Crude drilling on the Cheap
On 13 May 2005, our fist day in Bayelsa State, we visited the Imiringi community in the Ogbia Local Government Area. Here oil and gas exploration began in 1938 from the Kolo Creek gas flow station, though oil was not struck until 1956. Exportation began two years later. As is customary for oil producers in Nigeria, the local Shell facility burns off the natural gas recovered along with the crude. Rather than putting in place machinery to recover the gas for local energy production or export, the oil corporations have chosen to flare most of it. What is widespread policy Nigeria would be unacceptable in Europe or the USA. Africa has the largest percentage of gas flaring in Africa in the world, with Nigeria the primary contributor. Moreover, whenever communities have demonstrated to demand a change, the government’s response has been violence. For example, in 1987, the community of Imiringi pressured Shell for basic amenities, and the then military government killed members of this community. Today, the facility it is heavily guarded, as a check against even non-violent resistance.
We were invited to the home of Mr. Rex Ogbuku who is an advocate and Chairman of the Nigeria Bar Association in Bayelsa State, and member of Community Council of Chiefs. He informed us that corporations provide little compensation is given to host communities because they claim that corrupt chiefs and militant youth to purchase ammunition will use this money. Therefore, no development is taking place. Ogbuku also informed us that environmental legislation is changed haphazardly, as the date for stoppage of flaring has been repeatedly postponed, and currently 2008 is the deadline to stop the flaring of gas, though Shell has indicated that 2009 is more likely. We were also amazed to hear that TNCs pay only US$150,000 a year in fines for flaring, while the Nigerian people lose US$ 2.3 billion in potential revenue.
Mr. Ogbuku’s offered that ultimately, Nigerians perpetuate these environmental problems, as the Nigerian government has a 55% of stake in Nigeria’s Shell Petroleum Development Company. “Shell is not seen as the enemy of the people, the enemy is your own party,” as the majority ethnic groups that control the central government are responsible for the environmental policy and distribution of oil revenue. Yet, he offered, the prospects of the minority ethnic groups from this region changing policy by gaining power in the federal government were minuscule. Without substantial representation at the federal level, the interests of Imiringi and others of the Niger Delta are left to the whims of the oil multinationals. He offered that the only solution was for host communities to gain control over their own resources, but Mr. Ogbuku remarked that the powers that be would never allow this to occur, painting a very bleak picture of their struggle for environmental justice and human rights.
That evening, ERA’s former deputy director, now Bayelsa Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism Oronto Douglas treated us to dinner and cultural performances. Aftewards, Commissioner Douglas hosted an interactive discussion on environmental and political issues. A former environmental lawyer, He was vociferous on the need for environmental justice, while preparing Bayelsa and Nigeria as a whole for a post-oil economy.
“Using a machine gun to swat a mosquito”
On our final day in Bayelsa State, accompanied by deputy chairman of the Nembe Local Government, Tekena Beregha, we boarded a motor boat which took us on a turbulent ride through the River Delta. Our destination being Odioma, in the Brass local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
En route to Odioma, we sojourned to the Akpan Kanem Shell facility in Alembe district – Nembe Creek, and arrived unannounced at their heavily guarded facilty. Arriving at the facility, we were shocked to see the sharp contrast between Shell’s modern flow station and the nearby homes made of wood palm leaves. Later, we learned that the flow station has been there over twenty years, but in that time it has not provided those who live near by with electricity or running water. At the facility, we encountered a very defensive Deputy Administrative Officer, Akpan Ekanem, who has worked with Shell since the 1970’s. In the previous months prior to our visit, Shell had experienced a series of oil spills, and claimed that these were a result of sabotage. This appears to be Shell’s best line of defence. In our meeting, our colleague from South Durban highlighted a clear double standard, pointing out that even in South Africa these spills would have been cleaned up the next day.
At Odioma, we witnessed a community that had been burned to the ground by its own government. As we walked through the streets of what had several months ago been a prosperous fishing village, we found nothing but gutted houses and the chard remains of people’s personal effects. After negotiating with the military officers who still occupied part of the village, we met with the Chief D. I. L. Orumiegha-Bari, the acting chairman of the Odioma Chiefs Council and seven of Odioma’s chiefs.
Chief Orumiegha-Bari described how on the morning of 19 February 2005, the military’s Special Task Force came into the community shooting into the streets and burning down homes. The military’s attack on unarmed civilians came several weeks after unknown assailants killed twelve innocents, including four local officials. Speculation that the assailants were Odioma youth provoked the attack, though the chiefs challenged this rumour, offering the origins of this attack were oil related.
Following a description of the Delta’s pre-colonial history, Chief Orumiegha-Bari explained that this conflict has its roots in longstanding boundary disputes with a neighbouring village, now intensified because Shell began drilling in swampland between them. Each village, he offered, wants to claim ownership of the land to gain the compensation that would result, though neither of these villages would profit from the drilling. This sort of compensation has become a significant form of income for fishing villages who have seen their livelihood decimated by water pollution. These unsolved murder were only a pretext for naked repression to pacify the area and insure continued oil revenue while leaving Odioma and other communities struggle over the scraps offered by wealthy corporations.
Towards a way forward
According to Asume Osuoke, the paradox of the Niger Delta region is that while it is rich in oil, its people are among the poorest in the country. Traditionally, the major occupation of the people in the Niger Delta is farming and fishing. However, decades of incessant oil spills and gas flaring have damaged the means of subsistence for this people. The agricultural and fishing activities have been gravely affected because the rivers are polluted with oil and the agricultural land is no longer fertile. As we witnessed in Rukpokwu, rare species of plant and animal were destroyed as a result of a burst pipeline.
In Nigeria, rural communities rarely enjoy basic amenities like clean drinking water. Even the air they breathe is heavily polluted. Electricity and running water either does not exist, or are continuously cut off. With only working refinery in the country, car fuel is in short supply, and cars queue at gas stations in order to refuel at a price above the nationally set rate.
The levels of unemployment are high. It would not be incorrect to say that oil discovery in the Niger Delta has brought no relief to the communities of this region. All that these communities can boast of is the sky-high flame of the gas flares. They have no hospitals, no schools, and essentially no livelihood.
Because the Nigerian government has entered into joint venture agreements with the Transnational Corporations, peaceful community action and demonstration is met with the might of the government military and countless people are killed. The relationship between the oil companies and their host communities is one of hostility, suspicion and conflict. It is also plagued with corruption and bribery, where oil companies play communities against each other – the divide and rule system, which succeeds because of the poverty of the people. The immense wealth that exists in Nigeria could see the country attaining great heights. Instead, it sits in the hands of a few corrupt elite, at the expense of the majority of the 130 million strong population.
The solidarity exchange to Nigeria left our team appalled at the total disregard for the welfare of and dignity of people, the blatant abuse of people’s human rights, all in the name of oil. On our final day, we made plans to write the Nigerian government about the abuses we witnessed and to educate our local communities, providing them with a global context to understand their specific pollution problems. We also planned to connect youth and student organizations with their counterparts in Nigeria to build Pan-African solidarity. We also agreed to internationalize the Nigerian environmental struggle by marking the ten year anniversary of the execution of Ogoni leaders Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other activists with demonstrations to call attention to what we witnessed in Nigeria.
Posted by Toussaint at August 1, 2005 11:18 AM