The Environmental Defenders Network (EDEN) at a recently held retreat in Benin City, Edo State, examined critical challenges besetting the oil belt of the Niger Delta and communities in the north where solid minerals extraction is now causing environmental and health challenges, among locals.
Some of the contentious issues addressed include the proposed bill to ban gas flaring in Nigeria’s Niger Delta and the growing number of mine collapse incidents and the environmental crisis in communities where the nation is exploring lithium and other solid minerals, among others. After a careful dichotomising of the issues, the group made the following recommendations
Proposed Ban on Gas Flaring
We find it heart-warming to learn that the Anti-Gas Flaring (Prohibition and Enforcement) bill, which seeks to prohibit the flaring and venting of natural gas, except in strictly regulated circumstances, has passed second reading at the House of Representatives.
The Bill, sponsored by Babajimi Benson seeks to also encourage the utilisation of gas resources to foster economic growth and energy generation.
The lawmaker had argued on December 5, 2024, on the floor of the National Assembly that the proposed law will mitigate the environmental, health, and economic impacts of gas flaring and will align Nigeria’s oil and gas operations with our international climate change commitments.
For us at EDEN, this bill represents the true yearnings of Niger Delta communities that have been experiencing gas flares along with its implications such as unmitigated release of greenhouse gases which contribute to climate change, acid rain, and soot pollution, among others, for decades.
Gas flaring in the Niger Delta region has equally led to public health issues as natives of host communities where the gas flare stacks are sited suffer respiratory illnesses, severe itching and other ailments that have evolved over time and contribute to the declining life expectancy in the region. Currently, life expectancy in the Niger Delta where oil facilities are located is 41 years, 10 years lower than the national average.
We have equally noticed a trend attributable to the oil industry which, is the setting ablaze of oil spill impacted environment instead of proper clean up and remediation as is the standard practice globally. As we speak, this is the current situation at a site operated by Oando at Ogboinbiri, Bayelsa State. The site of the spill supposedly cleaned up went up in flames in the early hours of Monday, December 9, 2024.
While we applaud the efforts of Babajimi Benson in pushing through this bill, we find it very curious that the call for ending of gas flaring is coming from a non-Niger Deltan while the supposed representatives of the Niger Delta communities who are in the hallowed chambers still prevaricate on matters of pollution that their people suffer every day.
We anticipate that this initiative will wake them from their stupor and compel them to advocate, initiate and support laws that will guarantee the well-being of Niger Delta communities that host oil and gas projects. Of importance is our desire that they work to remove the administrative bureaucracies that have made the clean-up of Ogoniland in Rivers State as recommended by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), seamless so that it can be the model for replication of the clean-up of other sites of pollution in the region.
Time and again, we have advocated the need for a comprehensive environmental audit of the Niger Delta. We are using this medium to reiterate that call.
Divestment Confusion Still Lingers
We have noticed the speed with which oil multinationals that have operated for decades in the Niger Delta are divesting from their on-shore operations and their race to the deep waters where the federal government lacks the capacity to monitor their operations.
A cause of worry for us is government’s unwillingness to get these firms to take full responsibility for the harms their operations have caused on the environment and livelihoods of local communities. Instead the federal government has gone ahead to approve Eni’s divestment of Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) to Oando Plc, Equinor Nigeria Energy Company Limited’s divestment to Project Odinmin Investments Limited, TotalEnergies-Telema Energies deal and ExxonMobil’s sale of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MPNU) to Seplat Energy.
The flurry of approvals by the Nigerian government which is supposed to stand for its people, continue to disregard the calls by communities impacted by the operations of these firms for environmental justice.
We insist that no oil corporation should be allowed to divest from the delta until it takes responsibility for its toxic legacy of pollution. They must also decommission abandoned oil infrastructure. In similar vein, buyers of the toxic assets of the divesting firms must be compelled to accept the liabilities of the former owners of the onshore operations.
As we use this medium to call for an immediate halt to the divestments, EDEN pledges its readiness to give legal support to communities that are against divestment without clean-up, remediation and compensation.
Solid Minerals Sector Time Bomb
Even as we raise alarm over oil spills, we have equally noticed the spate of mine collapse across the country and deaths associated with solid minerals extraction. In the last six months there have been about three major incidents including the Shiroro Mine collapse in Niger State which claimed about 50 lives in June 2024, the Adamawa Pit collapse which claimed 30 lives and the more recent incident in Plateau State where 13 young persons died.
Our fear that the quest to expand the nation’s revenue base through solid minerals extraction would inflict fresh wounds in our communities is manifesting by the day.
We have observed the impact of mining in Nasarawa, Plateau, Kogi, Zamfara and a host of other states especially, in the north where illegal mining activities have not only ruined their environment, but also their livelihoods and major sources of water for domestic use. The influx of foreign mining firms especially those run by Chinese nationals, is particularly worrying as their largely unmonitored activities have opened the path for insecurity and strife in host communities as well as growing cases of child sex trafficking and minors working in mining pits. The situation is not helped by governments across the mining belt that prioritise revenue over the protection of the environment and people in the communities.
More disconcerting is the conflicting approaches to address the crisis. While the Mining Marshall initiative by the Federal Government is good, it still lacks the necessary ingredients to work well as it is in conflict with the work of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the proposed forest rangers being promoted by the Nigerian Senate. EDEN is proposing instead, a uniform approach to addressing the issue of illegal mining and suggests, that the Mining Marshals established by the federal government work with the NSCDC and community monitors who, should periodically and without notice, visit mining sites to know whether or not the operators are operating within accepted standards.
We also want the federal government to explore the possibility of amending the NOSDRA Act to accommodate solid minerals under its umbrella, changing its name to reflect the modification.
We use this medium to reiterate our call for the State Houses of Assembly and indeed the National Assembly to work with the Ministry of Solid Minerals and Development to take seriously their oversight functions which are necessary to check these illegalities.
They must also fish out the masterminds of the illegal mines if Nigeria is serious about stopping the deaths of young children forced into mining due to the poverty in their communities. Unless this is done, the communities will soon start revolting because their right to life and sustainable environment are being violated. Illegal miners should be treated as economic saboteurs and when arrested, be subjected to a minimum of three years imprisonment after confiscation of operation materials found with them.
On benefits to mining communities from mining revenues, our belief is that in a well-regulated mining sector, host communities should be entitled to a minimum of 10% of all accrued funds from mining operations.
To avoid a repeat of the Niger Delta mistake, there should be an order for decommissioning of all mining pits/sites not later than one week after cessation of operations at the mining site. Failure to comply with this should be considered a criminal offence which should be punished with jail term, delicensing of a licensed lease holder and confiscation of all materials found at the site.
By Chima Williams (Chair of the Board) and Philip Jakpor (Secretary of the Board)
