Field Report: 005
Location: Ogoni Land (Goi and Bodo
communities)
Reporter: National Secretariat
Date: 21st of March,
2014
Supervised by: Ubrei-Joe M. Mariere and Kentebe Ebierador
At
7.30 am on the 21st of March, 2014 all the participants assembled in
front of Pre-Degree Hall, site III Delta State University, Abraka the take off
point to Ogoni Land (Bodo and Goi communities) in Rivers State. The Bus (30
seater coaster) left the take off point at exactly 8. 00 am with about 30
persons on board. While leaving, Mr. George Obinna a participant from
University of Benin, Benin-City said the opening prayer after which the newly
elected National Coordinator Abang Fredrick from Cross River State University
of Science and Technology gave a speech and thanked everyone for keeping to
time. Also speaking, Ubrei-Joe M. Mariere addressed everyone and told them the
purpose of the field trip. He said the essence of the trip is for the
participants who have been undergoing training for the past three days to gain
practical experience and to see for themselves what they have been hearing as
story about the Niger Delta. He said when those that have been to gas flare and
oil spill site will be narrating the ordeal others who have not seen such might
not take the issue seriously.
He
said Ogoni Land used to be a very sensitive ecosystem many decades ago but
today that viable land is termed polluted and a highly contaminated and risk
zone. He also said that the unimplemented UNEP Report on Ogoni land has it that
benzene and hydrocarbons are 900 times above WHO standard. He noted that the
report stated it very clear that ground water, surface water and even the soil
are polluted. Ubrei-Joe said that the report also stated that it will take 35
years for Ogoniland to be remediated, that is 5 years to clean up the land then
3o years to clean up the water.
Seyon
Tonueyi noted that the whole story of the pollution in the Niger Delta is as a
result of Capitalism. He said Capitalism is a system of government where the
power of the nation is given to few persons who pursue nothing more but profit
while the true owners of the resources suffers. He also said capitalist economy
promotes pollution, corruption and underdevelopment of the people and their
nation.
Also
speaking, Titigbe Onyekachi facilitated a discussion in the Bus using the
Students Environmental Assembly Nigeria Model Handbook, he looked at what SEAN
stand for, the history, the philosophy, the thematic areas and how to establish
SEAN in ones institutions. This discussion was on from Ughelli till we got to
Port Harcourt.
At
Port Harcourt Mr. Kentebe Ebiaridor a Project Officer in ERA/FoEN joined us in
the bus and took the lead till we got to Ogoniland and back to Port Harcourt
where he left us. He said we are going to visit two communities, Bodo City and
Goi community, he said in Goi community S hell
is doing remediation and noted it was a good avenue for the participants to ask
constructive questions about what is happening.
At Bodo City
Bodo
was the first community we visited. At Bodo we met Chief Sylvester, who
addressed the students and told them the story about the evil of oil
exploration on them.
Chief Sylvester about 65 years old
Our land was good and we did not
care about the government, we used to feed from our land produce. Most of the
beautiful structure you see was built by our fisher men. In 2008/2009 oil spill
made the situation worse, when Friends of the Earth visited us they were
astonished at what they saw. In this community we breath hydrocarbon, inhale
hydrocarbon, sleep in hydrocarbon, eat hydrocarbon, drink hydrocarbon and when
we die we are being buried in hydrocarbon. Since we have been impacted with
this environmental devastation no one has come to our rescue, though some NGOs
have come to assist us seek for justice. At the moment we have a case with
Shell in the court in Europe and the case is still undecided yet. Eight (8)
persons die every day in the community from strange ailments, our people are so
poor that they cannot go to the hospital for check up or treatment.
Sir
what is the state of the UNEP Report, any effort for its implementation?
No one has heard anything from
Shell or government concerning the implementation of the report. It will amaze
you that we still experience oil spill here despite the fact that the oil in
Ogoniland has been left in the soil. The last spill that happened here, it took
Shell about 92 days to stop the spill and people died in the process.
Sir,
can you tell us something about the community?
Bodo city in Gokana L3ocal
Government Area of Rivers State comprises of 32 villages with a population of
about 69,000 persons. Bodo people are very friendly and we have had over 300
foreign visitors due to the activities of Shell. So many of such visitors are
researchers, NGOs and other agencies, they come here for one reason or the
other. The major causes of oil spillage in this community have been equipment
failure. I want to inform you that all
the oil produced in this nation runs through the through the Trans- Niger
pipeline to the export terminal where crude oil is loaded in vessels and taken
away from the country. The said pipeline is over 50 years and they are due for
replacement but nothing of such has been done. The spill caused by the
equipment failure has destroyed our Mangrooves forest, killed crabs, fishes and
other important creatures along the water shores.
What
effort have you people made so far as a community?
