A civil society organisation, We The People (WTP), has described the Niger Delta as the most underdeveloped region in the country.
The executive director of WTP, Ken Henshaw, disclosed this yesterday at the people’s environmental assembly organised by the group in Port Harcourt.
Henshaw stated that numerous oil spills from pipelines owned by transnational oil companies have led to environmental degradation, economic stagnation and health issues for the residents of the region.
He said, “Among the numerous negative indicators is the fact that life expectancy in the region is much lower than the national average, standing at 41 years. People are far more likely to have respiratory illnesses and cancers than elsewhere in the country, women are more likely to have miscarriages and birth deformed babies, and people are more likely to ingest poisonous hydrocarbons from their water sources and agricultural produce.
“These impacts of crude oil and gas extraction spanning over 70 years have significantly contributed to the underdevelopment of the Niger Delta.
“However, despite the negative impacts on the people and their environment, oil companies such as Shell, Exxon-Mobil, Eni, Total Energies, and Chevron have seldom been held to account for the devastation inflicted upon the region.
“Rather than remediate the impacts of their extraction, these companies have gone ahead to spin campaigns of calumny against the same people they have violated. In consistent barrages of disinformation, oil companies have turned around to blame the victims who suffer the impacts of their ecocide for being responsible for the same damage.”
