Perhaps, time has finally come to end the
perennial oil spills in Nigeria. I got wind of the upcoming Nigerian
International Oil Spill Summit, which is being organised by the National
Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, in conjunction with the House
of Representatives Committee on Environment. This is essentially a
positive news for the nation, considering the incessant oil spill
incidents in oil-bearing Niger Delta and the attendant ecological
devastation, loss of economic assets, human health impairment and
conflict between host communities and multinational oil corporations. I
have once argued here that it is still early in the fight against
environmental degradation through oil spill, and that it is quite
pertinent that we learn from our past inaction and mistakes and then
strengthen our resolve and institutions accordingly. This shall avail us
the opportunity not only to abide by international best practices in
this matter, but effectively prepare for the future.
With the theme, ‘‘Developing an Effective
Strategy for Addressing the Challenges of Oil Spill Management in
Nigeria and Africa’’, one expects there is a global aura, and a
continental air, to the summit, which should reposition our country as a
focal entity in oil exploration and development in sub-Saharan Africa
as we are already enjoying the epithet of “Giant of Africa”. In this
wise, making it worthwhile would be the diplomatic goodwill that will
naturally accrue from the project. This is because ours is a continent
that lags behind in research-based administrative infrastructure. Take
for instance, a recent report by the International Institute for
Environment and Development which reveals that China’s imports of
African timber and investments in land use in forest areas are both
increasing – China is now the leading importer of timber from several
African nations – yet information about this trend is often weak or
inaccessible, and the continent sorely needs a forest governance
learning platform in order to engender concerted enforcement and improve
governance of forests and livelihoods in Africa. So, a critical sector
such as oil production is a veritable chunk of meat from where to launch
a new paradigm.
There are certain significant ingredients
to be woven into such a summit to make it an epochal project for
Nigeria as a country. First, the choice of the concept of ‘oil spills
summit’ to address this peculiar environmental menace is both apt and
useful, if the organisers would utilise the presence of the
participating spectrum of critical stakeholders to launch a conscious
regional campaign against oil spill; and then seize the opportunity to
deliberate on viable means of empowering NOSDRA. Interestingly, many
relevant stakeholders, including those from the oil and gas industry,
ministries, departments and agencies of government, the legislature,
international organisations, corporate bodies, civil society
organisations and the media are billed to attend the summit. Take Akwa
Ibom State for instance, three months after oil spills from a field in
the state, operated by global oil giant, Mobil, the company has yet to
complete a clean-up of the area of the spill, alas endangering the lives
of residents and thereby emboldening other oil corporations to snub
Niger Delta communities should they spill in the future. When the crude
oil was discharged from the Qua Iboe oil fields spilling some 200
barrels of crude, the clean-up was billed to take off on November 9,
2012 but was postponed to January 7, 2013; then anther spill occurred on
December 19, 2012. This poses a serious danger to the inhabitants of
the affected coastline, especially the Ibeno community.
Second, now is the time to empower
NOSDRA. The truth is that international oil companies engage in
environmental pollution, encouraged by lack of sanctions from the
Government. So, I am of the opinion that participants should utilise the
opportunity to deliberate on viable means of empowering NOSDRA as part
of the institutional building mechanism for proactive and unfettered oil
spill management in the country. Part of this would require
strengthening the Act of the agency to enable it to supervise and
regulate the oil industry, with regard to environmental sustainability
in host communities through a policy of zero tolerance for oil
pollution, as well as enforcing compliance with all environmental
legislation in the industry. They should also seek adequate funding of
the agency in order to make it achieve its set goals and objectives.
This will no doubt facilitate the provision of working tools for oil
spill management, plus training and retraining of staff.
Third, Nigeria is ripe for the
establishment of an oil spill institute, and this summit can serve as a
vehicle for its advocacy. The buzzword for our current global
dispensation is “knowledge-based”, and this throws light on the patent
indispensability of capacity and institution building in national
development. If the government is serious about eradicating the
recurrent incidents of oil spills in our shores as encapsulated in the
National Oil Spill Contingency Plan, now is the time to establish a
National Oil Spill Institute to be domiciled in NOSDRA. If established,
NOSI could provide the much-needed know-how for oil spill management in
Nigeria, and minimise the cost and hurdles encountered in hiring
expatriates in the event of oil spill in the country, and even in
training our public servants overseas to acquire capacity regarding oil
spills management. It can also be a revenue-generating source for the
government as it engages in training of personnel of oil companies and
allied bodies within and outside the country.
Fourth, the discussions at the summit
should be all-encompassing and insightful. I have often watched news
items where government law enforcement agents raid sites of illegal
refineries. They swoop down, arrest, destroy, burn, and present the
footages of a smoking squalid improvised crude oil factory to the
Nigerian public. But I have not seen any presentation of a robust
strategy by the government to reintegrate the criminals and their
creative craft into the national oil production milieu as a way to
contain the burgeoning crime and attendant environmental hazard. The
facts are there for all to see that these are not ordinary outlaws,
neither is oil refining a simple skill, and therefore there is the need
for effective harnessing of the petroleum products procurement
infrastructure and creativity used by the criminals to refine. What is
more, when will the government understand that illegal refining of crude
oil and oil bunkering contribute a great deal to oil spills, and there
must be a holistic approach to these problems in order to nip it in the
bud and then contain the environmental degradation which they spawn? I
expect the summit, codenamed NIOSS, to give us the answer.
Finally, this is the time to engage the
international community in addressing issues that currently exist in the
oil-rich Niger Delta region while putting it in the perspective of
sustainable development. I am aware that some of the foreign players
operating in the country might be inured to the persistent crises
encountered in their sites and therefore consciously perceive the region
as a hellhole where sustainable development should not be considered by
any means. They would then only be ready to just apply the necessary
caution to survive while making oil money. Of course, this stance and
attitude are highly detrimental to the overall survival of our nation
environmentally speaking. This is the more reason why in order to
achieve the objective of the summit, which is to brainstorm on the
strategic, innovative and sustainable mechanisms in dealing with the
menace of oil spillage in Nigeria and Africa in accordance with global
best practices, the organisers of this first-of-its-kind event must
deploy informed local strategies first, backed by a workable national
sustainable development agenda. Anything short of this might turn the
summit into another white elephant, or an oil [sector] jamboree, at
best.
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