Continuous Hydrocarbon Pollution: Group Threatens Court Action to Address N’Delta Environment

•As victims recount ordeal, demand justice

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

A civil society group under the aegis of ‘We The People,’ has threatened that if efforts to get the government and companies to clean up the hydrocarbon polluted Niger Delta environment and pay compensation fails, it would be left with no option than to mobilise the affected communities and persons to seek redress in court.

This as some victims of hydrocarbon pollution following decades of oil and gas exploration in the region have narrated their harrowing experiences including the health challenges they faced due to the activities of oil multinationals in their communities.

The Executive Director of ‘We The People,’ Ken Henshaw, at a one-day multi-sectoral dialogue organised yesterday, by the group, on the “Impacts of hydrocarbon extraction on the health of people of the Niger Delta region”, in Port Harcourt, stated the people of the region have been in the cage of pollution for decades.

He explained the dialogue was aimed at generating conversation around the impact of hydrocarbon pollution on the health of the people of the Niger Delta.

Henshaw noted that years of oil extraction in the region has caused lots of health damages to the people but regretted that no one was talking about it, and accused the government of being insensitive to the plight of the Niger Delta people.

“The government has not been sensitive to the impact of oil extraction on the Niger Delta people. The government has not shown in any way that they actually care about the health of the Niger Delta people,” Henshaw claimed.

The activist said the dialogue also aims to document the findings and to seek reparative justice for the Niger Delta communities by holding the government and companies accountable for the pollution in the region.

“What we want to achieve by this conversation is to force the government, companies: Shell, Agip, Mobil, Total Energies, Chevron all of them to come back to the Niger Delta where they are running away and deal with the health implications of their extractions.

“We want an audit of the impact of oil exploration and hydrocarbon extraction on the people, we want the restoration of their health, the cleanup of their environment and the restoration of the livelihoods of the people,” he stated.

On his part, a public health advocate, Dr. Bieye Briggs, accused the government of refusing to take responsibility in the health impact of hydrocarbon extraction in the Niger Delta because they are part of the polluters and also be benefitting from the situation.

He said the alarming death rates and strange ailments in oil impacted communities was enough to call the government to action, insisting that government must carry out a health audit on the people of the Niger Delta region.

“Government must be responsible for the wellbeing of the people because that’s their core mandate but when it comes to the livelihoods and wellbeing of the Niger Delta people, it has not been protected, it has not been taken into cognizance in the policies and programmes of government,” he argued.

Meanwhile, most of the victims mostly from oil impacted communities in Rivers, Bayelsa and Cross Rivers States at the event, lamented that they have been left to die in their condition without help coming from the government or the oil communities who are the polluters of the environment.

A native of Ibaa community in Rivers, Mr. PrincewillChukwure, said well-water in his compound was contaminated with hydrocarbon.

While making a presentation at the dialogue, Chukwure explained he lost members of his family due to complications from drinking contaminated water over a lengthy period of time.

He recounted that in 2016, crude oil was found in a well in his compound in Ibaa, which was later found to be underground contamination from a ruptured pipeline from an oil manifold operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company now Renaissance Energy.

Chukwure said despite suffering from hydrocarbon related losses including deaths of family members, government and the oil company have refused to remediate his environment.

“In 2016, we discovered that oil was coming out from a well in our compound and based on that we reached out to Shell (now Renaissance Energy) and also to NOSDRA. We were later invited by NOSDRA for a meeting with Shell but nothing came out of it,” he stated.

He narrated further that: “In April 4, 2021, I lost my step-sister but before then, she visited and after a while she travelled back to where she lived and before we knew it she lost her baby because she was pregnant with twins and she lost one and in that process she also died.

“In February 2022, I lost my step-mother and May 7, 2023, I lost my dad. So, when these issues started coming up and with the help of some NGOs that came around, I realised that all those deaths could be linked to these hazards.

“Also, in my dad’s death certificate, it was written that he died of chronic heart failure, kidney and liver issues. So, all these from the studies I have seen, I know that these deaths have some links to crude oil pollution in my compound”.

Chukwure claimed that a study done by respective non-governmental organisation and civil society organisations showed that himself and members of family have hydrocarbon compounds in their bloodstream from the water that they have been drinking.

He said water bodies in his compound were all tested and all confirmed to be contaminated with hydrocarbon especially benzene to a very high degree.

The victim demanded for reparative justice for the loss suffered due to the pollution, health audit of his community and including members of his family, proper cleanup of the environment and compensations.

Another victim, Mr. AneleUmesie, who was brought into the meeting on a wheelchair, alleged that his health condition was linked to the impact of hydrocarbon pollution in his compound.

He said in 2021, he discovered crude oil in a well in his compound, adding that he never knew that he and his family had been consuming contaminated water from the well for a very long time.

Umesie lamented that all the crops in his compound had died off while he has been rendered handicapped, adding that despite all the challenges he is facing, SPDC, now Renaissance Energy have refused to take responsibility or remediate the environment.

Female victims from Otuabagi community in Bayelsa State said despite being tested and confirmed to be having hydrocarbon in their blood stream, they can no longer farm as their crops no longer yield sufficient fruit and thereby leading to hunger in the community.