Oil Producing Community Development Network (AKIPCON), an environmental justice advocacy organisation, has made a case for proper compensation and resettlement of fishermen and farmers thrown out of jobs by the recent oil spills in the Ibeno local government area of Akwa Ibom State.
The National Oil Spills Determination and Response Agency (NOSDRA) and the Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources had, on inspection, confirmed the spills emanated from ExxonMobil’s facility, promising quick remediation.
But the founder of AKIPCON, Apostle Ufot Phenson, raised the alarm yesterday that the plights of the affected people and the communities have worsened following the massive destruction of the fishing, farming and other agricultural ecosystems.
Speaking yesterday at the book presentation he co-authored, entitled; “State Security Management, Hydrocarbon Pollution and Implications on Human Rights In Nigeria,” at the civil service auditorium, Uyo, the state capital, Phenson expressed fears of looming scarcity of fish and farm produce in the aftermath of the spills.
He noted that the combined effects of incessant oil spills with attendant contamination of water bodies and gas flares that scare the wild life, as well as acid rain due to hydrocarbon pollution, have spread life-threatening ailments on residents and destroyed buildings.
Ufot warned that “the unchecked pollution in the oil communities in the state will worsen the food and job crises that the locals are already facing with the potential of forcing many into crime.”
Chairman of the occasion, Barr. Chima Williams noted that “The book is timely and captures in clear and understandable language the situation in most oil communities in the Niger Delta where oil is mined.”
Williams, who is executive director of Environmental Defenders Network (EDEN), maintained that “the insecurity in the Niger Delta is fueled by the pollution and neglect of the host communities and frustrations as producers of the golden egg, but have nothing to show for it.”
He stressed that the solution to the environmental crisis in the state and the Niger Delta region must start with a comprehensive environmental audit to determine the amount of destruction of the ecosystem to be able to come up with holistic solutions.
