A renowned environmentalist and Director Health of Mother Earth Foundation, Nnimmo Bassey, has described the Niger Delta region as a privatised and sacrifice zone.
Bassey blamed the poor state of the Niger Delta environment on the Federal Government and international oil companies.
Speaking on Friday at the Niger Delta University during a two-day discussion with the theme, ‘School of Ecology Recovering Oil Sacrifice Zone,’ he stated that the focus should be on how to stop and eliminate pollution in the world sacrifice zones.
Bassey stated, “My take or initial conclusion of what we are going to do today and tomorrow is that the Niger Delta is a privatised and sacrifice zone. The entire region has been privatised.
“The gold mines of South Africa, the gas fields, the phosphate fields of Togo and Western Sahara. These are all sacrifices.
“The lands are sacrificed, the people are sacrificed and all the revenue goes to fill the corrupt politicians.
“These become clearer to us when we realise that for a fact rather than being owners of the land, we are the land.”
He averred that every action taken towards the sacrifice of the territories is an investment towards reinventing an involvement that will consume them.
His expectation, he disclosed, is that they will all conclude to halt the spread, of the expansion of sacrifice zones in the Niger Delta, in Nigeria, in Africa and the world.
He added, “This is exactly what has happened. Our creeks, our rivers, our streams, our coastal areas, and our swamps have all been privatised by oil companies and Nigerian government agencies.
“How has this been done? 66, 68 years of oil extraction in commercial quantities in the Niger Delta has seen the complete pollution of our water bodies by oil spills. Evidence that the Niger Delta has been privatised and sacrificed stares us in the face.
“The first evidence that no one can dispute is the report of the United Nations Environment Programmes Assessment of a good environment which was released in August 2011.
“The second documented evidence is the Bayelsa State Oil and Environment Commission Report, which was published in May 2023.”
Bassey lamented that the UN report showed that all the water bodies in a spill environment have been contaminated with hydrocarbons with high concentrations of benzene in drinking water.
He explained the reports indicate that the spilled crude had gone five metres deep, and currently more than 10 metres deep as the reckless extractive activities continue unabated.
He noted that whether there is a new oil spill or not, the sacrifice continues, saying the Bayelsa State report was appropriately titled, “An Environmental Genocide.”
He enthused, “How many of you have seen that report? How many have heard about the report? Can I see your hands up? My goodness! Look at that, just a few people?
“The Federal Government has not even acknowledged the existence of that report and the Bayelsa government has not said anything about that report.
“That report showed that if you are in Bayelsa, you have been contaminated by toxins and heavy metals more than 1,000 times beyond acceptable limits.
“I mean it’s scandalous; nowhere in the world has this ever happened but it has happened here as an example.”
On his part, the Head of the Department, Environmental Management, Charles Oyibo,
said that the lecture will help the students to be better informed and spur them toward greater environmental awareness in the near future.
Oyibo added that the collaboration with HOMEF is an eye-opener to them in grappling with issues of the environment.
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