Business Day
22 August 2011
In recent times, the media has been awash with report of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) which showed the level of despoliation of Ogoniland by oil explorers, doing business in the oil-rich region of the country. Alexander Chiejina examines the scenario and calls for necessary legal framework to end this impasse
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Only recently, the United National Environment Programme (UNEP) analysed the damage oil pollution has done in Ogoniland, a region in the oil-rich labyrinthine creeks, swamps and waterways of the Niger Delta, the heartland of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.
Findings of the report handed over to President Goodluck Jonathan by the UNEP recently in Abuja, showed that the pollution of oil spillage operations have caused more devastating damage than imagined in the last five decades.
The report said the remediation needed in Ogoniland would be the biggest oil spill cleanup in history, costing an initial $1 billion (N151.01 billion) initial fund injection to kick-start the clean up.
The report further revealed that 10 out of the 15 investigated sites which Shell, the Royal Dutch company, which has been involved in oil exploration and production activities said they had completely remediated, still had pollution exceeding Shell and the government’s best practice levels.
The UN body maintained that Ogoni communities are exposed to hydrocarbons every day as thick black oil floats around the creeks, while the impact on vegetation and fishing areas has been ‘disastrous.’
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