TheNewsGuru

Tag: NOSDRA

  • Special Report: Poor Regulation Undermines Nigeria’s Race to Zero Routine Flaring by 2030

    Special Report: Poor Regulation Undermines Nigeria’s Race to Zero Routine Flaring by 2030

    Nigeria is a signatory to the 2001 Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership principles that aim at a flare-out date of 2030, but the country’s race to zero routine flaring by the end of the decade is been undermined by inconsistent policies, weak implementation and apparent lack of political will by successive administrations.

    Gas flaring is the process by which natural gas is burned off in a controlled manner when extracting oil. To either reduce the risk of gas ignition to facilities or to eliminate products considered unfit for use.

    Despite a decline in oil production, Nigeria has increased its flaring intensity over the last 10 years and the country is ranked 7th among the top 10 flaring countries on a volume basis.

    Satellite data suggests that, while the largest flaring fields in the country have been addressed, there are many smaller, more disparate fields where flare elimination and gas utilization is more challenging.

    Latest gas flare data by the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), suggests that companies operating onshore flared 24.5 billion Standard Cubic Feet (SCF) of gas valued at $85.8 million between January and February 2023, while those operating offshore flared 25.8 billion SCF of gas valued at $90 million.

    Consequently, Nigeria lost about N81 billion ($176 million) to flaring a total of 50.3 billion SCF of gas within the first two months of the year, NOSDRA said, and while the Federal Government has slammed onshore offenders with a fine of N22 billion ($49m), no fine has yet been announced for their counterpart offshore offenders.

    The agency also noted that the volume of gas flared in January and February 2023 was 11.9 per cent lower than the 57.1 billion SCF of gas flared in the same period in 2022 and had a power generation potential of 5,000 gigawatts of electricity.

    Although the Federal Government had in recent times led campaigns for gas monetisation as against flaring, NOSDRA noted that gas flaring has persisted since the 1950s, releasing carbon dioxide and other harmful gaseous substances into the atmosphere, resulting in environmental and health challenges in the oil-producing areas and affects agricultural yield.

    Poor Regulation and Sanctions

    Despite many commitments to take action, Nigeria has shifted its deadline to end gas flaring in the Niger Delta at least ten times between 1969 and 2020, causing many to express doubt that it would meet the 2023 target.

    Gas flaring is the second most destructive environmental pollutant in the Niger Delta after oil spillage and the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021 contains five articles on gas flaring, promoting minimization of flaring and reinforcing the basic principles in the Flare Gas (Prevention of Waste and Pollution) Regulations, 2018.

    Section 12 of the Flare Gas (Prevention of Waste and Pollution) Regulations, 2018, outrightly bans routine flaring for greenfield projects, while Section 13 imposes a flare gas payment of US$2.00 per MSCF in a license area or field producing 10,000 barrels a day of oil or more and US$0.50 per MSCF in areas producing less. The fees apply to all associated gas flared, whether routine or nonroutine and whether the producer has the right to commercialize the gas or not.

    The annual Oil and Gas Industry Reports published by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) show that, even at this very low penalty rate, some producers have not paid flaring penalties in full or at all.

    Under Section 3 of the Petroleum Industry Act, the minister of petroleum can revoke or suspend petroleum licenses and leases for noncompliance of repeat offenders, upon the recommendation of the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission. However, no evidence of license revocation because of flaring-related offences has been made public.

    “In Nigeria, about $2.5 billion is lost yearly due to severe gas flaring from 178 flare sites nationwide, and this development is expected to hit $9 trillion in the next 10 years,” a member of a climate and environment advocacy group – The Green Resilience, Kingsley Adindu said.

    He said the country’s relatively high flaring can be attributed to many factors, including the lack of infrastructure at some oil fields, limited number of reservoirs suitable for gas re-injection, expensive nature of developing and installing of pipeline network. Limited local, regional and international market and the difficult terrain of the Niger Delta, hinders the harnessing of the product for positive uses.

    Adindu urged the Federal Government to enforce laws on environmental pollution and prosecute environmental polluters in the country.

    Similarly, the Chairman, Society of Petroleum Engineers, SPE Nigeria Council, Olalekan Olafuyi, said the Federal Government was planning to increase gas flare penalties as Nigeria races towards achieving its commitment to the United Nations net zero goals by 2060.

    It is also expected that the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline (NMGP), designed to be 5,660km long, will reduce gas flaring in Nigeria and encourage diversification of energy resources in the country.

     

  • Nembe oil spill: NOSDRA says well still discharging crude

    Nembe oil spill: NOSDRA says well still discharging crude

    The National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) on Sunday said that the Nov. 5 oil spill which occurred at an oil well within Oil Mining Lease (OML) 29 has yet to abate, 10 days on.

