Bayelsa State Oil and Environmental Commission Report: The Way Forward

Introduction:
The Bayelsa State government set up an oil and environmental commission in 2019. Its purpose is to establish the environmental, human and economic impact of oil pollution in the state, and to develop a demanding set of recommendations to address the damage done by the pollution that has already occurred and to forestall and prevent further pollutions in the future. The commission swung into action and undertook extensive work that covered their mandate area and beyond. In course of their work, they uncovered the true scope and scale of the catastrophic environmental pollution that has befallen Bayelsa that was hitherto not known to many.

I took reasonable time to meticulously and curiously study the report submitted which the committee captioned “An Environmental Genocide: Counting the Human and Environmental Cost of Oil in Bayelsa, Nigeria”. In fact, taking an in-depth study of the report, classifying it as a perfect job is an understatement. If I can have a word better than perfect, I would have been more satisfied. On the strength of this I send my profound and sincere thanks and appreciation to the initiators and the executors of this laudable project from the conceptualisation to completion.
I am also glad and excited to note that many of the truths unveiled by the erudite and professionally endowed commission are issues that some of us have been battling the multinational oil companies and the Federal government regulatory agencies at our individual and corporate levels over the years. Suffice to say that we are in the Federal High court seeking for justice on environmental and human rights abuses perpetrated against some of the victims of two of the cases mentioned in the report in Ekeremor and Ogbia LGAs and others by the connivance of the multinational oil companies and the Federal Government.

Quoting from the report: “Bayelsa, in the Niger Delta, in Southern Nigeria, is in the grip of a human and environmental catastrophe of unimaginable proportions. At one time, the area was home to one of the largest mangrove forests on the planet; an area of unrivalled ecological value. Today, it is one of the most polluted places on Earth. Oil extraction and its impact is the overwhelmingly evident cause of this disaster. As much as 40 percent of the mangrove forests have been lost”. This statement speaks volume and something serious have to be done quickly to restore the environment and stop the imminent human and economic carnage and the entire life support system in the area.
Some of the highlights of the report are: –

1. Thousands of oil spills, unrestricted gas flaring, and frequent releases of toxic contaminants have poisoned people’s farmlands, the water they drink, and the air they breathe. Bayelsa accounts for almost a fifth of Nigeria’s total petroleum output.
2. The systemic failings of international oil company operators with the complicity of Nigeria’s political classes and a dysfunctional Nigerian regulatory state. Bayelsa State is estimated to have suffered over a quarter of total recorded instances of oil pollution.
3. The environmental, ecological and health consequences on the Niger Delta as a whole and on the people of Bayelsa have been catastrophic. They have suffered in silence for too long.
4. Notoriously unreliable official government and IOC statistics. There is strong evidence that they grossly and systematically under-report the number and scale of the oil spills that have occurred. Bayelsa is one of the states most affected within the Niger Delta. Other highly polluting activities, such as the flaring of around 14 million cubic metres of natural gas a day at 17 facilities across the state, have added to the damage, elevating levels of particulate matter (air pollutants) to over ten times the WHO limits in some communities and causing acid rain that kills crops and leaches into the soil.
5. The following major areas of failure are identified: Failures of strategy, Failures of prevention, Failures of response and Failures to remediate.
6. Studies show that toxins from oil pollution are present at often dangerous levels across the state and have infiltrated the food chain, ending up in the bloodstreams of those tested in affected communities. In some locations, highly toxic oil-related contaminants such as chromium are present in groundwater at over 1,000 times the WHO limit, while in others, concentrations of noxious chemicals exceed safe levels by a factor of 1 million according to some of the samples taken.
7. More than 70% of their pipelines and other facilities are on expired leases that they refuse to renew. In the same vein, more that 70% of the pipes and other equipment are of expired life spans thereby cannot withstand the pressure of oil and gas passing through them which is the major cause of oil spills and gas explosions and leakages. To avoid responsibilities, they often tag them sabotage.
   The way forward:
   Studies conducted previously by different organisations including CSO, NGO, CBOs etc have brought the plight of the people of Bayelsa to the world’s attention but nothing has been done to fundamentally alter their situation. In light of the above, the following suggestions are hereby made to be part of the action plan amongst others: –
   i. Concerted local, national and international action, leadership, solidarity and dedicated support is needed to act and address the issues now and no procrastination needed.
   ii. The Bayelsa State government should set up a committee as soon as possible made of high profile professionals/technocrats like corrosion engineers, surveyors, estate surveyors and valuers, particularly those with the industry experience in conjunction with representatives of the IOCs and the Federal regulatory agencies to take inventory of the details of their leases and facilities like date lease was first acquired, date of next renewal, previous renewals if any, date of installation of pipes/facility, what was the design life span, when was the last replacement, expected date of next replacement, etc.
   iii. Since the state bear the brunt of the human, environmental and economic cost of oil pollution, the state must ensure that the polluters must operate according to international standard. The State must ensure that scientific clean-ups are timely done, and remediation and recovery of the environment is done and certification given.
   iv. The State government officials should ensure that joint investigation visits (JIV) are promptly done and the reports are signed by all participants in the field and not on a later date. This will stop the endemic issue of under reporting of the statistics of spills.
   v. The State government should ensure that joint post spill impact assessment (JPSIA) and damage assessments (DA) are done timely with the communities on board with their own relevant professionals. In cases of the polluters delaying unnecessarily, the impacted communities should be at liberty to engage their professionals and the report is binding on all the parties. This should be strictly implemented to avoid the antics of the polluters to cause delay to get the evidence weakened or completely disappear before embarking on it.
   vi. There should be law review or constitutional amendment to ensure that the facility that caused the pollution should be shut down pending the completion of all the process including payment of compensations.
   vii. There should be law review or constitutional amendment to ensure that the state government should play sufficient role in the affairs of the oil and gas industry operations in their states considering the fact that the states are the risk and burden bearers of the negative impacts of their activities.
   viii. The people and government of all the oil producing states should establish the needed synergy with the Bayelsa State government as the initiators of this laudable project to achieve the desired goals.
   We highly commend the efforts of the Bayelsa State government on this noble mission. According to Macklemore a philosopher; “You can only watch injustice go on for so long until you’re compelled to say something. To speak out against it”. Without wasting time, let us back up the speaking out with action. Environmental matters are everybody’s concern.
   Let those states whose environment are not directly impacted by this catastrophe rise up to join this noble cause initiated by the Bayelsa State Government. Another philosopher said “And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who couldn’t hear the music.” We urge those who are not feeling the impact to come closer so that they can hear the music and follow Bayelsa State in the dance. We are not insane.
   The fact remains that the Niger Delta is the most catastrophically and notoriously polluted delta and wetland in the world. No thanks to the multinational oil companies operating cruelly and crudely with maximum impunity and oppression in collaboration with the so-called Federal regulation agencies. For them, life of the people in the region doesn’t matter, but their money. The standard of their operations is completely different from the international industry standards operational in other parts of the world
   
   From: THE CENTRE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PRESERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT (CEPAD) cepad_2005@yahoo.com
   Surv. Furoebi F.S. Akene, FNIS, FNES in a development and Environmental consultant.