…says crimes against people, environment must stop

By Gabriel Ewepu

ABUJA – AHEAD of the fourth Niger Delta Alternative Convergence, NDAC, on May 12, 2025 in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, the Health of Mother Earth Foundation, HOMEF, yesterday, tasked President Bola Tinubu to declare a state of emergency on the environment in the Niger Delta region.

In an interview with Vanguard, the Executive Director, HOMEF, Arc Nnimmo Bassey, while speaking on the poor attention given to the environment and conditions the people of the Niger Delta region find themselves, pointed out that “The Niger Delta isn’t a ticking ecological timed bomb; the bomb has exploded. This is the true situation of the Niger Delta environment. Oil and gas pollution has continued non-stop with corporate impunity and complicity of local collaborators, since the dawn of oil and gas exploration and exploitation in Nigeria.”

Bassey who have been a strong voice against environmental violence against the people of the Niger Delta region and their survival also said there are pockets of documented impacts of the environmental, human and economic costs of oil.

According to him, in 2011, UNEP released the Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland report. In this report, the extent of environmental damage caused by oil exploration and exploitation was, established – as land, surface water and ground water were all badly impacted. Contaminations were observed at unimaginable concentrations. More recently in May 2023, the Bayelsa State Oil and Environmental Commission issued a report of an independent research – An Environmental Genocide: Counting the Human and Environmental Cost of Oil in Bayelsa, Nigeria.

In 2024, Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Centre published a report – Oil Extraction and Women Health in Otuabagi Community, Bayelsa State, Nigeria. 

He added that the report provided the details of blood samples of Otuabagi community women analysed and found hydrocarbon content as well as heavy metals in the blood samples. These are just an indications of the deplorable conditions of the wider Niger Delta. “There needs to be a region-wide environmental and health assessments as well as remediation efforts without further delay.”

He said: “The government has failed in her responsibility to protect communities against environmental destruction as we see in the Niger Delta. The Nigerian Agencies setup to monitor, detect, respond to spills as well as those to enforce high environmental standards, are not sufficiently resourced to carry out their assignments and the government itself is incapable of regulating the sector due to vested interests as partners in the business with the polluters. In addition, penalties for environmental crimes are so minuscule and inadequate that they do not deter misbehaviours.  

“This is long overdue. State of emergency on environmental pollution and degradation, and not “political” state of emergency! What we want is a Niger Delta wide assessment, cleanup and restoration beginning with the creation of a multi-billion dollars a fund for the exercise. This will restore the dignity of our people.

“No one or entity can shrug off the environmental hell that the Niger Delta has been turned into. There will be accountability. The future of our people cannot be mortgaged for immediate and flimsy financial gratification. The plunder must stop. The crimes must stop. Our people must be given a chance to life. The present situation cannot continue.

“No one can point out how many persons have been killed by environmental degradation and pollution in the Niger Delta. There has been no region-wide assessment of the health impact or morbidity levels associated with the continued environmental genocide. 

“When the UNEP report was released, it showed drinking water sources contaminated with benzene (a known carcinogen) of more than 900times above WHO safe limits. Farmlands also contaminated. The other reports highlighted showed high concentrations of hydrocarbons and heavy metal concentrations in the blood stream of community people living in oil polluted communities. 

“When you say that the life expectancy of the Niger Delta is 41 years, what does that say to you? The Bayelsa State report shows high levels of heavy metals as well as total hydrocarbons in the waters of the state. 

“In any case, sicknesses associated with exposure and poisoning of these contaminants are known and are prevalent in communities. We witness festivals of funerals across the states in the region and that is alarming enough.”

Meanwhile, speaking on the essence of the fourth Niger Delta Alternative Convergence organised by HOMEF, he (Bassey) explained that, “The Niger Delta Alternative Convergence, NDAC, is an initiative of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation in collaboration with frontline civil society organisations, sociocultural groups, and individuals in the region. It is a pan-Niger Delta space where the most critical socio-ecological issues impacting the region are openly and freely deliberated and decided upon. 

“The goals of the convergence include reawakening interest in the unique problems experienced by the people of the Niger Delta, examining the effects of the present situation on the area, re-centring public attention on the so-called ‘Niger Delta issue’, shifting the focus of national discourse on the region from oil extraction and violence, and elevating the region’s problems to the status of pressing national concerns.

“The fourth NDAC would take a critical look at all the environmental reports that has been developed for the Niger Delta, till date. The recommendations would be distilled into vigorous campaigns that would be the rallying points of the region, going forward. The Convergence would also push for the environmental and health assessment of the Niger Delta as well as immediate clean up, remediation and restoration.”