(C) OpenDemocracy This story was originally published by OpenDemocracy and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . How Shell’s oil spills in the Niger Delta have devastated communities [1] [] Date: 2024-06 On a sweltering afternoon, Longlife Bob returns empty-handed from his search for work at nearby building sites. Before the oil spill, Bob, 40, was a fisher. On good days, he made an average of 80,000 Nigerian naira (about £85) from selling his catch. With this income, he has taken care of his family for the last ten years. But things have changed. The spill that contaminated the Oluku river in Aleto, before spreading to Bob’s Akpajo community in June, destroyed his fishing nets and boat and polluted the river that had been his livelihood. An alternative livelihood is not forthcoming, at least for now. “We are suffering and life is hard for us,” Bob told openDemocracy. Oil spills have been a recurrent problem in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region, which cuts across nine states, harbours rivers and estuaries, and hosts Africa’s largest mangrove forest ecosystem. Between 2011 and 2022, there were 10,463 spill incidents in the Niger Delta, releasing a combined 507,135 barrels of oil into the environment, according to the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA). Ogoniland, where Bob is based, has historically been the epicentre of oil spillage. In 2008, for example, leaks from Shell’s Trans-Niger pipeline spilled about 600,000 barrels of oil into the earth there. Get our free Daily Email Get one whole story, direct to your inbox every weekday. Sign up now The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, the major polluter in the region, often blames oil spills – including the spill in Aleto – on sabotage. But major oil spills have been attributed to equipment failure and to rusty and poorly maintained pipelines, which is what the local community believes happened here. When openDemocracy visited, the pipe appeared to have leaked oil onto the ground and into the river. The report of a joint investigation visit (JIV) – an exercise conducted to determine the cause of an oil spill with representatives drawn from the oil company, affected community, and government agencies – has not yet been made public. NOSDRA, the agency responsible for releasing it, has published no investigation reports since 2022, and did not respond to our questions about when or if this latest one would be made available. Emmanuel Obemeata, an environmental health scientist and senior lecturer at the University of Port Harcourt, admits the oil spill could have been the result of sabotage, but said the ageing pipes could easily have been a factor too. “You have the issue associated with expired pipelines,” he said. “If you continue to have crude [oil] passing through such pipelines, you will expect to have these oil spills because expired pipelines will certainly leak.” Given the magnitude of the oil spill and its impact in affected fishing communities, locals and activists in Ogoniland believe Shell may be secretly exploring in the area despite officially ceasing active exploration and production in 1993 following a public protest. An independent environmental monitor in the area, who openDemocracy has agreed not to name for their own safety, told openDemocracy: “Shell is operating [in Ogoniland] and it’s no longer a secret.” The firm has operations in Ogale and Oboolo, both areas within Ogoniland, the source added. Officially, Shell is only transporting crude through the area, not exploring for any new oil. But multiple sources told us most of Shell’s remaining facilities in the area are heavily guarded by the military, which could indicate that the facilities are still actively exploring, too. Some believe Shell is trying to recoup the equivalent of what it has paid as compensation to communities affected by oil spills before leaving the Niger Delta as it announced in 2021. Shell’s media representatives did not respond to requests for comment from openDemocracy. Cleanup ‘timeline may not be feasible’ The decades-long pollution of the environment in Ogoniland led to an environmental assessment report being commissioned in 2006 by the United Nations Environment Programme. The report, eventually published in 2011, found widespread contamination of soil and groundwater, and recommended a comprehensive cleanup to restore polluted environments in Ogoniland. Five years later, the former Nigerian vice-president Yemi Osinbajo greenlit the cleanup, and the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), the government agency coordinating the operation, commenced preliminary remediation activities in Ogoniland in 2018. Enuolare Mba-Nwigoh, HYPREP’s head of communications, said HYPREP has completed 29 of 65 sites. But a major threat to this cleanup effort is the recurrent oil spills in the area, which experts fear will not only destroy livelihoods and contaminate water bodies but also re-contaminate the already remediated sites. In Aleto, for instance, the affected river is within three areas that have been remediated, says Mba-Nwigoh of HYPREP. On average, he adds, cleaning up a contaminated site costs between 500 and 600 million Nigerian naira (£604,000) for simple sites while complex sites cost at least one billion Nigerian naira (£100.6m) Mba-Nwigoh urged communities to resist the vandalisation of pipelines. But he also pointed to the owners of the pipes, saying they “must be responsible” so that poor maintenance does not “compound issues for the environment, for the people, and for the [clean-up] project”. “The issue of oil spillage [and] re-pollution is of utmost concern to us,” he said. “If not addressed, it amounts to leaving the tap running and at the same time claiming to be mopping the floor. Until you address the issue of the running tap, you may not have succeeded in effectively mopping the floor.” Meanwhile, communities in Ogoniland continue to bear the brunt of repeated spillages. Fishing activities have already stopped in most communities affected by the recent incident. Like Bob, Leebe Mere has stopped fishing since the most recent oil spill polluted the river and damaged her boat and net. Replacements, she said, would cost her at least half a million Nigerian naira. “Where will I see that kind of money?” the 60-year-old asked, saying she earns a tenth of that sum each day from fishing. She now sells firewood to sustain her seven children. But the income is much lower: just 2,000 Nigerian naira a day. “I have not been myself since the oil spill,” she said. “I cry every day. To eat is hard and my children can’t go to school again.” On average, school costs between 30,000 and 40,000 naira per term. One way Niger Delta residents can put pressure on oil companies is to seek legal redress. Nigerian environmental lawyer Chima Williams said when an oil spill occurs – whether as a result of equipment failure, maintenance mishap or natural occurrence – it triggers a legal process that allows the affected community to go to court. “The issue of legal redress for an oil spillage is an established one,” said Williams, the executive director of the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria. The Aleto oil spill came two years after Niger Delta communities won a case against Shell in a Dutch court. In May 2008, Williams, lawyer Channa Samkalden, and the Dutch branch of Friends of the Earth represented four Nigerian farmers in a lawsuit against the then headquarters of Shell in The Hague. The case concerned oil pollution that had happened between 2004 and 2007 in the Niger Delta communities of Goi, Oruma, and Ikot Ada Udo. Some 13 years later, Shell Nigeria was finally held liable and, in January 2021, was ordered to pay €15m (about £13m) in compensation to the Nigerian farmers and their communities. Williams said the landmark victory was the first time in history a Dutch company had been held responsible for the actions of its subsidiary in a foreign country. Similarly, after an oil spill occurred in Ogoniland’s Eteo community in 2018, the people took Shell to court to seek compensation. But, said Sunday Nwigoh, the paramount ruler of Eteo: “There has been a delay as the court keeps adjoining the case. [So] we are waiting for the court.” Another spill occurred in Eteo a week after Aleto’s from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) facility. In the case of the Aleto spill, it is unclear whether the affected communities will seek justice against Shell. Samuel Ngofa, the spokesman in Ngofa village in Aleto, said it would be difficult to pursue legal action as some of the chiefs in the area had received donations from Shell. It is hard for community members to pursue legal action without the support of their chiefs. “Shell brought noodles but [it makes no real difference] because you eat noodles for just a day. How about those whose livelihoods have been affected?” Ngofa asked. Bob, meanwhile, received nothing. He just wants to go back to fishing, but understands it may be a while before different species can again be found in the river. He wants the government to step in. “They should look for what we will do to eat until the river is clear,” he said. 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