Stop Bitumen, new oil exploitation, citizens tell Nigerian Govt

OVER 500 Nigerian citizens rose from a two-day national consultation workshop on environment with a strong call on their central government to stop all new oil finds and exploitation of bitumen.

The event which was organised by the Environmental Rights Action (ERA) in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, also insisted that all new oil finds must be left in the ground and that the planned exploitation of bitumen should be halted as the extraction will inflict unmitigated disaster on communities and raise new levels of conflicts.

''The Leave Oil in the Ground message should be popularized.'', the citizens said in a communique that was wired on Tuesday to our correspondent by ERA Media Officer Philip Jakpor.

The workshop was mainly attended by civil leaders, community-based organizations, civil society organizations, development experts, the academia, legal practitioners, the media and representatives of government agencies. They met from November 25-26, 2009 to critically examine the growing impact of fossil fuel extraction on the climate and issues around oil as a sustainable economic backbone for Nigeria.

The event, themed: “Envisioning a post-Petroleum Nigeria”, was the second in the series of convergence, aimed at stimulating broad-based national discourse on the state of the environment and was organized by ERA in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Environment.

In his introductory remarks, ERA Executive Director, Nnimmo Bassey explained that the theme of the consultation was chosen as a wakeup call to all stakeholders in the Nigerian project, to address the devastating effects of crude oil on the economy and environment as well as the central need of planning for a post-oil economy.

· Global warming and other grave environmental hazards are primarily a result of extractive activities, particularly oil extraction.

· Over five decades of oil extraction in Nigeria have not impacted positively on the citizenry and particularly the people of the Niger Delta, whose livelihoods have been eroded because of regular pollution of farmlands and rivers.

· Women, children and other vulnerable persons in the Niger Delta and other resource-bearing communities across the country have been made vulnerable due to resource conflicts and are exposed to severe human rights abuse.

· By failing to halt gas flaring in the Niger Delta, the Nigerian government has demonstrated a lack of preparedness to committing to reduce the effects of climate change even as it joins climate talks in Copenhagen

· Violent conflicts and criminality in the Niger Delta region and particularly in oil-bearing communities are direct results of corruption rooted in the operations of oil industry.

· Life expectancy in the Niger Delta has continued to decline yearly as a result of environmental pollution in the region and today stands at an appalling 41 years.

· There is flagrant disregard for international standards in the oil industry particularly the non-observance of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) on projects with far-reaching impacts on local communities.

· The Federal Government’s planned deregulation of the downstream oil sector will only benefit a profiteering cabal in the country and not the vast majority of the population.

· The Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) as currently prepared by the Federal Government is fundamentally flawed and is anti-people as it neither allows for communities to be notified of risks nor seeks their endorsement for environmental management plans. In addition to numerous gaps, the PIB does not offer sufficient penalties to deter infringement of its provisions.

· Nigeria’s oil industry is still rife with oil theft and inaccuracy in volumes of oil extracted and what is actually made public, and makes a nonsense of governments touted policy on transparency and accountability

· The amnesty programme of the Federal Government is yet to address key human rights and developmental challenges in the Niger Delta and may fail with unimaginable consequences.

· Ecological funds meant for remediation have been regularly diverted to other uses that do not have a bearing on impacted environments.

· Massive land grabs promoted by agribusinesses and oil corporations erode traditional farming practices on the African continent.

· The Nigerian government is yet to demonstrate sufficient commitment to growing the national economy by failure to fund research and qualitative education in addition to poorly thought-out policies that promote disruption in the educational sector.

· All new oil finds must be left in the ground. The planned exploitation of bitumen should be halted as the extraction will inflict unmitigated disaster on communities and raise new levels of conflicts.

· Gas flaring is a violation of the rights of Nigerians to life as is enshrined in the constitution and must end today

· The Federal Government must take steps to ascertain and publish the volumes of oil extracted daily in the nation. As a follow up to this, it must take immediate steps to stop all forms of oil theft.

· A need exists for mass awareness and mobilization of local communities to resist gas flaring and other unfriendly environmental practices in the Niger Delta and other parts of Nigeria where resource conflicts are a growing reality.

· The authentic Petroleum Industry Bill must address genuine concerns of the oil-bearing communities by seeking their endorsement on environmental management plans. It must also proffer sufficient penalties for infringement of the provisions.

· Any provision in the Petroleum Industry Bill that is aimed at expropriating land and resources from the people must be abrogated.

· Political leadership of the Niger Delta must judiciously use the resources of the region for development.

· The amnesty programme of the Federal Government should address the real issues of underdevelopment in the Niger Delta and open channels for genuine reconciliation of all aggrieved people of the region.

· The Nigerian state must fund qualitative education and indigenous research to address challenges of development.

· Women and the vulnerable in the society must be protected from the fallouts of resource conflicts while identified cases of violation of their rights must be adequately redressed.

· All stakeholders-communities, civil society groups, government agencies, the media, among others, must work collaboratively to expose unsound environmental practices and mobilize for laws that will reverse the trend.

''We are united in our opposition to new oil blocs and call on all progressive-minded peoples and organizations to support our call that new oil finds be left in the ground and bitumen left in the soil'', the communique said.