    It was gathered that NOSDRA officials who were deployed to ascertain the cause and estimated volume of crude discharged into the environment could not conduct the investigation whilst the leak was still on.

    In an update, Mr Idris Musa, Director-General of NOSDRA, told NAN that the leak has yet to be plugged as of Sunday, adding that the intensity of the leak was hampering investigations at the incident site.

    On whether the leak has been capped, the NOSDRA boss said: “Not yet, the Clean Nigeria Associates (CNA), an alliance of all oil firms operating in the country, has been called to beef up oil recovery.

    “That effort is to reduce the ultimate risk and lessen the impact on the environment,” Musa said.

    He said that following the inability of the indigenous operator of OML 29, Aiteo Eastern Exploration and Exploration Company, to stop the leak it was definite that international help would be sought to block the leakage.

    On the category of the spill incident, which ranges from tier I, II and III, where I is leak within an operators control and II requiring intervention across the industry and III of international magnitude, Musa said the incident could not yet be classified as a tier II spill.

    “It is not yet tier II, but we are already prepared in anticipation.

    “CNA can start work today,” the NOSDRA Director-General said.

    Aiteo had, in a statement on Wednesday, said it has yet to ascertain the volume of the crude that had been discharged into the environment.

    The statement signed by the spokesman of the company, Mr Mathew Ndianabasi, also said the oil firm suspected sabotage as the cause of the spill.

    He said the company was mobilising local and international know-how to contain the incident.

  • Hon Nwawuba addresses intricacies of PIB

    Hon Nwawuba addresses intricacies of PIB

    Given the delay in the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), the Deputy Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on the Niger Delta, Hon Henry Nwawuba has said care must be taken for the National Assembly (NASS) not to pass a bill that will not be of any good to the Nigerian oil and gas industry.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Hon Nwawuba, at an event organized by the Nigerian Natural Resource Charter (NNRC) on Friday, stated this, while also addressing the intricacies of the much-awaited PIB that was recently forwarded to the NASS by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    Noting that petroleum sector reforms started in Nigeria over 18 years ago, the Lawmaker said the entire PIB document forwarded to the NASS by Buhari was yet to be committed to the technical committee for legislative fireworks to commence.

    He said, “Petroleum sector reforms started in Nigeria over 18 years ago. Most of the other countries we started this journey with have moved along in the sector with transparency and accountability while Nigeria is still struggling with the PIB.

    “We have been trying to pass this particular piece of legislation since the 6th Assembly. This matter is now of a certain urgency. We must be nimble but we must be thorough. Since we started the journey, the oil industry landscape has changed significantly.

    “Care must be taken so we do not end up passing an obsolete bill. Having taken so long, it is critical that we get it right first time, particularly with the Host Community Bill. An “inclusive” bill that captures the aspirations of all stakeholders”.

    The member representing Mbaitolu/Ikeduru Federal Constituency of Imo State further stated that a paradigm shift was needed to guarantee that the right stakeholders are consulted as against the method of speaking with a few representative groups who have hijacked the process to further personal agenda.

    “The entire PIB document is yet to be committed to the technical committee for legislative fireworks to commence and believe me, we will be thorough.

    “However, as part of our bill making cycle we will be conducting a public hearing to allow for all interested groups, civil societies, religious bodies, youth groups etc to send in memoranda and representations.

    “The final PIB we will produce will be a harmonised document. The process of making this bill will be exhaustive. It will recognize a broad spectrum of stakeholders that will hopefully include unborn children and infants, adolescents, women, youth, chiefs and traditional rulers,” the Lawmaker stated.

    Speaking on the National Oil Spill Detection & Response Agency (NOSDRA) amendment bill, Nwawuba said, “the bill was passed by both chambers in 8th Assembly but was denied assent by Mr. President. We have taken advantage of our House Rule (Order 12) and re-introduced it in this 9th Assembly. It has now passed 1st and 2nd reading.

    “One of the mandates of NOSDRA is to restore and preserve our environment by ensuring best oil fields, storage and transmission practices in exploration, production and use of oil in the quest to achieve sustainable development in Nigeria.

    “We are working to have a technical committee set up to harmonize all the grey areas raised by Mr President, particularly the regulatory overlaps, and hopefully an emergency fund to react to environmental emergencies”.

    The Lawmaker also addressed the fate of the Niger Delta region after oil is long a thing of the past just like Enugu and Benue States stopped being relevant after the coal age.

