An environmental activist and climate crusader has expressed concern that escalation of works on TotalElf’s East African Crude Oil Pipeline in Uganda and the Trans-Saharan pipeline that will convey gas to Europe from Nigeria’s Niger Delta region will exacerbate the climate crisis in Africa and beyond.
Executive Director of a group of environmental and climate justice activists, the Renevlyn Development Initiative (RDI), Philip Jakpor, who spoke to The Trumpet in an exclusive interview, also expressed concerns that the Federal Government’s sustained efforts at prospecting for oil in the northern part of Nigeria, will compound gas flaring and further worsen the pollution that comes with crude oil exploration.
His words: “Nigeria, Africa and the world should not expect a reduction in the impact of climate change any time soon. At the global level, the Russia-Ukraine war has exposed western hypocrisy. Immediately Russia closed the taps on oil to Europe, they started looking for oil elsewhere, particularly in Africa. So, we see escalation of work on the East African Crude Oil Pipeline owned by TotalElf and how it is affecting Ugandan communities and communities on the pipeline right of way in East Africa.
“There is also the Trans-Saharan pipeline that will freight gas to Europe from Nigeria’s Niger Delta through the Sahara. The Nigerian government has set its zero flare date for 2060 or 2070, is also prospecting for oil in the north. These initiatives will not address the climate crisis, but will rather worsen it.”
On the divestment of International Oil Companies from their onshore facilities in the Niger Delta and the impact of gas flaring on climate crisis in the host communities, he noted that the issue of unending gas flaring in Nigeria has lasted over 50 years.
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Jakpor recalled that the first proclamation on the need to end gas flaring was in 1979 under the military, adding that since then, Nigeria keeps adjusting gas flare out dates to 1984, 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2013 deadlines and no sanctions for the oil firms.
“In fact, we don’t know if there is any new date for now. Successive administrations have demonstrated unwillingness to end the practice. A recent report by the World Bank even places Nigeria among the nine highest gas flaring entities in the world.
“This is an irony because while Nigeria is at the fore of global efforts to transit from dirty energy, it is at the same time prospecting for new oil in the north and will flare there just like in the Niger Delta.
“The divestments by Shell and other International Oil Companies (IOCs) are disturbing because while we are against new oil exploration, we equally feel the industry players in the last 50 years should also take full responsibility for their failed stewardship on the environmental front,” he stated.
He also urged host communities impacted by oil exploration activities to demand compensations and restoration of their environment from the fossil fuel corporations in the law courts in Nigeria and in their Europe headquarters.
“Many communities have been ruined by the divesting IOCs and they are divesting to the deep offshore where it becomes difficult to monitor their activities adequately. We must continue to encourage the communities to document the impacts and go to court to ask for remediation of the environment and compensation for the impacts.
“The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) Assessment Report on Ogoniland, released in August 2011 is a pointer. There was a similar report in Bayelsa State on the massive and under-reported pollution going on there. More states need to do the same and then we need to encourage the Nigerian government to do a comprehensive environmental audit of the Niger Delta so that we can ascertain the real costs of oil on our people and the environment,” he stated.
Jakpor insisted that the country must determine how much gas has been flared by the IOCs since they started operations and the cost in terms of losses to the nation in revenue and health impacts on local communities.
