By Lucky Oji

Mr. Tiemo Pumokumo, is a peace advocate and founder/ facilitator of Initiative For Rural Communities Development, Niger Delta, IFRCND. In this interview, he speaks on the challenges confronting the people of Niger Delta, particularly the oil bearing Communities of Egbema Kingdom and proffers solution to the restiveness and poor human/infrastructural development in the region. 

Why did you form the Initiative For Rural Communities Development, Niger Delta, IFRCND?

The Initiative For Rural Communities Development, Niger Delta, IFRCND, is a non-profit, non-governmental organization incorporated under the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

We are committed to elevating the Human Development Index (HDI), that is the basic dimensions of human development; a long and health life; access to knowledge and a decent standard of living for the people of the Niger Delta.

In fulfillment of our mandate, we have observed that the sustained development of the Niger Delta region cannot be actualized in a vacuum, but same must be precipitated with social, economic and environmental developments as metrics.

In almost a decade of our experience, we have been propagating empowerment to the most vulnerable members of society, through capacity building, promoting education and partnering with state and non-state actors in contributing to the development of the Niger Delta Region.

The challenges in Niger Delta region are enormous, could you give an insight to this problems? 

We have a mandate to draw the attention of the federal government to these problems in the region, because it appears the federal government has no right information of the happenings in the region and this is making it difficult for government to actually come up with lasting solutions.

A major problem in the region has been the   continued contamination and degradation of the ecology of the Oloduwa River and the attendant deleterious effects on the coastal communities of Polobubou,Itsekelewu,Opuama, Ajagbene; Celestial Kiri; Pinakiri; Benmokiri; Ogono-ama; Beneokiri; Ebi-ama; Benkoro; Amatelemo; Opuoru-ita; Bennikoribor; Ojudor-ama’ Oke-kekere; Kpaku Atseuo; Lagaose; Amatebe and twenty eight other communities all located in Warri North local government area of Delta State.

•Mr. Tiemo Pumokumo

The effects of oil exploration has ravaged the environmental, social and economic fabric of these communities to the extent that transportation, agriculture and other meaningful economic ventures have all been stymied, the air stifled, the soil decimated and the water contaminated.

We believe that with responsibility, urgency and dispatch on the part of the National Oil Spill Detection Response Agency (NOSDRA) and ministry of environment proper remediation, restoration and cleanup of these affected areas will be carried out, as NOSDRA is the only agency of the Federal Government charged with the responsibility of cleanup of any oil spill in Nigeria, undertaking surveillance, reporting, alerting and other responses and ensuring the compliance of all stakeholders in the oil sector to all existing environmental legislations and the coordination/implementation of the National Oil Spill Contingency Plan (NOSCI) as approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

It is very painful that the ecological disaster occasioned by the effects of oil exploration  has wiped out the biodiversity of the listed communities along the Oloduwa River, and will also wipe out the entire ecosystem of the region as these communities are bounded in the North by the Ovia South-West local government area of Edo State, the Atlantic Ocean by the south, the Ondo State.

Do you mean these communities are completely neglected by the government? 

Imagine there is no functional health care facility, there is no source of drinking water other than the one fetched from the Opuekeba well head many kilometres from the residential areas,no government presence. Dredging is done to bring in oil rigs without proper environmental impact assessment. More so, it is very unfortunate that some of the oil companies are operating in the host communities without any written and signed Memorandum of Understanding. For instance, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, that is operating in these areas has no MoU with the host Communities, it is very wrong.

Again, what we see are poorly designed causeways and canals, constructed to bring in heavy drilling equipment, which had affected the hydrology of the seasonally flooded fresh water swamps and the brackish water of the mangrove forest. Canals disrupt the delicate hydrological system, especially when they are constructed on the border zone between freshwater and brackish water in the riverine areas; as such, they can disrupt the viability of long-established fishing grounds.

In the study area, a canal dug by Chevron near one of the oil-bearing communities in Polobubou/Tsekelewu, Warri North local government, Egbema, has reportedly caused accelerated erosion near the sea and has destroyed the local hydrological system by allowing saltwater into previous freshwater areas, thereby creating a saltwater marsh in place of much higher biodiversity freshwater swamp. Since the canalization of the area, salt water from the ocean has completely altered their ecosystem and endangered the communities means of survival; specifically, the traditional fishing ground and source of drinking water have been wiped out.

There are some identified environmental effects of Chevron activities on the oil-bearing areas. There are no measures taken by Chevron to address this negative environmental impact. Findings seem to indicate that the oil-bearing areas are left to bear the negative environmental impact without any support from the oil companies. However, these artificial canals not only allow saline waters of the Atlantic into freshwater sources, they also lead to the scarcity of drinking water and kill many species of plants, animals and fishes. Their construction has precipitously altered the entire ecosystem, as freshwater is destroyed