    “Nigeria has a proven deposit of about 40 billion barrels of crude. By my calculation, if we drill at an average of 2 billion barrels a day, we will run out of crude by the year 2075. Our population by then will be well over 500 million people.

    “Our focus must be on those things that are necessary to navigate the future. There should be zero tolerance for wastage of resources. We need financial planning models to withstand future internal and external shocks in the event of depletion of our crude reserves.

    “So far we have failed to add value to our crude oil resources. We need to diversify the oil economy itself before talking about other sectors. If we had a robust mid stream industry we wont be where we are today.

    “Assuming 50% of our [crude oil] production is refined domestically we wont be here today. This is all down to policy failure. Why are refineries not working? Because we have the wrong policies. If we had the capacity to refine 1 million bpd think of how many jobs that will create.

    “Oil currently contributes about 60% to our economy earnings but only about 6-8% of our GDP. Have we used our oil resources well? The answer is no. We need to sterilize crude oil from our national budget so that our oil earnings will be used to build for the future.

    “We need to be shifting away from what we have been doing to what we must be doing. Our dependence on the extractive industries and fossil fuel deposits has exposed and alienated our economy from growth,” Nwawuba stated.

    Also speaking on the current state of the Strategic Implementation Work Plan (SIWP), Nwawuba said, “the SIWP was designed to pool all ongoing interventions in the Niger Delta and donor activities in order to stop the duplication of projects by institutions and the misapplication of those funds by reinvesting in projects already undertaken by another entity.

    “It was about the different ongoing live projects and monitoring those projects, so that they’re actionable. The SIWP was put forward at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) but was not approved.

    “So the duplicity continues unchecked leading to those in Niger Delta not benefitting. The National assembly will continue to advocate for the SIWP to be approved. I commit to be at the forefront of that push”.

  • FG hands over Ogoni remediation sites to NOSDRA for scientific analysis

    FG hands over Ogoni remediation sites to NOSDRA for scientific analysis

    The Federal Government says it has handed over some of the oil spill impacted sites in Ogoniland to the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) for scientific analysis and certification.

    Dr Mohammad Abubakar, Minister of Environment, said this on Saturday, at the handing over ceremony of the sites to NOSDRA in Alode community, Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers state.

    The sites were part of the 21 sites awarded to contractors in January 2019 for the batch one phase one clean-up exercise.

    Abubakar said that the sites were remediated by the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), under the Federal Ministry of Environment, mandated to carry out the clean-up of Ogoni communities.

    “We are happy that 582 community youths earned a living for the period that the contract lasted.

    “Also, we are excited that additional 800 youths will be engaged in the second batch of the remediation exercise,” he said.

    The minister said that 36 contracts have been awarded to contractors and the contractors are now mobilising to the remediation sites.

    He said that the contractors ought to have completed their work on the sites but were delayed due to communal clashes, rains and outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

    “So, today is a pointer to the fact that President Muhammadu Buhari is determined to change the negative narratives of the people of the Niger Delta.

    “President Buhari wants to change the negative narratives of the people of the Niger Delta, who have suffered over four decades of environmental pollution.

    “It is a day of promise kept, and kept to the letter in terms of standard and depth of work done,” he added.

    Abubakar said that the remediation sites handed over to NOSDRA, includes lots two, five, six and eight in Eleme LGA.

    Others were lots 10 in Gokana and lots 17 and 18 in Tai Local Government Areas of the state.

    “To this end, a total of 280,300 cubic meters of soil was treated from the seven lots using bio-remediation option.

    “The bio-remediation option is a method that is environmentally friendly and effective in removing pollutants from the soil.

    “The project has not only added value to the environment, youths from the oil impacted communities have been meaningfully engaged as well as earning salaries,” he said.

    Also speaking, Dr Marvin Dekil, the Coordinator of HYPREP, said that the agency had introduced to the less complex sites newer technologies and advances in the field of remediation.

    According to him, the newer technology includes the use of bio-cell technology on the less complex sites as against the use of an integrated contaminated soil centre.

    “The reason behind the bio-cell engineering is that the soil from the less complex sites can be treated immediately.

    “It is also the reason that pollutants are not littered along the path of transportation from the point of excavation to the point of treatment,” Dekil explained.

  • OPINION: Fate of the Niger Delta region: Why FG must act now or never

    OPINION: Fate of the Niger Delta region: Why FG must act now or never

    What does the future hold for the people of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria in the next 60 years? For critical observers, the future is bleak. But, how is this so when Nigeria has made over $1 trillion in oil revenues in the past 60 years? How did we get here?

