Women rights activist and Executive Director of Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Centre, Dr. Emem Okon, has called on journalists to properly interpret and simplify the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) to help Niger Delta communities understand and defend their environmental and economic rights.
Key Highlights:
•Dr. Emem Okon urged journalists to simplify PIA provisions for local communities.
•She called on the media to investigate environmental policies and oil industry practices in the Niger Delta.
•Okon demanded extension of the Ogoni cleanup to other polluted communities.
•The activist criticised plans to build a museum in Oloibiri amid ongoing environmental degradation.
•She warned that delays in remediation could worsen ecological and health crises in the region.
•Okon stressed that independent journalism is critical to exposing environmental injustice.
Okon made the call while delivering the keynote address at the Dinner Night organised by the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Rivers State Council, as part of the 2026 Correspondents’ Week celebration.
Speaking on the role of the media in environmental advocacy, the activist urged journalists to move beyond routine news coverage and begin deeper investigations into environmental policies, oil exploration activities, and government actions affecting communities across the Niger Delta.
“Environmental degradation in the Niger Delta demands urgent action,” she stated.
“The media should take up the PIA and expose the hidden clauses, investigate and interrogate these things.”
Okon stressed that many host communities remain unaware of laws and policies directly affecting their livelihoods because technical reports and legal documents are rarely translated into language ordinary citizens can understand.
According to her, the media has a responsibility to bridge that gap by making environmental issues accessible and understandable to affected communities.
She also urged journalists to intensify public advocacy for environmental justice and pressure the Federal Government to extend the ongoing Ogoni cleanup exercise to other heavily polluted communities in the Niger Delta.
“The media needs to make the government realize that we need to extend the Ogoni cleanup to the entire Niger Delta. We must begin now,” she said.
Okon referenced the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report, which estimated that full environmental restoration of Ogoniland could take up to 30 years.
She warned that waiting for the Ogoni cleanup to be completed before addressing pollution in other communities would worsen environmental destruction and health challenges across the region.
“The UNEP report said it will take 30 years to have the Ogoni environment restored. We don’t need to wait for 30 years,” she added.
“We shouldn’t wait till then before we begin to remediate other parts of the Niger Delta. It must begin now.”
The activist also painted a disturbing picture of the impact of oil pollution on women and local residents, recounting testimonies from affected communities in Bayelsa State.
“One of the women in Otuabagi said if you cut my waist you will not see blood, you will see crude oil,” Okon said.
She further criticised what she described as misplaced priorities by government authorities, particularly plans to establish a museum in Oloibiri while environmental degradation in the area remains unresolved.
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“We are told the Federal Government is now building a museum in Oloibiri, which to me is another level of deception,” she said.
“Communities will begin to think the museum is going to bring something good for the community and then they will sit and expect, and nothing reasonable will come out.”
Okon maintained that independent journalism remains essential in exposing the disconnect between government environmental policies and realities faced daily by host communities in the Niger Delta.
