Oil cleanup in southern Nigeria still far from target

A much-touted cleanup of oil pollution in southern Nigeria has yet to begin in parts of the Ogoniland hotspot, nearly three years after contracts were awarded, and residents remain without clean water, report says Thursday.

Nigeria, Africa’s largest crude producer, has struggled with oil spills for decades, sparking social unrest and even activists in the Niger Delta.

The kingdom of Ogoniland in Rivers State, home to around one million people, has become an emblem of the problem after years of oil and gas exploration and production by a joint company with Shell.

After mass protests led by activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and the so-called Ogoni Nine, Shell ceased production in 1993.

The Nigerian government has pledged to repair the damage after an assessment of the region by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) 10 years ago.

The UN said at the time that an initial cleanup would cost $ 1 billion and take five years. Clean-up activities finally started in January 2019.

But a report by two NGO monitors released over half of the five-year period indicates that the clean-up will likely take much longer.

“We can see progress and it’s important to recognize it,” said Florence Kayemba, program director for the Stakeholder Democracy Network (SDN), who co-authored the report with the Center for Human Rights and the development (CEHRD).

More than 1,000 temporary jobs for community members with cleaning contractors have been created, monitors said.

Thirteen of the 50 lots considered “simple” to clean were certified as completed, they added.

However, “it’s only a quarter … and we haven’t started cleaning up the complex sites yet, so it shows that we really have a long way to go,” said Calvin Laing, executive director of SDN.

“That five-year goal seems unrealistic now.”

The emergency measures prescribed by the UN in 2011 “have not yet been implemented,” notes the report.

“Communities that were identified as having highly contaminated drinking water sources in 2011 still do not have access to improved and safe sources of drinking water,” he said.

“Screening for the health of communities that would help understand the impact of pollution has not yet started.”

Clean-up activities need to proceed “much faster,” Kayemba added, but “without sacrificing quality”.

SDN and CEHRD set up an interactive online dashboard on Thursday to help track progress.

The cleanup of Ogoniland is “crucial,” Laing said, as it “could also be a model for elsewhere in the Niger Delta.”

Earlier this year, Shell agreed to pay around 95 million euros ($ 110 million) to the communities of Ogoniland for spills in the 1970s, although it said the damage to the pipelines was caused by some thirds.