    Since crude oil was first discovered in Nigeria, several mechanisms to transfer benefits to the Niger Delta, the goose laying the golden eggs, have been set up. These include statutory allocations to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), 13% derivation and 3% NDDC levy from oil companies.

    The core mandates of these mechanisms are to ensure the rapid development of the Niger Delta and to also ensure that the issues of the environmental degradation in the region and the impact of oil and gas operations are appropriately delivered.

    However, these mechanisms have continued to fail to impact in any significant way the lives of the people of the region just like previous benefit transfer mechanisms, the Niger Delta Development Board of 1960 and the Oil Mineral Producing Area Development Commission (OMPADEC) of 1992.

    This is so because there are no defined, deliberate and enforceable participatory frameworks created by the government with the goal of ensuring that affected communities participate meaningfully in decision making on resource projects. More so, there are no social impact assessments required or conducted for resource projects as pre resource project assessments are principally limited to environmental impacts. And even more, is that the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) bill was denied passage. NOSDRA would have emphasized increased enforcement and the rate of fines and penalties for oil companies polluting the Niger Delta, as well as give NOSDRA powers to enforce penalties and fines and to inspect and monitor the decommissioning of oil facilities.

    The result is that the Niger Delta that hosts over 800 oil field communities with over 900 active oil wells and thousands of other oil exploitation infrastructures continues to suffer neglect. 13,329 settlements in the region, out of which, only 98 are rated as urban, with the rest as scattered rural villages, are mostly cut off from basic amenities. 88% of rural dwellers in the region are considered to be living in abject poverty.

    According to a research conducted by We The People, a civil society organisation, NDDC projects where they are located are known as disposable projects, meaning that the instant the projects are commissioned, the next few weeks they go into dysfunction and are abandoned. With the research, it is now known that the NDDC has up to 10,000 abandoned projects littering the landscape of the region. The region is left to rot from the impact of oil exploration and exploitation, with the people of the region left for dead. There is practically nothing to show for the amount of wealth being generated from the region.

    The forensic audit of the NDDC ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari and the investigation into the atrocities of the Commission started by the National Assembly (NASS) gave a glimmer of hope that the benefits transfer mechanisms for the region would finally be rejigged, fine-tuned so that development in real terms can start happening in the Niger Delta. But Nigerians were dead shocked by the way and manner the NASS made a mess of the investigation, to make matters worse.

    The drama shown at the NASS is an indication that the neglect of the Niger Delta is deep-rooted and that it is being orchestrated by players in the government in connivance with Niger Delta elements who are unperturbed by the dire future of the region when oil and gas exploration and production would have become a thing of the past.

    In the 60 years of oil and gas exploration and exploitation in Nigeria, there is nothing to write home about for all the revenues received. What then does the next 60 years hold? The time to take action is now if not, a gloomy future awaits the people of the Niger Delta who will live with the rottenness that oil exploration and exploitation is leaving behind.

    Meanwhile, in efforts to synthesize key recommendations necessary for policy action in the Nigerian oil and gas industry, the Nigeria Natural Resource Charter (NNRC) had made key recommendations needed to revolutionize the fortune of the Niger Delta. Major issues relating to managing local impacts of oil and gas activities are usually captured by NNRC in precept 5 of its benchmarking exercise report (BER).

    The precept directs that the government must pursue opportunities for local benefits and account for, mitigate, and offset the environmental and social costs of resource extraction projects if benefits from extractive activities are to be impactful to the people.

    But, it is unfortunate that since the charter was instituted, Nigeria has consistently performed below average in managing local impacts of resource extraction. The 2019 BER showed no noteworthy changes have occurred since the 2017 BER. Key legislation to ensure the participation of communities, protect the environment, mitigate costs, respect rights and ensure that communities benefit from oil and gas projects suffered setbacks in the period.

    This is more so even as the government has failed to pass key legislation as the petroleum industry bill (PIB) that has been touted as the salvation for the Nigerian oil and gas industry. The PIB has defied passage and assent for almost two decades. President Buhari, who happens to be the substantive minister of petroleum and, therefore, should know better, had declined assent to a component of the bill that has spent 19 years in circulation in Nigeria. He had promised that the executive would send a better version of the bill to NASS. Till date, its audio.

    It seems that the leadership of the nation is oblivious of the rapidly evolving nature of the dynamics in the global oil and gas industry and how volatile the industry is. It also seems that the leaders are oblivious of how developed countries have completely revolutionized their oil and gas industry with proper policy frameworks like the PIB. Nigeria deserves better because the nation’s oil and gas have to be managed efficiently for the good of all, especially as the PIB as proposed would see international oil companies (IOC) pay 10% of their net profit to petroleum host communities to benefit oil and gas producing areas to help cushion the suffering of so many years.

