By Enahoro Iyemefokhai
Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has commended the Rivers State Government for its stand to address oil theft, refining of stolen crude oil, and the release of soot into the state’s environment.
Dr. Godwin Uyi Ojo, the Executive Director of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) made the commendation on Wednesday in a statement made available to newsmen in Benin City.
Ojo noted that four years after local communities, civic groups, the media expressed dissatisfaction on the refusal of governments to act, the government of Rivers State has finally decided to take the first tentative steps to deal with the hydra-headed monster.
While noting that artisanal refining of stolen crude oil is indicated as the current accelerator of soot and air pollution in the Niger Delta region, he pointed out that decades of reckless exploration and production activities by multinational companies such as Shell, ill-maintained oil pipelines and facilities, routine gas flaring and lax regulatory framework are other factors responsible for the health and environmental hazards millions of people in the Niger Delta region are currently facing.
According to him, ERA/FoEN noted that a 2016 World Health Organization (WHO) fact sheet on ambient air pollution, states that air pollution around the world is responsible for 4.2 million premature deaths globally every year.
“The report further states that exposure to air pollution is also responsible for increasing rates of stroke, ischemic heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and lung cancer.
“The Environmental group added that hospitals across Rivers state are reporting a marked uptick in patients presenting with respiratory illnesses especially young children whose lungs are unable to withstand the constant poisoning from air pollution.
“There are also reports of an increase in patients suffering severe burns from explosions resulting from utilizing improperly refined kerosene from artisanal refining processes”, he said.
Ojo, however, called on other governments in the Niger Delta states to take clues from the Rivers state government by identifying and properly decommissioning all artisanal stolen crude oil refining sites in their states to halt the self-inflicted destruction of our environment and unnecessary loss of lives.
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He also called on the federal and state governments in the Niger Delta region to as a matter of urgency convene a national dialogue to discuss on short, medium, and long terms
practical steps to holistically deal with the menace of oil theft and artisanal oil refining as well as the supply and demand for the dangerous products.
Another demand was the development of a holistic framework that addresses both the supply of artisanal products and the high demands for the products in our communities which include rising cost of living, unemployment, and severe impact from hydrocarbon pollution on rural livelihoods.
The ERA/FoEN boss, who opined that there is the need for providing alternative income generation sources for youths to discourage them from the illegal act, urged governments at all levels to as a matter of necessity diversify the economy from oil and gas dependence towards a transition to renewable energy sources such as solar mini-grid and off-grid systems.
