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Oil Clean-up Pledge Divides Nigerians by Danmas: 8:32am On Jun 29, 2016 |
The Nigerian government has launched an
unprecedented $1bn (£750m) operation to clean
up the environmental damage caused by the oil
industry, and it will be paid for by the polluters.
But will it work? The BBC's Stephanie Hegarty
reports from the Niger Delta.
The mangroves that used to stretch across the
creeks of Kegbara Dere, Ogoniland, are now dead
- their naked, rotten trunks stick out of the water,
like skeletons coated in a layer of black.
This is the price that has been paid for the
discovery of oil.
Erabanabari Kobah, an environmental campaigner
who grew up on these creeks, used to fish here
during his school holidays to make a little money
to pay for his school books.
But he says children cannot do that anymore.
"This used to be a very flourishing mangrove
forest full of diversity but as a result of the
continuous oil spills the fish are all dead," he
says, as he navigates a creek in a small wooden
canoe.
"People can no longer do their fishing here. It's
sad to see it like this."
Kogbara Dere was a fishing village in which life
revolved around the creek.
Oil was discovered here in the 1950s but by the
1990s the wider Ogoniland community pushed the
oil company operating in the area, Shell, out of
the creek.
For many years afterwards the abandoned oil
wells leaked until they were capped in 2010, but
by then the damage was done.
'Cancer-causing' pollution
In 2011, the Nigerian government called on the
UN Environment Programme to do an independent
report on the damage in Ogoniland.
Researchers found that oil had penetrated far
deeper into the soil than anyone expected and
said the clean-up could take up to 30 years.
They said the people of Ogoniland were exposed
to extreme health hazards from air and water
pollution.
In some cases, cancer-causing compounds in
crude oil - like benzene - could be found in
drinking water at more than 900 times the safe
level.
Despite the damage some communities are
opposed to a clean-up fearing that the money
spent on it could end up in the wrong hands.
The experience of what has happened in Bodo,
just down the coast from Kogbara Dere, may shed
some light on the difficulties ahead.
It was once a quiet fishing town but became
famous last year when Shell paid out almost $
80m in compensation for two major oil spills.
That money was split between 15,600 local
people, with each getting about $3,000, and the
rest was earmarked for the community as a
whole, but that has also now been distributed to
individuals.
It was a huge windfall for people who were until
then living hand to mouth.
The money physically transformed the town with
concrete houses popping up everywhere replacing
mud and corrugated tin huts.
It also bitterly divided the community.
Part of the 2015 deal said Shell must clean up
the mess, but that surprisingly is not what many
people want.
Siitu Emmanuel, fisherman
"I believe the money earmarked is for the clean-
up. This is for [the benefit of] the community
therefore money should be paid to them"
Fisherman Siitu Emmanuel was one of the
beneficiaries of the pay-out and spent it building
houses for his children.
He says he is not in support of Shell doing the
clean-up - instead he wants the money that was
going to pay for it to be split amongst the
community.
"I believe the money earmarked is for the clean-
up. This is for [the benefit of] the community
therefore money should be paid to them," he
says.
And most people in Bodo agree with him, they
would rather have money in their pockets than
see the environmental problems sorted out.
The damage to the creeks has been so profound
that many cannot even imagine returning to the
life they had as fishermen before.
How clean is clean?
Clean-ups in places like Kogbara Dere have been
attempted in the past but according to some
residents they have not worked.
Comfort Gbode's farm is beside a pipeline which
spilled oil in 2012 destroying much of her land.
Mrs Gbode and her husband still farm the land
but the crops are stunted.
A clean-up was done but had little effect.
"They said they were cleaning the soil, I saw
tippers coming in to dump new soil on top," she
says. "But it's not clean, we still can't farm the
land."
A core of activists is still arguing for the clean-up
to happen. One of them, Sylvester Kogbara, had
his home attacked by local youths opposed to it.
The conflict got so violent that in February four
people were killed in clashes.
Father Abel Agbulu, Bodo's Catholic priest, was
called in to stop the violence and understands
better than most why it happened.
"They don't really trust any kind of negotiations
or negotiators from the community," he says.
This is the land that has made many Nigerians
super rich and yet he says many of his
parishioners are surviving on one meal a day.
People here are used to seeing oil money go into
the wrong hands.
Likewise, they believe the money spent by Shell to
sort out the environmental damage will end up
with corrupt local politicians and contractors.
For its part Shell is committed to undertake a
clean-up operation but says it is too dangerous
to begin work until the Bodo people are ready to
welcome them.
They have been in talks with various groups for
three years to get the work started.
But those talks have stalled repeatedly.
Dutch ambassador John Groffen acts as a
mediator and explains why the process has been
so difficult.
"We wanted to make sure that it wasn't
happening in the old ways where contracts were
being given out to contractors in an underhanded
way," he says.
"In the end some parties, some contractors, some
youths felt they were left out of the process and
there was a push back from those groups."
Until the allocation of those contracts is sorted
out, the creeks continue to rot.
Bodo is just one community, there are thousands
like it in the Niger Delta.
The task of cleaning up is mammoth.
But the Nigerian government says it is determined
that its own plans will work.
Environment Minister Amina Mohamed is aware of
the murky local politics at play.
"A lot of the [issues involve] transparency," she
says.
"It's not about sharing money. It's about
contracting people to do work that needs to be
done to clean up the Niger Delta."
But even if this does happen, it could be 30 years
before these creeks are clean again. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-36641153?ocid=socialflow_twitter |
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