    Needless to say the outbreak of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic showcased in full scale the volatile nature of the oil and gas industry. The drastic fall in the price of crude, as a result, meant that the government had to prioritize expenditures. Hitherto, certain issues, including issues that have to do with the Niger Delta, were not prioritized. This portends a bad omen for the future of the Niger Delta when oil has lost its value as coal and stones did before it.

    It is, therefore, imperative that the government understand the urgency to address the issues bothering on the Niger Delta while the revenues from oil and gas continue to flow as there is a chance, as witnessed already, that when oil dries out, Nigeria will move on, while the Niger Delta region retains the negative externalities as the dire future begins and lasts forever.

    Given the urgency, the executive should, therefore, immediately send the PIB to the NASS because clarity on issues bothering on the petroleum industry is needed now more than before. The executive must also ensure that the forensic audit of the NDDC is not made a mess of like the NASS did. The tardiness in the management of scarce resources as the one witnessed with the NDDC must be avoided. In addition, the government should extend the forensic audit to other beneficiation institutions with the aim to ensure a total cleansing of the entire mechanisms of resource governance.

    And then, the NASS should wake up to its responsibilities of checks and balances to see that the government agencies are living up to expectations. The NASS must in addition to this and as a matter of urgency pass the much-awaited PIB immediately the bill is received from the executive. The benefits of the bill to Nigeria and indeed the Niger Delta cannot be overemphasized.

    Also, the NOSDRA bill, mentioned earlier, should be revisited. The environmental impact assessments, considered for expansion by the 8th Assembly, to include human rights, social components and conflict assessments, should also be considered, and be required and conducted for resource projects, going forward.

    Every means to change the fortune of the Niger Delta for good should be exploited as the region cannot afford to be in rot long after oil is a thing of the past. The time to act is now.

  • Why NDDC continues to fail on its mandate – Experts

    Why NDDC continues to fail on its mandate – Experts

    Experts in the Nigerian oil and gas sector have alluded reasons why the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has continued to fail on its mandate despite receiving massive funding.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports the experts alluded the reasons on Friday during a Twitter conference with the theme ‘strategic reforms needed to transfer benefits to the Niger Delta’ that was hosted by the Nigeria Natural Resource Charter (NNRC).

    The experts were of the opinion that the NDDC set up in 2000 as an interventionist agency to reduce poverty and foster development in the Niger Delta is too elitist in nature and that the Commission is far-placed from local communities. Hence, engagement with the Commission was difficult.

    “NDDC, Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Presidential Amnesty Programme and the constitutionally prescribed 13% derivation were created to positively impact those in the Niger Delta but have failed to do so. Rather than acting as an interventionist agency, NDDC, for example, has become a contract awarding agency that only benefits the elite.

    “Projects are not selected or designed in collaboration with communities and so often do not address their concerns. There is duplication of projects between the different agencies because there is a lack of coordination and collaboration between them.

    “No external body monitors the impact these institutions have on host communities and so they continue to operate without censure. National Assembly probes usually do not lead to significant changes within the agencies,” said Hauwa Yesufu, Outcome Lead, Local Communities of Facility for Oil Sector Transformation (FOSTER).

    Yesufu further stated that “weak policies relating to the management and prevention of oil spills and gas flaring, benefit-sharing mechanisms that have no impact on development in the region and a lack of meaningful consultation with local communities to ensure that their concerns are adequately understood and addressed” are some of the reasons why the government has consistently reported poor performance to adequately manage impacts of extraction on local communities.

    “The government has set up numerous mechanisms to support development in the Niger Delta. These are primarily funded by the federal government, while the NDDC is funded by both the government and oil companies. However, they have failed to ensure that communities adequately benefit from natural resource earnings. Local communities continue to face high levels of poverty, violence and environmental damage,” she added.

    She stated that the government bears the greatest responsibility for the poor performance of the benefits transfer mechanisms as it is its obligation to provide for social development and infrastructure services, stressing that the government has set up numerous benefit-sharing mechanisms but has failed to properly monitor and ensure their impact.

    “Local communities do not hold state and local governments accountable for mismanagement of funds/corruption; instead, focusing their anger on companies and the federal government. Companies have historically paid community representatives in order to stave of restiveness rather than ensuring that their activities positively impact the community as a whole.

    “Although some companies have set up CSR structures that are commendable, the government should also keep companies in check and ensure that they do not undertake activities that negatively impact citizens,” she added.

    She, however, urged the people of the Niger Delta to consistently and continuously speak out against corruption and waste within government agencies.

