By Gbenro Adeoye:
Mrs. Margaret Sunday, a fish farmer in
Kenyangbene community, Gbaramatu Kingdom , an Ijaw coastal community in
Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State, has been in the
business for about two decades. But in the period, Sunday said the last
eight years have been tough, given the increasing oil exploration
activities in her community.
Some 15 years ago, Sunday said she caught a weekly average of 20000 fishes, a figure that has reduced to about 1000 fishes.
Sunday said, “Even the 1000 fishes
cannot be caught around the community, we have to go far away from the
community. We used to catch plenty of fishes here before, but today,
it’s very few and it’s getting more and more difficult for us to
survive. We are supposed to be rich because of the oil but sadly, we are
poor because our government does not look after us.”
According to Sunday, keeping her
children in school is increasingly becoming a challenge due to the
effects of pollution in her community.
Kenyangbene hosts a major oil flow
station belonging to Chevron Nigeria Limited, where oil directly flows
from the oil well to for primary treatment and control. However, the lot
of the residents deeply contrasts with the heavily-guarded
multi-million dollar investment seated within the community.
It is is predominantly made up of wooden
shacks, with some planks, windows and doors hanging loosely from their
nails and hinges. A familiar smell of fresh and smoked fish pervades the
community, which is largely dominated by fishermen and fish mongers.
Although the community has light and
potable water running in tiny silver pipes, our correspondent learnt
that the utilities were the results of protests by community members.
An Ijaw community leader and executive
member of the Egbema- Gbaramatu Central Development Foundation, Mrs.
Josephine Ogoba, said, “They did not just get the light and water, they
fought before the oil company succumbed to their demands and decided to
supply them.”
Also, Kenyangbene has a public primary
school, Kenyangbene Primary School, but to get secondary school
education, pupils have to go to other communities by boat. There are no
health centres in the community and residents have to rely on local drug
stores.
The community chief, Mr. Aaron Ifitimo,
said the community had been largely neglected by relevant authorities,
adding that most policies affecting them are carried out without due
consultations with the residents.
He said, “Government does not know what
we are facing because they don’t visit here. Government officials ought
to go round to the communities they govern but they have not been doing
that.
“Last year, we had a serious flooding
problem, where people died and crops were destroyed. But our government
is only interested in taking all our money and leaving us worse than it
met us.”
In the creeks, our correspondent
observed that plants in the stream corridors have blackened roots, with
the smell of oil spreading through the forests. Two other coastal communities in Warri
South West Local Government Area, Batan and Egwan II are, however, faced
with a different kind of problem.
Following the discovery of oil wells in
the communities, Shell Nigeria reportedly asked the members of the
communities to relocate to new sites without adequate compensation for
their troubles. Ogoba said, “The residents were only
asked to relocate to a new place but there was no provision for them
except for a jetty. So far, people have refused to move to the new place
as there is only one house there.”
In Ekpan, Uvwie Local Government Area,
which is not an oil producing community, residents suffer the effects of
air pollution from gas flaring by the Warri Refinery Petroleum Company
located within the community.
Residents identified the soot observed on cars and other items within the community as the result of gas flaring. The Executive Director, Institute for
Dispute Resolution and the National Coordinator, Campaign Against Arms
Trade Network, Nigeria, Innocent Adjenughure, said more residents have
been having respiratory ailments, which he ascribed to the pollution
from the gas flaring.
He said, “We are not an oil producing
community, but we have Chevron and WRPC on our land, causing pollution.
Although, we have not been able to carry out any comprehensive survey,
to know the exact impact of the gas flaring activity, we are sure that
the black soot from the plant is causing harm to our people. Sometimes
when I cough, sneeze or put a finger in my nose, I see black soot. The
soot is like an umbrella over the community and it stains our clothes
and covers our cars.”
In addition, the Chairman, Ekpan
Development Committee, Mr. Godwin Omasibro, said the pollution worsens
in the community after every rainfall. Omasibro, however, said that the leaders
of the community have been using a delicate approach to make their
grievances known to the government. According to him, other ways have
got agitators killed in the past, although he failed to comment further
on the issue.
He said, “Some people have died in this
country for asking for their rights, so we are trying to tread softly.
We have been talking to people but we have not been writing because what
you say, you can deny later, but what you wrote and signed, will be
difficult to deny.”
Also, Omasibro said an Italian, who was
part of the team that constructed the plant where gas is being freely
flared in the community, told some community members that it portended
danger for residents. He said, “In 1978, when it was
constructed, the Italian told us that after 50 years, we would start
seeing some kinds of sickness that we never experienced before.
Therefore, the health problems may start manifesting in some of us soon
and in the children that are being born. In such children, the products
of what their parents have taken in may manifest in them as predicted by
the Italian.”
A farmer and fisherman in the community, Mr. Chris Wiliki, told Saturday PUNCH
that he was already contemplating leaving his job for a more promising
one, due to the dwindling fortune of the farming business in the
community, occasioned by oil pollution.
Wiliki, who has been cultivating
cassava, plantain and palm tree for over 30 years, said, “In the last 15
years, our lands have stopped producing good crops because of oil
pollution. The fish ponds are also polluted; it’s only when it rains
that the ponds gets cleaned a little by rain water.”
In her reaction, the Administrator and
Media Officer for Spaces for Change, a human rights organisation, Ms.
Funmilayo Fakeye, said residents should take interest in policies that
seek to affect them. She said, “For instance, people in the
Niger Delta should engage in dialogue over the Petroleum Industry Bill
so that they can voice out their concerns before the bill is passed into
law.”
The 2-day conference, Host Communities & the PIB: Opportunities, Challenges
and the Way Forward held at Aldgate Hotel, Sani
Abacha Road, Port Harcourt, Rivers State on April 23 - 24, 2013 was an
outstanding conference bringing together 55 participants from various states in
Nigeria’s Niger Delta region, advocates and stakeholders in the oil and gas
industry plus 12 speakers and panelists over the two days. 
![SPACES FOR CHANGE [S4C]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKYqElpL53emtcZ76qeUprKLRrzSYITGwEHQoB5t0ecWyrq6mJa-f6LDcg5M50joQenZ405UhZbpf4UYunBWIBVV1npmtN5svWh5VamC6wd8YRs9Pg_VBsAm5w-sjf_pWJovv7bt4cO0U/s1600/S4C.jpg)