BENIN—THE Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, ERA/FoEN, has urged the Federal Government to halt the planned commencement of bitumen exploitation in the bitumen belt stretching from Lagos, Ondo, Edo, Kogi, to other bitumen belts in Nigeria.

ERA/FoEN made the call in a statement in Benin City, Edo State, on the occasion of the 2011 International Stop Tar Sands Day, commemorated June 18, annually to compel governments across the world to redirect about $1.8 billion worth of subsidies from tar sands investors to communities and individuals promoting sustainable development.

“Not only was the bidding process for bitumen in the bitumen belt flawed, evidence from around the world has shown that bitumen extraction will pollute rivers and lead to livelihood losses, thereby exacerbating crisis in the peaceful communities,” said ERA/FoEN Director, Programmes & Administration, Mr. Godwin Ojo .

“It is still an irony that while the Nigerian public and especially communities in the bitumen belt know nothing about agreements that the Nigerian government has entered into with bitumen firms or the environmental and social costs of this confirmed risky venture, the same government is busy telling the world of expected financial benefits of bitumen extraction”

Ojo explained that evidence from around the globe and countries like Canada show that bitumen extraction exposes communities around the resource to methane and other dangerous chemicals as fossil fuel extraction. In the process, water, land and the air is fouled.