    On his part, Ken Henshaw, the National Coordinator of We The People, a civil society organization, said the NDDC and the other mechanisms were not created with the people in mind. Hence, the Commission has failed to deliver on its mandate.

    “From start, OMPADEC [Oil Mineral Producing Area Development Commission] and NDDC closed the door against communities. MNDA [Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs] was created to appease militants, not communities. There has really been no mechanism created with the people in mind. This is why it is easy for politicians to take it over. It was never created as the people’s.

    “To local communities, NDDC is elitist and far. No local person can access NDDC. You can’t even deliver a letter at the NDDC, nobody will take it from you at the gate. You can’t enter the premises, they don’t reply mails, nothing. How do you engage such an agency?” Henshaw queried.

    He, however, stated that “to make the NDDC open and impactful, the key responsibility lies with the government” and that the “government needs to be more critical about who they appoint into the commission.

    “So far, the government has used NDDC as a settlement package for friends and political allies. The flow of legitimacy in NDDC is from the Presidency, not from the people of the ND [Niger Delta]. So those appointed to NDDC operate in a manner that gives no heed to the needs of the people of the region.

    “Appointments into NDDC are awarded through a system of patronage and political reward. Merit has never been the consideration. When that happens, the Commission becomes a conduit for politics and ‘empowerment’ for allies. Contracts are awarded as rewards.

    “We must always remember that the people of the region are victims of NDDC. What people need are opportunities to engage,” he said.

    TNG reports the experts urged the government to ensure that benefit-sharing mechanisms translate to tangible benefits for people of the Niger Delta. Especially, Yesufu called on the government to transition the Presidential Amnesty Programme into an agency that does not just benefit a small number of ex-militants but one that focuses on developing youths of the Niger Delta as a whole.

    The experts also called for the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) Amendment Bill. According to them, the passage of these bills will address the concerns of citizens, especially those of the Niger Delta.

  • $1b set aside for Ogoni cleanup – NOSDRA DG

    The Director General, National Oil Spill Detective and Response Agency, NOSDRA, Idris Musa disclosed that one billion dollars has been set aside for the clean-up of Ogoni land.

    The fund is broken down with $200million used every year for five years thereby bringing the total to $1billion for the five years cleaning plan.

    The DG disclosed this at the weekend in Abuja during a media parley, lamenting that most people misunderstand how this things work.

    According to him, the total restoration of the cleanup areas will cost that much and again, by the time the government plants a seedling it will take 25-30 years for the trees to grow and replace the withered ones.

    People have been misquoting the whole information it is the restoration to its pristine state that will take up to that long not the cleaning of the land itself.

    He added that the United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP has fact sheets and accurate information’s on these cleanups of Ogoni.

    “The fact sheet has detailed information on how the pollution happened, the medium used and again the dept and area of the pollution and how far it has gone.

    “The fact sheets are accurate and are classified into three areas, there are some areas that the pollution was not much, they fall under category B, very critical areas are under category A, there are areas that are category X these are neither here nor there but requires more work to be done to be placed under any category.

    We start with areas that are less polluted for cleaning, areas heavily polluted are within the water bodies where it was easier for people to do refining and to also tap on pipe line to ferry crude oil away. These are under category A the impact has gone down and hit the ground water.

    There were 68 fact sheets. We were able to bring out 64 out of the 68 fact sheets. We also looked at 6 of the sheets and there was actually nothing much in the 6 sheets.

    I want to use this medium to let Nigerians know that the Ogoni cleanup is not a political gimmick. It is presently still ongoing and we are working round clock to ensure a thorough work is done.”

  • CSOs, environmentalists reject NOSDRA’s report on dead fishes along Niger Delta coastline

    CSOs, environmentalists reject NOSDRA’s report on dead fishes along Niger Delta coastline

    Civil Society Organizations, environmentalists and community people in the affected areas, have rejected the report presented by the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) on the massive death of fishes along the Niger Delta coastline.

    Recall that the reports of dead fish awashed on an extensive stretch of the Niger Delta coastline which first broke out on 20th February 2020 when community people from Ogulagha Kingdom in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State raised an alarm on the death of fish, floating and littering their shoreline. There were also similar reports from fishing communities of Ondo, Bayelsa, Rivers and Akwa Ibom States.

    Environmentalists and stakeholders were pleased when after several outcry, the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) took samples of the dead fish, sediments and water from some of the affected areas.

    However, on May 13, 2020, NOSDRA in a press statement titled: Alleged Mass Fish Kill Along The Coastline of Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers States played down the issue. NOSDRA’s statement concluded thus: “In the light of the foregoing, noting that hydrocarbon were not responsible for the death of the fishes, the plausible cause(s) could partially be attributable to other anthropogenic activities which are probably land-based”.

