.As stakeholders demand PIA review

Environmental activist and Executive Director of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation, Dr Nnimmo Bassey, has urged the Federal Government to immediately commence a comprehensive environmental audit of the Niger Delta as a prelude to the cleanup of the oil-polluted region.

Bassey said the time for debating whether the Niger Delta should be cleaned up had passed, stressing that urgent action was needed to assess the extent of environmental degradation and begin remediation efforts.

His call came as oil host communities in the region demanded a review of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), faulting provisions that place responsibility for oil theft and pipeline vandalism on host communities.

The traditional ruler of Upata Kingdom in Ahoada East Local Government Area of Rivers State, King Felix Otuwarikpo, said although the PIA provides a percentage of host community funds for the repair of damaged oil assets in cases of sabotage, oil companies had continued to rely on security agencies to protect pipelines while sidelining host communities.

Bassey, Otuwarikpo and other stakeholders spoke on Monday at the opening ceremony of the 2026 Correspondents’ Chapel Week organised by the Rivers State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists at Hotel Presidential, Port Harcourt.

Delivering the keynote address on the theme, “The Imperative of Comprehensive Cleanup of the Niger Delta Environment: Role of the Media,” Bassey described the scale of environmental pollution in the Niger Delta as alarming.

According to him, the volume of oil spilled daily in the region was comparable to the entire Deepwater Horizon disaster of April 20, 2010, caused by an explosion on a BP-operated drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, which killed 11 workers and spilled about 134 million gallons of crude oil over 87 days.
He accused oil regulators, political leaders and industry authorities of deliberate silence over the environmental crisis in the region.
“Nobody cares about the environment of the Niger Delta,” he said.

Bassey maintained that Nigeria was economically and socially better off before crude oil became the country’s dominant source of revenue, arguing that dependence on oil weakened agriculture, stifled infrastructure development and entrenched economic dependency.
“Nigeria was better off without oil,” he said.

“Before oil was discovered, we had vibrant education, good infrastructure and agriculture. Nigeria was once a major exporter of food before oil became the main source of revenue.”

He lamented that crude oil dependence had deepened colonial economic structures in which raw materials were exported while local communities remained impoverished.

“Extractivism is colonial,” he said. “Instead of cultivating food crops, we focus on export commodities that do not feed the people or support local processing.”

Bassey also urged Nigeria to strengthen alliances with emerging economic blocs such as BRICS to counter what he described as Western domination of the global economy.

He warned that failure to clean up the Niger Delta before the global transition away from fossil fuels could leave the region permanently devastated.

“Oil will one day be phased out. If the Niger Delta is not cleaned now while oil is still being bought, it may never be cleaned,” he said.

The environmentalist accused multinational oil companies of profiting from environmental destruction while local communities suffered pollution and poverty.

“Clean up the mess. Nobody has the right to poison our water, soil and air and walk away with profits,” he declared.

He insisted that all oil companies operating in the region, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Shell, Chevron and Renaissance Africa Energy, must be held accountable for environmental degradation.

Bassey also rejected the routine attribution of oil spills to vandalism, arguing that many incidents were caused by ageing infrastructure and operational failures.

“There was a period militants openly threatened and attacked pipelines, so sabotage did occur,” he said. “But it is wrong to blame every spill on vandalism when many pipelines are old, exposed and overdue for replacement.”

According to him, several pipelines in the Niger Delta had exceeded their operational lifespan decades ago.

“Pipelines laid more than 50 years ago are obsolete and should have been replaced,” he added.

He further condemned continued gas flaring in oil-producing communities despite court rulings declaring the practice illegal.
“What we need is an end to gas flaring because it violates the right to life,” he said.

Bassey noted that many affected communities were now seeking justice in foreign courts because environmental judgments delivered by Nigerian courts were often ignored.

He alleged that some multinational firms were restructuring and divesting from Nigerian operations to evade liabilities arising from environmental pollution.

The activist charged the media to sustain pressure on government and industry players by drawing continued attention to the environmental crisis in the Niger Delta.

“The fact that we are holding this conference today is a message to government at all levels that they cannot continue to pretend that all is well because all is not well,” he said.