We have long been suffering, the
entire Niger Delta people are suffering and we have refused to remain silent.
The ogoni people have been appealing to government and international
communities to come to our aid, this is the only thing we can do. We are also
building resistance to ensure that the legacy of Ken Saro-wiwa is maintained.
What are the other
things that the community people experience?
We lack food in this community
because in 2003 and 2004 there were series of spills that destroyed farm lands,
water and other major sources of livelihood and the entire ecosystem of the
Ogoniland. There is no water in the community, yet Shell uses their
administrative strategy to cause division among us so that they will not pay
compensation to us. People die due to respiratory problem and the life span of
our people is very short. There is high level of conspiracy on the path of the
government, they make a lot of money from oil but they cannot give appropriate
account of what they get. Shell confirmed that the soil is polluted upto 15
feet deep down the soil but what they claim they are treating in Goi is just 2
feet deep.
Visit to Goi Community
On
our visit to Goi community one of the polluted communities in Ogoniland it was
revealed to us that Shell is doing remediation work on the polluted land and
stream. At the site we met the site supervisor by name Mr. Stanley who briefed
us on their activities on site.
Mr. Stanley what is going on here
in this spill site?
As you can see we are working on
the site, you can see our tractors and staff on duty. We are a remediation
company contracted by Shell to clean up this spill as their part of Social
Corporate Responsibility.
What method of remediation are you
applying?
Well it is called bioremediation by
stimulation. But what we are doing now
is to till the soil and expose it to sunlight so that the sunlight can
breakdown part of the soil while others evaporates to the atmosphere. But after
tilling we apply a chemical call BIOSOLVE to help enhance the effectiveness and
the population of crude oil degrading organisms.
What
is the content of the Biosolve and what will it be after the degradation?
The Biosolve is a non-hazardous
chemical and it will remain neutral
Sir was there anything like Initial
Environmental Examination (IEE) before the commencement of this project?
Yes
The workers working with you where
are they from and was anything done to know the state of their health before
engaging them?
We had to employ the local people
as a way of compensating them. In the site we have six supervisors and seven
security men working with us who are from the community and we checked their
health status before we started engaging them for the work and they receive
treatment every morning before they start their daily work.
How long is the project going to
take and is it in connection with UNEP Report?
The original plan for this pilot
remediation project will take 40-45days and this project is entirely different
from the UNEP Report
How many contractors are handling
this project and how many local contractors are involved?
We have twelve local contractors
and few from SPDC. NOSDRA do come to supervise what is going on here.
Testimonies by Chief Clement at Goi
Community
I am from this community but I have
turned out to be a refugee in my own community due to oil spillage. I lost my
investment, my fish ponds, Bakery, my building to oil spill. I have gone to
court to seek for justice and the case is still on. Shell blames all the spills
in Ogoniland to bunkering but that is not true, but as a result of equipment
failures. The pipelines that transport crude oil to the export terminal in Bonny
Island is more than 50 years old, yet no pipeline integrity test nor
environmental impact evaluation has been done.
Please I want to advise that you
people should not be carried away with the so called pilot remediation that is
going on on the spill site now. It is not being done the appropriate way, you
will agree with me that they are not doing anything meaningful at the site even
Shell themselves confirmed that the pollution has contaminated up to 15 feet
deep down to the soil. What you see them excavating now is not up to 2 feet
deep down the soil.
This project they call pilot
remediation, I calls it deceptive remediation, and they just want to use this
one to claim the glory they don’t have. You will see that the whole world will
hear that Shell has cleaned up Ogoniland for this rubbish they are doing here.
Our government too should be watchful because I am afraid that they will even
help Shell to tell the whole world that Shell has just met up with their
Corporate Social Responsibility.
Key findings from the field
At
the field we observed:
i.
That Ogoniland is badly polluted as
claimed by UNEP report
ii.
That the Ogoni people breath
hydrocarbon, inhales hydrocarbon, sleep in hydrocarbon, eat hydrocarbon, drink
hydrocarbon and when they dies they are buried in hydrocarbon.
iii.
That there is no potable drinking water
for the people
iv.
Agriculture has lost it value
v.
That there is food shortage
vi.
That the people suffers from unknown
ailments
vii.
That what Shell calls pilot remediation
is a deceptive remediation
viii.
That there is still regular oil spill
despite the fact that Ogoni oil has been left under the soil for more than two
decades now.
ix.
That the impacted people have not been
compensated.
Recommendations by the
Students’ Environmental Assembly Nigeria
i.
UNEP Report should be implemented
without delay
ii.
Crude oil pipelines passing through
Ogoniland should be relocated
iii.
Compensation should be paid adequately
iv.
Shell should be brought to book
v.
Oil should be left in the soil
completely
