Edith CHUKU
Disturbed by the level of pollution of the Niger Delta environment by international oil and gas companies, the Executive Director of Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Centre, Dr. Emem Okon, has sent a message to journalists in the region.
In an interview with newsmen in Port Harcourt, Okon tasked journalists to focus their reports more on the environmental challenges ravaging the region.
She described the issues of oil extraction, pollution and the effect of pollution on the people of the region as critical.
Okon expressed worry that international cooperations have left the onshore activities and moved offshore, which she said would make it impossible for communities to reach them.
The Kebetkache executive director urged journalists to pay more attention to the environment, mostly on the divestment of international oil cooperations, take over by local cooperations and the fate of the impacted communities and its people.
“We want to instigate the media to intensify reporting on the Niger Delta environment. At this stage, issues of oil extraction, pollution and the effect of pollution on the people of the Niger Delta is critical because the international oil cooperations have left onshore activities and have moved offshore, which implies that they have gone, they will now be operating at a level where communities cannot easily reach them.
“Infact, community might not even have any excuse to reach them because they have said, we have handed over what we were doing with you to somebody else, so, somebody else is now responsible for the damage and the mess they have caused, so, it’s critical, the report coming out from here to the outside world or to the media outside Nigeria.
“It is important for media in the Niger Delta to pay more attention to the environment, what is happening, what was happening with all the divestment of the international oil cooperations, what is happening now that local cooperations have taken over, what is going to be the fate of the communities?”
Talking about remediation or clean up, she noted that “we are still with Ogoni, and for Ogoni, UNEP report had said it would take about 25 to 30 years. The current phase of clean up going on started about 2016, 2017, so we still have many years to ensure that Ogoni is properly cleaned up, so what happens to the other part of the Niger Delta?
“Now, the people that we were holding accountable to remediate and also to pay compensation to those who have suffered the direct impact, have gone and said it’s no longer our responsibility, so what happens?
Okon further stressed that “it is important to be more interested in this drama of the environment and how do we still hold Shell, Agip, Total Energy, Chevron, accountable for the damage that was done and even the federal government, how do we get them to remediate polluted site? So, that’s why it is important that we hold these conversation with the media and also see how to encourage ourselves, resource ourselves to ensure that the narrative coming out from the Niger Delta is people’s oriented and it’s something that will influence policy makers to take actions.”
