NIGER-DELTA WATER WAYS AND POLLUTION ACTIVITIES----UNPAID COMPENSATION

Written by:
Patrick U. Okoye
School of Chemical Engineering,
Universiti Sains Malaysia,
14300, Nibong Tepal,
Malaysia.

Thirty Years according to UNEP report was estimated to clean up Ogoni Oil spill and up till now, nothing has been done. A detailed assessment of pollution in the oil-producing area was published in 2011 by the United Nations Environment Program. It was gathered that oil production stopped in Ogoniland in 1993 and some of the Shell’s equipment used in exploration is yet to be decommissioned in Ogoniland because approval to decommission them only came late in the year 2014 after a year of application.

 “In the three years since UNEP’s study was published, however, both the government of Nigeria and Shell Oil has taken no meaningful measures or actions to implement what was recommended in the report” said the joint report. 

Invariably, this means that the people of Ogoniland will continue to suffer for above 40 years as a result of the carelessness of oil industries that has polluted their land, water and air. This is just one, amongst the many oil spillages in Niger-delta and yet no compensation or cleanup has been done performed. Then one begin to ask, is this oil truly a blessing for Nigeria and Nigerians or is it a curse on us. A people we know that their occupation is fishing cannot go out to fish because of oil pollution that has killed all the fishes in the river, will obviously turn to other means of livelihood (violence or increased criminal activities). Also, the area is one of the most underdeveloped part of Nigeria and never depicts an area that burdens the nation economy. Indeed this oil is a resource curse not only to Niger-Deltans but to all Nigerians. This is because, all focus is on oil without innovative thinking of diversification and this has made Nigerian’s economy to be subjected heavily to fluctuations in the international oil prices. This resource curse also, is responsible for the decay in the power sector as we rely heavily on gas supply from LNG instead of revamping our Hydro-dams, and exploring other sustainable energy outsourcing methods. This heavy reliance on gas supply and oil (Resource curse) was evident on the recent near crack down of the country by oil importers or cabals where the entire country was grounded and electricity or fuel was almost turning out to be like the 30’s. This resource curse controlled, shared and explored by only a few individual without transparency has left Nigeria with enormous wealth on the papers and media but wretched and miserable as citizens. 

 Posted by Admin

ILLEGAL MINING OF LEAD IN NIGERIA AND DEATH TOLLS-------BLOOMBERG REPORT

Written by:
Patrick U. Okoye
School of Chemical Engineering,
Universiti Sains Malaysia,
14300, Nibong Tepal,
Malaysia.

HOW GOLD FROM ZAMFARA REACHES WORLD MARKET Ore is collected from mines near Sunke. The ore is bagged and brought by motorcycle to villages like Dareta or Sunke, where villagers grind the ore and then wash the mix over a ridged board. Villagers who do the processing themselves then use mercury to extract the gold. The result is then sold to gold traders in Gusau, the capital of Zamfara, where remaining dirt and impurities are separated. The gold is driven to the Benin border and turned over to dealers from the port city of Cotonou. The dealers then sell this gold to wholesalers from Europe and the Middle East, who in turn introduce that gold to the worldwide market.

 

Figure 2: How illegal gold from Zamfara State in Nigeria reaches global Market- Bloomberg report

Above is an image of how Nigerians die every day and equally lose a lot of revenue which would have been for the country’s betterment and development. Accusing fingers already are pointed at Chinese and Indians as the major players of these illegal activities perpetuated in these areas. Of course these illegal activities were backed up by Nigerians who remained anonymity both at local and government level. From 2007 to 2010, N54.5 billion naira was said to be the only revenue generated from Nigerians mining activities. Who supports the local artisan to explore or rather exploit the entire country and who buys an illegal goods outside the shores of Nigeria? These are questions that is not answered yet. As The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NETI) has made enormous investigations and suggestions on the way forward for our mineral resources sector, we must think of the various adverse effects of this mining activity.

Already in mining activities at Niger State, Ilesha Placer Gold, Zamfara State, high number of deaths has been recorded. Before now, many of these deaths has been viewed by the locals as some sort of witchcraft or gods punishment. However, highly toxic materials handled by the artisan miners who expectedly have little or no knowledge of those materials they utilize are the main cause of the sudden deaths. Recently, on 12th May, 2015, 65 cases were reported with 28 deaths in Niger State caused by lead poisoning. All of the children were under the age of 5 and their deaths have been linked to illegal gold mining. Their blood showed lead levels 17 to 22 times the limit as published in Newsweek Lead Poisoning Linked to Nigeria Gold Mines Kills 28 Children By Polly Mosendz 5/15/15 at 2:03 PM.

Zamfara year 2010, recorded more than 400 child deaths and over 2,000 hospitalized in the region caused by lead poisoning. I think the important thing to do is to put appropriate laws against illegal mining in Nigeria and empower the police and court to enforce and prosecute any offender not later than 1 week from the day the offence was committed.  Federal government should as a matter of urgency make public the firms involved in mining mineral resources in Nigeria and their locations with particular mineral in question. Finally, I suggest that in doing so, appropriate local community where mining is taking place must be fully involved to build trust and transparency in the business. More so, this will prevent conflicts associated with precious mineral resources often leading to a situation called resource curse. 

 posted by Admin