    This summation according to stakeholders is capable of sweeping this serious issue under the carpet, while the affected communities are left to live with the impacts and uncertainties.

    Reacting to NOSDRA’s press statement, environmentalists, CSOs and community people in the affected areas noted thus: “We expected a detailed and in-depth analysis from NOSDRA working in cooperation with agencies and institutions including the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigerian Institute of Oceanography and Marine Research (NIOMR), National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency and Federal Institute for Fisheries Research which they said were informed of the tragic occurrences. While the result of the laboratory analysis may reflect the true composition of the samples, the data interpretation may be misleading. For example, it is a known fact that crude oil comes with a mix of heavy metals such as Cadmium and Chromium which are some of the pollutants from that sector.

    Responding to the NOSDRA statement, Ako Amadi, a Marine Ecologist and former Head, Fisheries Resources Division of NIOMR states: “Fish deaths commonly result from oxygen depletion in the aquatic medium. In the case of this recent occurrence in the Niger Delta, mortalities were reportedly concentrated on the genus Pseudotolithus, the croaker which is a bottom-feeder. It points to the fact that if the deaths had been as a result of ingestion of toxins the entire food web, that is, the benthic fauna of invertebrates including shrimps, crabs, zooplankton and juvenile fish, must have been affected. Evidence could then be deduced from toxicological examination of stomach contents, gills and bladder, or other respiratory and filtration organs of both dead and living croakers for comparison. This has not been the case.”

    Ako Amadi states further: “The Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research, NIOMR in Lagos, and ancillary institutions in Port Harcourt and Calabar have enough expertise in this regard. The residence time of suspected toxins in the benthic environment and land-based or ship transport sources are easy to determine. Aquatic toxins do not affect only particular species of fish but all fauna in an affected area. I also fail to see statements on tolerance of croakers and associated living organisms to variations of environmental change in the inshore waters of the affected system.”

    Amadi summed his response by stressing that “The NOSDRA report hardly shows any evidence of possible linkages to sudden increases in water temperature and current variations in the Eastern Gulf of Guinea that could have caused ecological hypoxia (oxygen depletion), such as ocean acidification fortified by increased waste (including oil) and heat discharges from coastal industries and shipping as well as from agricultural runoff and mangrove deforestation. The NOSDRA conclusions appear not to have been followed by immediate investigations, which infuses credibility cracks into the report. I hope that we can see more logical results to these investigations than what NOSDRA has currently presented.”

    The short statement by NOSDRA declared twice that the contamination was not from hydrocarbon sources. The agency preferred to point fingers elsewhere when they said, “it is commonly observed that most industrial and domestic wastes which contain heavy metal found their ways into drainages and onward transfer to the water bodies”. Assuming this is true, it means the incidence was never an act of nature but a pure case of poisoning of the water bodies from sources that have to be stopped.

    Like Amadi,director of a non- governmental organisation, Health of Mother Earth Foundaton, HOMEF, Nnimmo Bsssey NOSDRA’s summation is just scratching the surface of the matter. According to him, the report of laboratory analysis as presented by NOSDRA does not resolve the problem and can be diversionary.

    Bassey, in his reaction expressed deep concerns about the fate of community people who depend on the affected water bodies for sustenance and noted that the situation compounds the struggles of affected community people as they battle the hardships brought by the restrictions occasioned by the COVID-19 outbreak.

    He added that what NOSDRA gave is a very basic and tentative explanation merely aimed at ruling out the possibility of the cause being from hydrocarbons. They have mentioned possibility of other chemicals being the cause but went ahead to say that this would only affect fish in restricted areas and couldn’t cause widespread dying of fish.

    Bassey insisted: “The NOSDRA statement doesn’t help the situation and doesn’t erase the anxieties of the peoples of the region. It is not new to see a specific fish species dying as this has happened in other countries where, for example, species have succumbed to thermal or temperature increase shocks. It is true that NOSDRA focuses on hydrocarbon pollution and has restricted its review to sources in that field. Seeking to shift blame to other factors, sectors or communities cannot be the end of the story.”

    “The Ministry of environment and relevant agencies have a duty to tell Nigerians what killed the fish so that we know how to respond to this and future incidents. We are not satisfied with NOSDRA’s report as this doesn’t bring a closure to the matter. Explaining why we experienced a massive death of fish on our coasts is not beyond our scientists within and outside government,” he concluded.

