S4C Oil Spill Investigation Field Report

SPACES FOR CHANGE-S4C

PIB: PULLING TOGETHER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

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Address: 3 Oduyemi Street, 1st Floor, Anifowoshe, Ikeja, Lagos State, Nigeria Website: www.spacesforchange.org I Blog: www.spacesforchange.blogspot.com

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Introduction

Between September 26-27, 2013, Spaces for Change -S4C staff visited sites degraded by oil

spill and recurrent environmental pollution in Ibeno and eight other local government areas in

Akwa Ibom State, looking specifically at the impacts on traditional livelihoods, water, food and

environmental quality in general. Mobil Producing Nigeria (MPN) Unlimited and Total Nigeria

Plc are the two major oil companies engaged in oil exploration and production in the state.

The site visits were followed by series of consultations with clan heads, traditional and youth

leaders of the affected communities, representatives of state and federal ministries and

regulatory agencies involvedin pollution control and environmental sustainability.

More specifically, advocacy meetings and engagement with representatives of the South-

South zonal office of the Federal Ministry of Environment, the zonal office of National Oil Spill

Detection and Remediation Agency (NOSDRA); the State the Ministry of Justice, the State

Ministry of Environment and the Board of Environmental Protection and Waste Management

Agency all in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State provided an opportunity to exchange information, forge

alliances, build consensus around possible solutions to complex environmental problems. It

also open the space for collaborative planning of a range of proposed future interventions.

One thing is clear: stakeholders agree that finding mutually benefiting ways of protecting the

environment and lowering the rising surge of discontent amongst community members is

indeed, imperative.



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Why Intervention is Necessary

Onsite observation from rivers, streams and beaches visited in Eket, Esit-Eket, Ibeno

and Mbo villages show that recurring oil spills have devastatingly contaminated

water and local food sources, destroying fisher folk and aquatic life across 9 local

government areas where hundreds of thousands of indigenous populations live.

Between August 13 and December 16 2012, no less than 10 incidents of massive

oil spills have been recorded, resulting in adverse environmental impacts on the

ecosystem and loss of traditional livelihoods. Findings show that the November 9

spillage in particular, was caused by a rupture in one of the MPN-operated

pipelines. The lack of credible regulatory investigations, inaccessible information

about the causative factors

of oil spills, including the

dearth of consequences on

offending companies has

continued to obscure

accountability; preclude

independent public scrutiny

of clean-up operations, and

the development of

satisfactory monitoring

methods and procedures

for such operations.

The darkened coastlines

and unwanted debris

littering the Ibeno Beach sands provide evidence of contaminated surfaces and

the presence of oil spillages that may be have been inappropriately mopped up

in recent times. A thin film of crude could be seen glistering on water surfaces. The

river beds, including the trunks of the mangrove vegetation surrounding a stream

in Ibeno were coated with oil. Greasypillars of the Esit-Uruan bridge, oily river

banks and oil films coating the surface of local streams and rivers in Esit-Eket are

clear manifests of oil spillage and pollution resulting in the destruction of, or loss of

aquatic lives andarable land for farming. Residue of crude oil could be seen on

the seabeds in Mbo villages. The local streams and rivers serve as a major source

of drinking water and other domestic routines for most communities lacking

access to pipe borne water. Locals were seen bathing, washing and fishing at a

local stream in Eket, signifying that local dependence on these water sources is

high.



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On its way to the Ibeno

beach, S4C noted an

unrestrained gas flare

within the Exxon Mobil

facility in Ibeno. The radius

and height of the flare

were so massive that it

could be seen clearly

from a far distance of

about 500 km. The Niger

Delta region as the

central point of oil

production is gravely

affected by exploration

activities in which the

traditional means of subsistence, farming and fishing in the creeks, streams and

mangroves are adversely affected by constant oil spills, gas flares, blow-outs and

leaks, with spiraling effects on health, soil productivity, aquatic life and the

environment. The situation is compounded by the inability of communities to

effectively demand legal redress for environmental injustices, including their

exclusion in the design and implementation of policies and development programs

that impact on their wellbeing.

Our contact with, and interviews with the indigenous people living and operating

businesses in and around the affected areas reveal surging local discontent fuelled

by a range of issues such as the recurrent mystery spillages, non-disclosure of the

actual volumes spilled by oil companies, unpaid compensation, non-inclusive

negotiation methods and widespread community exclusion in many aspects of

industry dealings. To compound the situation, comprehensive clean-up and

remediation of various sites of oil spills do not take place several months after the

spills occur. Overwhelming evidence shows that the volatile situation in the Niger

Delta is in large part, attributable to the large-scale environmental degradation

linked to weakly-regulated oil exploratory and production activities, which continue

to increase indigenous communities’ vulnerability to food shortages, health

hazards, loss of land and livelihood resources, forced migration, unemployment

and so forth.



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Why We Must Act, Now!!!

Oil spills in the oil-rich Niger-

Delta have attracted global

attention. Because of

increased dependence of

the Nigerian government on

oil revenues and imported

petroleum which involves

corresponding exploration,

transportation and handling

of oils, it can be expected

that accidental oil spills of

considerable magnitude will

continue to occur.


has worked closely with

Niger Delta communities

affected by various natural and man-made environmental hazards, especially oil

pollution, to find sustainable ways to meet their social, economic, and cultural

needs and to improve the quality of their lives. Accordingly, we have mobilized

grassroot participation in oil policy development; campaigned vigorously for

improved governance of the environment; and for increased respect for

community rights to benefit from natural resources within the context and

framework of Nigeria’s latest oil regime, the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB). Among

other objectives, the PIB introduces new provisions and initiatives aimed at

increasing the participation of oil producing communities in the oil and gas sector,

as well as promoting environmental sustainability in the areas where oil exploration

and production take place.

Early this year, S4C released its PIB RESOURCE HANDBOOK, which contains a

detailed analysis of the PIB provisions relating to community participation and the

environment (CPE).This handbook has also been written for the purpose of building

the capacity of oil producing communities to understand the PIB, and use its

provisions to demand legal protection for their rights to a safe environment, and

participation in oil industry operations. The reform bill recognizes that oil operations

(including seismic operations, mining, oil spill resulting from equipment failure,

human error, corrosion etc) can cause damage to private property rights, the



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natural vegetation and the human habitat,

and therefore, contains robust preventive and

remedial provisions in event of breach.

Pulling Stakeholders Together

We proceed upon the premise that all

stakeholders have a unique role to play in the

struggle for environmental justice and social

responsibility. With a special focus on the PIB

provisions on community participation and

environmental protection, S4C is deploying its

convening power to sensitize and capacity

ofstakeholders in the oil and gas industry to understand and implement their

differentiated roles and obligations outlined in the PIB. The main goal of the multi-

stakeholder capacity-building activity is to bring together traditional leaders and

representatives of various interest groups within the affected communities, state

and federal industry regulators, international oil company representatives

operating in the state, the civil society and the mediato build sustainable

consensus and undertake necessary joint action towards transforming local

agitations into opportunities for peaceful change, environmental justice and

corporate responsibility. Among several objectives, stakeholders will also begin the

necessary conversation around forging mutuality in the exploration of solutions for

addressing the range of community concerns and environmental conditions that

pose risks to national, regional, and global security and stability.

Documents

S4C Oil Spill Investigation Field Report