Nnimmo Bassey Takes Alternative Convergence Demands For Environmental Justice To Rivers NUJ

The demands of the Niger Delta people on environmental justice raised at the just-ended 5th Niger Delta Alternative Convergence, which held on 11 May in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, have been laid before members of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) for support.

Convener of the all-Niger Delta Stakeholders event, Comrade Nnimmo Bassey who was keynote speaker at this year’s Rivers State Federated Chapel’s Correspondents Week read out nine points in the demand as areas for the media to key in to demand a better environment in the region.

Nnimmo told the journalists that in playing their role as watchdogs of society, they owe oil communities the duty of factual stories of what oil and gas extraction is doing in their domain lamenting that 70 years of unregulated activities has seriously damaged the Niger Delta environment and destroyed lives in the Niger Delta.

Illustrating the level of wickedness oil operators especially the international oil companies, IOCs have perpetrated in the region, the environment laureate said fire has been burning at the Ororo well off Aiyetoro on Ondo State since 2020, Alakiri in Okrika since 2024 without actions to stop the fire.

He drew attention to environmental studies that confirm the heavy harm oil has done to the region among them, the well- known UNEP report that confirmed Ogoni claims, the 2024 Bayelsa State Government commissioned study which declared environmental genocide in the state and the research conducted and publicly presented by a non- governmental organization, Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Center on blood samples from women in Otuobagi, host of Nigeria’s first commercial oil production abandoned in the 1970s, whose samples showed presence of hydrocarbons.

Nnimmo commended the Federated Correspondents for choosing to address a very vital issue.

“I must commend the Federated Correspondents Chapel for focusing this week’ on the clean-up of the Niger Delta. This is a serious topic that everyone ought to be concerned about but truth be told, not everyone is concerned about it.

“Not everyone cares whether the Niger Delta is clean. Whether you die today or tomorrow, not everybody cares. But by the sheer fact that we are here, gathered, I believe, it is an indication that we all care and that we care to do something about what we care about”

He said decades of pollution from oil extraction has so diminished life that life expectancy in the region is now as low as 41 years as against the Nigerian average of 56 and 53 years for women and men respectively, pointing out that both sides are ridiculously low while cancer has become a common decease ending lives in the region. These he said, make an urgent clean-up of the region and a halt of all new extraction is imperative.

Calling on the press to play its roll of fully educating the people and helping them demand accountability from operators, he informed them of the current position of the people on decommissioning of abandoned oil wells, demands for remediation, restoration and compensation by those pulling out to go offshore as contained in the Uyo stakeholders engagement as guide in their future work towards environmental justice.

THE NIGER DELTA DEMANDS

Participants at the 5th Niger Delta Alternatives Convergence after careful consideration of happenings in the region on environment resolved and demanded as follows:

1. That every abandoned, leaking, and undecommissioned oil well in the Niger Delta must be treated as a crime scene, given the continuing threats they pose to lives, livelihoods, ecosystems, and public health.
2. Immediate and transparent audit of all oil wells and petroleum infrastructure in the Niger Delta, alongside the urgent decommissioning, remediation, and ecological restoration of abandoned and unsafe facilities, with state governments leading accountability efforts and the Federal Government enforcing compliance.
3. That while we acknowledge landmark reports including the Willinks Commission, NDES, UNEP, and BSOEC reports, the Convergence insists that the future of the Niger Delta must no longer be defined by exploitation and ecological sacrifice, but by justice, restoration, environmental integrity, and development shaped by the aspirations and rights of the peoples of the region.
4. An end to reckless extractive practices and short-term economic interests that continue to undermine environmental sustainability and community livelihoods.
5. Immediate identification, audit, and public disclosure of all abandoned oil and gas wells and facilities across the Niger Delta region.
6. Immediate cleanup, remediation, restoration, and reparations of polluted environments and ecosystems affected by oil extraction and abandoned facilities.
7. Amendment to the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), alongside stricter enforcement of provisions relating to environmental responsibility, decommissioning obligations, and corporate accountability.
8. A transparent and legally enforceable framework regulating oil company divestments to ensure that liabilities are not transferred to communities or the Nigerian state.
9. Increased participation of host communities, women, youth, and indigenous groups in environmental governance and decision-making processes.
10. That the federal and sub-national governments must guarantee transparency in the management of ecological funds and ensure interventions reach frontline communities and safeguarded zones.
11. The National Assembly should review the PIA to centre community perspective on decommissioning and abandonment of oil facilities
12. Publication in the annual NEITI oil and gas reports, payments, and management of decommissioning and abandonment funds made by all oil and gas companies.
13. Communities and civil society should prioritise strategic litigation and avoid the pitfalls associated with weak litigation, which can set a bad precedent when a weak lawsuit is thrown out.
14. CSOs should onboard more communities in their engagement to broaden the surface area of impact.
15. The federal government should make public specific details of divestment deals, especially the liabilities inherited by domestic companies

The 5th Niger Delta Alternatives Convergence (NDAC) reaffirmed the resolve of communities and stakeholders across the Niger Delta to pursue environmental justice, ecological restoration, corporate accountability, and sustainable livelihoods in areas long affected by oil pollution and environmental neglect.

Participants committed to strengthening coordinated advocacy at all levels to ensure governments, regulators, and extractive companies uphold their environmental and social responsibilities, while advancing transparent governance, community participation, and climate-resilient development that protects public health and the environment.

The Convergence also demanded urgent clean-up and remediation of polluted communities, enforceable decommissioning of abandoned oil infrastructure, and stronger independent environmental monitoring systems.

Participants stressed the need for policy reforms and institutional accountability to address weak enforcement and systemic environmental degradation, while pledging greater regional solidarity, community mobilization, and strategic engagement to secure lasting environmental protection and sustainable development across the Niger Delta.

Consequent upon the deeper understanding on the issue created by the keynote speaker to both the media and community leaders present, members of the Rivers State NUJ through their chairman, Comrade Paul Bazia-Nsaneh, and the South South Zone (F)  Deputy National President, Comrade Opaka Dokubo, pledged deeper attention to environmental issues in the region while the chairman of the occasion, HRM, King Felix Otuwarikpo who highlighted need for the Petroleum Industry Act, PIA to be revisited to properly address the role of communities in the protection of oil operational facilities, promised to arrange a meeting for the NUJ to properly brief members of the Rivers State Traditional Ruling Council on the environmental issues of extraction and the and impact on the communities.

The general consensus at the end of the session was that the HYPREP Clean Up in Ogoni has recorded measures of success and needs to be sped up so all impacted areas in the Niger Delta would be cleaned up.