  • Shell’s oil spill pollutes over 113 hectares in Bayelsa

    Shell’s oil spill pollutes over 113 hectares in Bayelsa

    Leakage from an oilfield operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) at Aghoro community in Bayelsa has discharged some 1,114 barrels of crude oil into the environment.
    The leakage has adversely affected the fishing vocation of residents who had withdrawn from fishing to pave way for clean up.
    The resulting oil spill impacted and polluted an estimated area of 113.03 hectares, according to a joint Investigation Visit (JIV) report of the incident.
    A disagreement among community leaders in the areas affected by the leak stalled the release of the Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) report of the oil spill.
    Community leaders, who participated in the JIV to determine the cause of the spill, reportedly refused to sign the report.
    The refusal was attributed to wide disparity between the impacted areas claimed by Shell and the community, but Mr Bamidele Odugbesan, the Media Relations Manager at SPDC, said that the grey areas had been sorted out.
    The report indicated that only 247.5 out of the 1,114 of SPDC’s crude blend had been recovered at the spill site, while the remaining were yet to be accounted for.
    According to the spill incident report, the oil leak was reported on May 17, but the joint visit could not be immediately conducted until June 23.
    The report said the spill was caused by equipment failure resulting from weak integrity of the 24 inch Trans Ramos Pipeline giving rise to cracks on the pipeline at Aghoro in Ekeremor Local Government area of Bayelsa.
    Representatives of the host community, National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), Bayelsa Ministry of Environment and SPDC, who conducted the investigation agreed on the findings and signed the report.
    Repair work on the leaking pipeline is underway, while recovery of spilled oil from the site is still ongoing.
    Reacting to the development, Odugbesan expressed regret about incessant spills on the Trans Ramos Pipeline, saying that although the May 17 spill was traced to equipment failure, other leaks were predominantly caused by sabotage.
    “The rate of spills on the Trans Ramos Pipeline is very worrisome, for instance between April and May 26, spill incidents were reported on that line and out of these, 18 of them were caused by sabotage, eight were operational,” he said.
     

  • Amnesty office to partner NOSDRA on disaster reduction in Niger Delta

    The Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator, Amnesty Programme Office, Prof. Charles Dokubo, says the office will collaborate with the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) on disaster reduction programmes in the Niger Delta.

    Mr Murphy Ganagana, Special Assistant Media, to Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator, Amnesty Programme made this known in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.

    Dokubo said that this partnership would include sensitisation campaigns on environmental hazards occasioned by decades of oil exploitation and safety measures.

    He assured the agency on the readiness of his office to partner NOSDRA towards curtailing the effects of environmental degradation on communities in the Niger Delta.

    According to him, plans are underway for a conference on oil exploration and environmental degradation to look into the geological background of the Niger Delta and impact assessment.

    “I think we have to look at the ripple effects of environment; environmental degradation and economic resurgence is one issue we should always look at.

    “It has taken a long time and now that the government has decided that clean up period has come, it is commendable

    ” I face a peculiar problem in the sense that whenever there is a crisis, most of the people I deal with will go and blow up pipelines.

    “I always tell them that they are not blowing up pipes that are in Kaduna; they are blowing up pipes that are in their own environment and that children yet unborn will suffer from these activities.

    “Oil pollution are not things that we hear in developed countries; new technologies are available that we can use now, but for our environment, it is already devastated”.

    He said that to resuscitate the environment, there was need to create awareness that this environment belongs to us, adding and if we do not take care of it, it would affect us negatively.

    Mr Peter Idabor, Director General, NOSDRA said the agency was concerned about the health of people living in the Niger Delta, especially the infusion of toxic substances through food chains.

    Idabor commended Dokubo for his efforts at deepening peace and stability in the Niger Delta.

    He called for the conversion of deep pits created during the construction of major roads in the Niger Delta to fish ponds to create jobs and wealth for beneficiaries of the Amnesty Programme.

    “We have noticed that your activities have drastically reduced cases of vandalism of pipelines in the Niger Delta, and we commend you for that.

    “We are responsible for the national oil spill contingency plan which is geared towards the third-tier oil spills in the country.

    “We are very much concerned about the health of our people; our greatest concern is the infusion of some of these toxic substances through the food chains and the effect on the health of our people.

    ” So, one of the things we do is to help create awareness; sensitise people on how to deal with this problem of having oil spillage in their immediate environment.

    “At this stage, there is little anybody can do, but if we can prevent people from getting too close to the substances, contaminated areas or eating foods that are contaminated, it will go a long way to educate the people.

    “That is why we have come to see if we can partner with you, and also have an opportunity to present resource persons from our own agency for you in any area that you require,” he said.