We witnessed the slow poisoning of the waters of this country and the destruction of vegetation and agricultural land by oil spills, which occur during petroleum operations.

But since the inception of the oil industry in Nigeria, more than twenty-five years ago, there has been no concern and effective effort on the part of the government, let alone the oil operators, to control environmental problems associated with the industry. – A 1983 NNPC Report

THE world has been abuzz since last April with the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. A blow out from a well is gushing millions of barrels of crude oil into the sea.

Businesses are endangered, the environment is compromised and the seriousness of the issue has been underlined with the numerous visits of the US President Barack Obama to the spill sites.

Less than two months after the spill, America has been able to extract a $20 billion compensation for its people over the incident. There are spirited efforts to clean the environment and stronger indications that the $20 billion may only be a preliminary appeasement.

Anyone following the frenzy the spill in the Gulf of Mexico has generated would think the world is going through its first oil spill.

Roll over to the Niger Delta, also known as the Gulf of Guinea, where oil spills are a way of life. They are so frequent that they are not counted. They have done so much damage yet the government accepts them as a price for the billions of dollars it earns annually from oil exploration.

For more than 50 years of oil exploration in Nigeria,  the equivalent of the spill in the Gulf of Mexico occurs regularly. Oil companies ignore them, governments whimper about the safety of the environment and the international community considers the matter too remote for its attention.

One source calculates that oil spilled between 1960 and 1997 is in upwards of 100 million barrels and 546 million barrels to date. The figures show that more and bigger spills have occurred in the past 13 years. Others say the figures are higher because most of the spills are in inaccessible locations and are never reported. Government also panders to the oil companies.

Unlike in the Gulf of Mexico, oil companies make feeble efforts to clean up the mess. The villagers whose lives are endangered are not compensated, instead brutal force is used to instil fear and silence in them.

Oil companies insultingly blame sabotage for the spills though they privately agree that the thousands of pipelines that criss-cross the area are corroded, of out-dated technology and that they are prone to spill because they have not been changed for decades. Their life span should be about 15 years.

The 1983 NNPC report quoted above is stale but still shows the depth of the sustained damage from oil production.
Nigeria can lean on the drama in the Gulf of Mexico to demand environmental standards from oil companies operating here.

If they were to pay hefty compensations for their abuses, they would behave more responsibly.