By Japhet Alakam

Declan Chukwuma Umege is a practicing Health Safety and Environmental professional. A University of Nigeria, Nsukka graduate of Microbiology and Masters degree in Occupational and Environmental Health and Safety Management, University of Portsmouth UK. As someone who has lived and worked in Niger Delta and seen the effects of oil pollution there, Declan recently came out with a book titled Muffled Voices, that tells the story of environmental and human rights crimes committed by oil companies against their host nation. In this chat, the Imo State born upcoming author explains why he wrote the book and other sundry issues.

Lets start with the title Muffled Voices, why did you choose it?
Of course for those of us who are conversant with the English language, when something is muffled that means one is trying to prevent a sound from been heard. By muffled voice, one is painting a picture of a people who are trying to make their voices to be heard because of one or two circumstances that are pertinent to them. In this case, we are talking about Tembeli Kingdom, an oil producing community that has been oppressed for years by Oil companies and the government of the time and they are trying to voice out, saying look what is being done to us is not good, we don’t like it but their voices are been muffled by the government of the time, Mazanga.

What do you intend to achieve with the book?
I am an environmentalist and health safety environmental professional. I have worked in the Niger Delta, I know what it means for a place to be polluted and its effects. An author is just like an artists who paints a picture, the picture I am painting with this book is simple, fine, Nigeria is an oil producing nation and there are multinational and indigenous oil companies that operate in the area.

Declan Umege

We are not saying to them, do not produce your oil but produce your oil in a way that it will be sustainable, by sustainability I mean there are by products of oil that cause pollution, produce in such a way that it will not endanger the present population in the Niger delta and population and generations yet unborn. The effects of the pollution should not endanger or handicap them in a way that it becomes difficult for them to exist after this generation. Its just an appeal to oil companies to produce their oil in a sustainable way and not endanger the life of the people of the host communities where the oil is produced.

Many people have written about the Niger Delta and their problems, why did you still write on it?

Though many people have written on this issue, to me enough can not be said about the Niger delta. Initially I thought that this is a story that was never told because people have different ways they tell their stories. For me, I am telling this story as an environmentalist and as somebody that has lived in the Niger delta, worked in the Niger delta and still working there. If you have ever visited the Niger delta, you will understand what we are saying, there are areas you will go to and the soil is sterile, the people are impoverished and you begin to wonder why, this is a nation that is one of the richest nations in the world and the areas where the oil is produced are not taken care of, the people there are in abject poverty, it is pathetic and people need to tell the story the way it is, I mean people who have been to those areas and experienced what is going on there.

How do you think that Muffled Voices will help to address the issue?
Like I said earlier, much has not been said about Niger delta, there are a lot of stories that have not been told, in fact a lot still need to be said about the plight of the Niger delta people. My aim of doing this is that I want people from other parts of the world to know exactly what the situation is in the Niger delta. Some time ago I travelled to the US and met a Nigerian at the airport who was nice to me and when I was leaving I gave him a copy of my book as a parting gift. He read it and gave to some of his white friends who also read it and after reading the book they came to appreciate what is happening in the Niger delta. So that is my purpose, to use it to create more awareness about the plight of the people that lay the golden egg but are not been taken care of.

How long did it take you to write the book?
The book took me less than one year to write but the stories have always been there, even as we are talking, I have a lot of stories which I am yet to put down on paper about Niger delta.

What were the challenges?
Trying to get a publishing house that will agree to publish it. Finance was not there, so getting a publishing house to accept the contents was a challenge. Initially, I did not know that people will appreciate the story so it takes courage to do that.