Oil spill: Niger Delta still underdeveloped after 10 years – Expert

Executive Director of Stakeholder Democracy Network (SDN), Adam Heal, has lamented that despite concerted efforts, there has been no significant improvement in addressing oil spills and pollution in the Niger Delta region over the past decade.

He also stressed the need for responsible exit strategies for international oil companies planned divestment from the region.

Heal who stated this during an event in Abuja commemorating SDN’s 20th anniversary in Abuja acknowledged the persistence of severe oil spill issues in the Niger Delta, with little improvement over the past decade.

SDN was established as a non-governmental not-for-profit organisation in 2004 to support communities in the Niger Delta that live with the day-to-day impacts of the oil and gas industry, weak governance, insecurity, a lack of jobs, and wider environmental and climate challenges.

The Niger Delta region has struggled with environmental degradation and pollution due to oil exploration activities for many years and experts have blamed absence of a cohesive policy, inefficient coordination among stakeholders and inadequate resources to address the situation.

According to Heal, “no improvement” has been seen in the last 10 years, a situation he described as sad, despite the concerted efforts of civil society groups, government, and companies to address the menace.

He said: “Very sadly, you know, oil spill issues in the Niger Delta remain very serious. I’m not sure we could say we’ve definitely seen an improvement over the last 10 years, which is sad to say, despite all the efforts of civil society groups to raise their concerns about these issues and efforts by the government and companies to address it.

“So it remains a very pressing issue, especially as international oil companies are thinking about selling their assets, we strongly advocate that they should take action to remediate any pollution they’re leaving behind and address the legacy of oil spills.

Heal also called for transparency in the management of funds to support long term community development and increase economic opportunities for people in the region.

“One change that came in 2021, the petroleum industry Act is the creation of Community Development Trust. And we’re very hopeful that if those Trust are managed well, that could be a major source of funding to support community livelihoods. We need to make sure that good governance is in place

He also highlighted the organization’s achievements since 2004, including the development of tools to monitor oil spills and gas flares, now utilized by the federal government.