because of its geographical position. This started happening in 2004 and till today nobody has done anything about it. We don’t have anything again. Our lands and water which we depended on for living have been polluted.” Today, barely anyone lives in Goi. “They told us to leave, but they didn’t provide other alternative for us,” Chief Mene Tomi added. “We are refugees in our own land.”
He was making reference to the only government reaction to the UNEP report on oil spill in Ogoniland in the last three years. The story of Goi is a fraction of the difficult life that people face in Ogoniland. But it offers a vivid picture of the current level of environmental pollution in the area, its adverse consequences on the people, and the apparent apathy of the government and organisations that are involved in the oil business. Yes, Ogoniland is a paradise raped and neglected. On August 4, 2011, UNEP submitted to the government its 14 months-long assessment of oil spill in the area at the behest of the federal government.
It was delivered directly to President Goodluck Jonathan to avoid any gap in the process. Among key findings, the report stated that in at least 10 Ogoni communities where drinking water is contaminated with high levels of hydrocarbons, public health is seriously threatened. In one community at Nisisioken Ogale, in western Ogoniland, families are said to be drinking water from wells contaminated with benzene – a known carcinogen – at levels over 900 times above World Health Organization guidelines. The site according to investigation is close to a Nigerian National Petroleum Company pipeline. UNEP scientists found an 8cm layer of refined oil floating on the groundwater which serves the wells. This was reportedly linked to an oil spill which occurred more than eight years ago. A part of the report reads: “Hydrocarbon contamination was found in water taken from 28 wells at 10 communities adjacent to contaminated sites. At seven wells the samples are at least 1,000 times higher than the Nigerian drinking water standard of 3 μg/l. Local communities are aware of the pollution and its dangers but state that they continue to use the water for drinking, bathing, washing and cooking as they have no alternative. “Benzene was detected in all air samples at concentrations ranging from 0.155 to 48.2 ug/m3. Approximately 10 per cent of detected benzene concentrations in Ogoniland were higher than the concentrations WHO and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) report as corresponding to a 1 in 10,000 cancer risk. Many of the benzene concentrations detected in Ogoniland were similar to those measured elsewhere in the world, given the prevalence of fuel use and other sources of benzene. “However, the findings show that some benzene concentrations in Ogoniland were higher than those being measured in more economically developed regions where benzene concentrations are declining because of efforts to reduce benzene exposure. “Of most immediate concern, community members at Nisisioken Ogale are drinking water from wells that is contaminated with benzene, a known carcinogen, at levels over 900 times above the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline. The report states that this contamination warrants emergency action ahead of all other remediation efforts.” Spanning about 1,000 km2 in Rivers State, Ogoniland has had a tragic history of pollution from oil spills and oil well fires since the beginning of oil industry operations in the region, in the late 1950s. Clearly, that has created an eternal, triumvirate conflict between the people of Ogoni and Shell on one side and the Nigerian government versus Ogoni people on another side.
Source: All Africa
