How FG, oil majors sacrificed, privatised Niger Delta, others for profit

Stakeholders at a two-day workshop organised by Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), in collaboration with the Niger Delta University (NDU), Ammasoma, have analysed how crude oil extraction by oil companies and beneficiaries, like the federal and state governments, including those who are benefitting from oil exploration in Niger Delta, have sacrificed and privatised the region, as well as other African regions for profits without taking cognisance of the people and the environment.

They agreed and declared that the Niger Delta region and many other regions in Africa are privatised and sacrificed zones by oil firms and the Federal Government.

The Director, HOMEF, Nnimmo Bassey, who spoke at the workshop with the theme, ‘School of Ecology Recovering Oil Sacrifice Zone,’ stated that apart from Niger Delta, the cold mines of South Africa, the gas fields of the phosphate fields of Togo and Western Sahara have all been sacrificed for profit.

The renowned environmental activist deplored the state of the environment and living conditions of host communities, especially in the Niger Delta, as a result of oil activities.

He said that the oil belt of Nigeria “has been completely sacrificed and privatised and sacrificed considering that the exploitation has not shown any sense of responsibility or accountability.”

Bassey noted that the government has sacrificed the region for foreign exchange, which explains why the Federal Government does not frown on the destructive activities of multinational oil companies, particularly oil spills.